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Discursive constructions of professional identity in policy and regulatory discourse
Date
2018
Abstract
Aim To examine and describe disciplinary discourses conducted through professional policy and regulatory documents in nursing and midwifery in Ireland. Background A key tenet of discourse theory is that group identities are constructed in public discourses and these discursivelyâconstructed identities become social realities. Professional identities can be extracted from both the explicit and latent content of discourse. Studies of nursing's disciplinary discourse have drawn attention to a dominant discourse that confers nursing with particular identities, which privilege the relational and affective aspects of nursing and in the process, marginalise scientific knowledge and the technical and body work of nursing. Design We used critical discourse analysis to analyse a purposive sample of nursing and midwifery regulatory and policy documents. Method We applied a fourâpart, sequential approach to analysing the selected texts. This involved identifying key words, phrases and statements that indicated dominant discourses that, in turn, revealed latent beliefs and assumptions. The focus of our analysis was on how the discourses construct professional identities. Findings Our analysis indicated recurring narratives that appeared to confer nurses and midwives with three dominant identities: âthe knowledgeable practitionerâ, the âinterpersonal practitionerâ and the âaccountable practitionerâ. The discourse also carried assumptions about the form and content of disciplinary knowledge. Conclusions Academic study of identity construction in discourse is important to disciplinary development by raising nursesâ and midwivesâ consciousness, alerting them to the ways that their own discourse can shape their identities, influence public and political opinion and, in the process, shape public policy on their professions.
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Description
peer-reviewed
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Citation
Journal of Advanced Nursing;74 (9), pp. 2157-2166
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Funding Information
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland