Caring for prisoners: towards mindful practice
- 10 December 2012
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Research in Nursing
- Vol. 18 (2), 158-168
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987112466086
Abstract
Those caring for prisoners are subject to the influences of the dominant custodial discourses of security and risk management that prevail in a prison environment. The conflicting caring and custodial roles adopted by nurses working in prisons and by prison officers constitute the foundation for further exploration of prisoner care in the wider healthcare literature. In this discussion paper, we argue that the identities and practices of those working in prison care are significantly shaped by organisational and societal discourses and that these generate rigidities and defensive mechanisms that limit the development of practice. We argue that a greater emphasis on mindfulness in professional development and clinical supervision may be helpful in enabling prison workers involved in caring roles to enter a professional dialogue characterised by openness, inclusion and engagement. This, we argue, would facilitate the development of newer and richer understandings of practice and to a revitalisation of professional engagement.Keywords
This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- A typology of prison officer approaches to careEuropean Journal of Criminology, 2011
- Narrative Research in NursingPublished by Wiley ,2007
- Locking Up Emotion: Moving Beyond Dissonance for Understanding Emotion Labor Discomfort The paper uses data from the author's dissertation, expertly advised by Dr. Stanley Deetz at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Earlier versions were presented at the annual meeting of the Western States Communication Association, 2004 and the International Communication Association, 2001.Communication Monographs, 2005
- A Standard of Care for Caring: A Delphi StudyInternational Journal for Human Caring, 2003
- Towards an uncertain politics of professionalism: teacher and nurse identities in fluxJournal of Education Policy, 2002
- Nursing with Prisoners: The Practice of Caring, Forensic Nursing or Penal Harm Nursing?Advances in Nursing Science, 2001
- The Construct of MindfulnessJournal of Social Issues, 2000
- Polarity and unity in caring: The healing power of symptomsComplementary Therapies in Nursing and Midwifery, 1999
- Caring and uncaring encounters within nursing and health care from the cancer patient's perspectiveCancer Nursing, 1997
- Contingency, Irony, and SolidarityPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1989