Outrage and the emotional labour associated with environmental activism among nurses

Aim: To investigate the emotions associated with environmental activism among nurses.
Background: Nursing has a long history of political activism in relation to social justice issues.
Some nurses are environmental activists.
Design: Ethnography
Methods: Focus groups and individual interviews were triangulated with additional observational data. The 40 participants (United States of America = 23, United Kingdom = 17) were nurses actively engaged with environmental/sustainability issues. Data collection was from
March – October 2017. Data were analysed using discourse analysis.
Results: The trigger for nurses’ environmental activism was a strong emotional response to recognising risks to human health. Their activism results in an additional emotion burden above that which they routinely experience in caring for patients. Many feel over-whelmed by the
magnitude of the issues. Nurses in America feel more supported and empowered to be activists than UK nurses.
Conclusion: This study reveals for the first time that advocating for the environment is emotional labour, additional to the previously-recognised emotional labour associated with caring for patients. Encouragement and support from others, particularly fellow nurses, helps nurse environmental activists continue to fight for the health of communities and the planet.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Outrage and the emotional labour associated with environmental activism among nurses, which has been published in final form in Journal of Advanced Nursing . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.