“This is part of the body” – Student nurses' de-sexualisation of intimate care for patients

Abstract

BackgroundEffective intimate care can significantly impact the clinical outcomes of patients. However, conducting intimate care, which involves exposing and touching sexually sensitive areas of the body, presents challenges and anxieties for student nurses, particularly when providing care for patients of the opposite sex. ObjectivesThis study aims to identify the challenges and struggles encountered by student nurses when providing intimate care for patients of the opposite sex, as well as to explore the coping strategies employed by the students. DesignA constructivist grounded theory research approach. SettingsThe study was conducted in Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China. ParticipantsTwenty-six student nurses across various stages of their education, and three clinical mentors. MethodsPurposive and theoretical sampling techniques were utilized to recruit participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data analysis was in line with the principles of constructivist grounded theory research. ResultsA two-stage adaptation model was established, demonstrating a dynamic pathway of student nurses toward intimate care. The first stage ‘gendered confinement in intimate care’ was characterized by student nurses' negative feelings and lack of nurse-patient interactions; the second stage ‘emancipation to gendered confinement’ was characterized by the development of constructive therapeutic nurse-patient relationships. The successful transfer was achieved through students' reconstructing the meaning of intimate care and nursing profession in three interplayed types: objectification of patients' body, moral authority of nursing care, and legitimisation of nursing profession. While the transfer process involved the students' intentional efforts to de-sexualize intimate care, clinical mentors facilitated the process. ConclusionStudent nurses' adaption to intimate care is a dynamic process which enhances the construction of the nursing professional identity. Support from nursing educators can facilitate student nurses' coping with intimate care-related challenges.