Intergenerational Dynamics Among Women and Men in Nursing

Abstract

Research on nursing has focused heavily on the gendered aspects of nursing care while often overlooking diversity within the workforce, including age-related dynamics and multi-generational conflict on the job. This chapter explores the salience of age-related issues alongside gender in a sample of Baby Boomer (age 51+) and Millennial (age 23–31) nurses from the US to understand how age shapes the experiences and interactions of men and women in the nursing workforce. Based on survey data, Millennial nurses report feeling negative emotions more intensely compared to their Baby Boomer colleagues. Baby Boomer nurses are also more likely to evaluate their own care more highly overall and across a range of specific features of the job. Audio diary data reveals that themes of uncertainty and fear of future emotional burnout emerge from Millennial nurses, while some Baby Boomer nurses in our sample express open disdain for younger nurses in terms of work ethic and the interruptions they cause. Training of younger nurses can be experienced as burdensome and exhausting. We use the results to further theorise an emotion practice approach that highlights nurses’ need to conserve emotional resources and channel them toward patient care rather than co-worker support.