The school nursing profession in relation to Bourdieu's concepts of capital, habitus and field

• Scand J Caring Sci; 2012; 26; 355362 The school nursing profession in relation to Bourdieus concepts of capital, habitus and field Aim: The aim was to define the work and professional role of school nurses, in terms of Bourdieus key concepts of capital and habitus. Method: A qualitative study with a deductive approach, based on data from six focus-group interviews with 24 school nurses and 15 individual interviews with school nurses. Thus, a total of 39 school nurses participated in the study. The data were analysed using content analysis. Results: The results explain, in terms of Bourdieus key concepts of capital and habitus, how school nurses experience their work in the educational setting. A model including different aspects of school nurses work is shown. Conclusion: The new Swedish Education Act focuses on promoting students general health, so that they are able to reach their academic potential. In this task, the school nurse is to be one of a group of several professionals working together. The present study shows how school nurses experience their professional role and their work in relation to Bourdieus concepts of capital, habitus and field. To strengthen the school nursing profession, school nurses need to show their competence in promoting students health.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Bourdieu's key concepts of capital and habitus

school nurses

work

professional role

competence

educational setting

qualitative content-analysis

health

nurses

Bourdieu's key concepts of capital and habitus

Integrated Caring Science

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)