Another point along the same lines....In my qualitative study of the emotion
work or emotional labour of midwives, I found that midwives differentiated
between different kinds of emotionally demanding work. In brief - caring for
a woman through a long birth, but one which was congruent with the midwife's
ideals( i.e. woman centred, as natural as possible) was described as 'a
positive kind of draining', whereas caring for a woman whose birth became
unnecessarily medicalised, or where the midwife felt she was unable to do
'real midwifery', was experienced as negative and emotionally exhausting.
It seems to me that there is something going on related to congruence
between ideals and reality, and also to levels of autonomy , which may apply
to the mothers in your study as well as midwives. It might be useful to look
at the work of Amy Wharton( although her focus is clearly on workplace
issues) - her quantitative research identifies a number of factors that
influence the emotional labour of workers, including the level of
occupational autonomy, the degree of job-involvement and the potential for
self-monitoring. She argues that, when conditions are optimal, jobs
requiring emotional labour may bring rewards rather than burnout.
Refs:
Wharton A.S. (1993) The affective consequences of service work: managing
emotions on the job. Work and Occupations. 20 (2): 205-232.
Wharton A.S., Erickson R.J. (1995) The consequences of caring: exploring the
links between women's job and family emotion work. The Sociological
Quarterly 36 (20): 273-296.
Wharton A.S. (1999) The psycho-social consequences of emotional labor. In
Emotional Labor in the Service Economy. (Steinberg R.J. and Figart D.M.
eds.). The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
pp 158-175.
Best wishes
Dr Billie Hunter
Head of Centre (Joint)/Senior Lecturer,
Centre for Midwifery and Gender Studies,
School of Health Science,
Floor 2, Vivian Tower,
University of Wales Swansea,
Swansea SA2 8PP
01792 518584
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Symon [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 12 March 2003 13:55
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Exhaustion vs. depression
There is a danger of 'channelling' women into certain diagnoses when
we use symptom checklists or a 'tick box' approach. Some tools,
particularly the medically-derived ones, don't always allow for the
complexity of the situation to become apparent, being uni-dimensional in
their approach.
The benefit of a good quality of life instrument is that it can allow the
woman to specify a range of opinions or emotions, something we are
trying to develop with the Mother-Generated Index (MGI). This multi-
dimensional approach is far more holistic, and offers a good way of
understanding how the women feels.
Andrew Symon
University of Dundee
On 10 Mar 2003, at 23:42, Jane Sandall wrote:
> Exhaustion vs. depressionI found this in my research which eaxmined
burnout in midwives in the UK. The maslach burnout inventory is a 22 item
inventory which breaks down into three separate sub-scales, 2 measuring
burnout and one measuring positive emotion 1) depersonalisation/extreme end
of
burnout, 2)emotional exhaustion 3) personal accomplishment
>
> I found some midwives scored high on personal accomplishment and emotional
exhaustion. In the piloting, the typical situation was following a long hard
birthing. I think it is very very important when looking at negative
emotions, that we also have a measure of positive emotions and dont assume
that that they are dichotomous.
> regards
> Jane Sandall
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Debbie Sen
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 1:08 PM
> Subject: Exhaustion vs. depression
>
>
> Dear All
> I was wondering if anyone could help. I am getting some very interesting
data from my PhD work
on Parents Coping with Twins, however a very interesting concept is
emerging. This relates to a dilemma about mothers in particular who self
report exhaustion but state they don't feel depressed. Interestingly these
mothers are scoring "positive" on the EPNDS and if seen by their GP are
prescribe
d anti-depressants. Could I ask if anyone is aware of literature pertaining
to this issue.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Debbie Sen
>
> Debbie Sen
> Senior Research Midwife/NHSE Fellow
> Newcastle Midwifery Research Team
> 4th Floor, Leazes Wing
> Royal Victoria Infirmary
> Queen Victoria Rd
> Newcastle upon Tyne
> NE1 4LP
>
> Work No: 0191 282 5781
> Fax No: 0191 282 0444
> Mobile No: 07734 681127
>
>
>
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