AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF WOMEN NURSE ALCOHOLICS: THE CULTURAL PATH OF DRINKING AND RECOVERY WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERVENTION IN THE WORKPLACE.
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 297
Subjects: Health Sciences, Education.
Description: Educational programs to prepare nurse managers to identify, confront and assist the nurse abusing alcohol in the workplace are inadequate. The impaired nurse compromises her ability to provide professional care, thus endangering the client and failing to meet the public trust. The stigma and fear of legal and vocational reprisals encourage concealment of the problem (Regan, 1984; Bissell, 1981). Nurse managers lack knowledge, skill and understanding in recognizing early chemically-dependent behaviors among nurse alcoholics and relating to them in recovery (Green, 1984). This study describes the cultural paths of drinking and recovery to provide knowledge that would enable nurse managers to deal effectively and humanely with impaired nurses.

Thirty-four recovering alcoholic nurses were divided into older and younger age groups. A minimum of two interviews totaling at least six hours were conducted over a fifteen month period. A qualitative research design using Spradley's ethnographic process of domain identification, taxonomic, componential and theme analysis was used to analyze the data. Stress emerged as the dominant theme stemming from a disturbed homelife characterized by absence of love, imprudent choices, self worthlessness and perceived benefits of alcohol and/or other drugs. This stress comprised the cultural path of drinking. In recovery, fear surfaced in relationship to emerging consciousness, forming a new self concept and anticipating failure of others to comprehend. These findings suggest a human needs conceptual framework for interpreting the path and providing program content. Concerning the workplace, recovering nurses described the laxity in supervision of controlled drugs, the importance of indepth educational experiences to modify employee attitudes toward the alcoholic and the failure to recognize recovering nurses as a valuable educational resource.

Program guidelines for nurse managers derived from the study are expressed as goals, objectives and content. Goals are: Knowledge about the cultural path and early alcoholic behaviors and knowledge and attitudes supportive to workplace re-entry. Future research in the work setting is needed to determine factors and conditions which inhibit nurse managers in dealing with the alcoholic nurse. Since this study relied on retrospective accounts, observational research is needed about drinking and recovering nurses in the context of the workplace.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-11, Section: B, page: 3241.

Thesis (ED.D.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1987.

School code: 0043.