Feeling like the enemy: the emotion management and alienation of hospital doctors

Frontiers in Sociology

Sociology

Richard W. Costello¹  Jennifer Creese²  Niamh Humphries³  Robert McMurray³  John-Paul Byrne³  Anne Matthews⁴ 

[1] Department of Medicine, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland;Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom;Graduate School of Healthcare Management, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland;School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland;

关键词: emotion management;    alienation;    hospital doctors;    ethnography;    research methodology;    Ireland;    sociology of health;    sociology of emotion;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fsoc.2023.1232555

 received in 2023-06-01, accepted in 2023-08-08,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionGlobally, an epidemic of psychological distress, burnout, and workforce attrition signify an acute deterioration in hospital doctors' relationship with their work—intensified by COVID-19. This deterioration is more complicated than individual responses to workplace stress, as it is heavily regulated by social, professional, and organizational structures. Moving past burnout as a discrete “outcome,” we draw on theories of emotion management and alienation to analyze the strategies through which hospital doctors continue to provide care in the face of resource-constraints and psychological strain.MethodsWe used Mobile Instant Messaging Ethnography (MIME), a novel form of remote ethnography comprising a long-term exchange of digital messages to elicit “live” reflections on work-life experiences and feelings.ResultsThe results delineate two primary emotion-management strategies—acquiescence and depersonalization—used by the hospital doctors to suppress negative feelings and emotions (e.g., anger, frustration, and guilt) stemming from the disconnect between professional norms of expertise and self-sacrifice, and organizational realities of impotence and self-preservation.DiscussionIllustrating the continued relevant of alienation, extending its application to doctors who disconnect to survive, we show how the socio-cultural ideals of the medical profession (expertise and self-sacrifice) are experienced through the emotion-management and self-estrangement of hospital doctors. Practically, the deterioration of hospital doctors' relationship with work is a threat to health systems and organizations. The paper highlights the importance of understanding the social structures and disconnects that shape this deteriorating relationship and the broad futility of self-care interventions embedded in work contexts of unrealized professional ideals, organizational resource deficits and unhappy doctors, patients, and families.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Byrne, Creese, McMurray, Costello, Matthews and Humphries.

【 图 表 】

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