The Professional Image: The Mass Media and the Image of Nurses and Nursing

1. The Professional Image:The Mass Media and the Image of Nurses and Nursing Shannon MacFarlane Jacqueline Sy Amanda Wallace TawnyaWerb

2. Access our project components online through our group website: http://nurs2950-image.wikispaces.com/

3. Outline • The Power of Images • Self Image of Nursing • The Mass Media and the Images of Nurses • Nurses in the Media: Past & Present • Media’sManipulated Image of the Nurses • NO to naughty nurse image • The Public Perception of Nursing • Strategies to Induce Change • What Can We Do?

4. The Power of Images • The use of images in persuasive communication • Propaganda … advertising Many scholars think that a visual image is often a more leading element than its verbal counterpart in the process of persuasion. The visual message easily grabs people's attention and effectively affects their emotion

5. Self-Image of Nursing • Set of beliefs and images we hold to be true about ourselves • Continually being developed, influences our behavior and performance, and affects how we think and act • People’s perception of nursing and nursing is influenced by their interactions and experiences with nurses

6. What and How “There are four ways and only four ways in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say and how we say it.” –Dale Carnegie • Nurse educators can help change the self image of nursing through teaching and role-modeling

7. The Mass Media and the Image of Nurses and Nursing Kalisch and Kalisch (1982) surveyed mass media products relating to nursing from the past two centuries: • “Angel of Mercy” 1854 - 1919 • “Girl Friday” 1920 – 1929 • “The Heroine” 1930 – 1945 • “The Mother” 1945 – 1965 • “The Sex Object” 1965 +

8. “The Angel of Mercy”1854 - 1919 Portrayed as noble, moral, religious, virginal, ritualistic and self-sacrificing. (Kalisch & Kalisch, 1982).

9. “Girl Friday”1920 - 1929 Portrayed as “subservient, cooperative, methodical, dedicated, modest and loyal” (Kalisch & Kalisch, 1982).

10. “The Heroine”1930 - 1945 Portrayed as “brave, rational, dedicated, decisive, humanistic, and autonomous” (Kalisch & Kalisch, 1982).

11. “The Mother”1930 - 1945 Portrayed as “maternal, nurturing, sympathetic, passive, expressive, domestic” (Kalisch & Kalisch, 1982).

12. “The Sex Object”1965 + Portrayed as “sensual, romantic, hedonistic, frivolous, irresponsible, promiscuous individual” (Kalisch & Kalisch, 1982).

13. Other Proposed Stereotypes

14. History of Nurses and Nursing • Naughty nurse – roots in 17th century • Protection from stereotype: • Religious vows (Calling from God) • Veils and cloaking

15. History of Nurses and Nursing • Florence Nightengale: If nursing was going to be respectable, it had to be dexexualized Still existed the stereotype between " nun & whore"

16. Media’s Manipulated Image of the Nurse • "Naughty Nurse Persona " Female predominance, the view of women as sex objects, disregard their intellectual capabilities

17. “NO to naughty nurse image” Registered Nurse Journal – January/February 2009 • Laurie Spooner, RN (Sick Kids hospital): taking TTC, saw the Hydra vodka water ad • Misunderstanding of what nurses really do

18. “NO” to naughty nurse image • Thousands of RNAO members have spoken out against advertising campaigns that depict nurses as sex objects • Virgin Mobile commercial • Recently, members objected to Dentyne gum commercial http://nurs2950-image.wikispaces.com/Video+Examples

19. “There’s nothing sexy about this career. It is a combination of knowledge, judgment and skill. • To continue being portrayed • as sexually available to patients • increases the potential for assault on the job. “ • Lorraine Dunn, RN, Toronto

20. “NO” to naughty nurse image • Neilson Dairy Ultimate flavoured milk “Ultimate Recovery Team” • RNAO members wrote over 1000 letters to Neilson; Neilson apologized, discontinued the ads

21. “NO to naughty nurse image” • RN Sandy Summers, former Director of the Center for Nursing Advocacy • ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs • Physicians consistently performing duties that nurses do in real life.

22. Examples: • Nurses being supervised by physicians, who have the authority to hire and fire them • Nurses becoming physicians rather than pursuing advanced-degree nursing • Nursing as dull and lowly compared to medicine

23. Carla, from Scrubs as positive nursing image

24. “NO to naughty nurse image” Summers, RN:Society does not bestow the same negative images on other professionals such as lawyers, doctors because society respects they amount of money they earn as well as the perceived rigors of law school

25. “NO to naughty nurse image” “If you’re a sixteen years old.. You might want to do something exciting that is going to challenge you, let you travel, go on to get a PhD or do research. All of this is nursing but people don’t know that… if we speak out a little at a time, we can slowly increase knowledge of what we do. That will increase the respect we get and that’s going to improve our numbers and make us a better profession.” Laurie Spooner, RN

26. “I read with interest your article regarding speaking out against the naughty nurse image. I agree completely that RNAO and other organizations representing the nursing profession should continue to lobby advertisers with respect to their sexist portrayal of nurses. I think you missed the mark, however, with the drawing on the cover of the Journal. I really do not think you should have printed the very image you are trying to erase. Putting a line through the picture does not negate the image. I’m sure there was heated discussion as you decided what picture to print. But, in my opinion, the wrong side lost the debate.” Ian Clarke, Milton, Ontario

27. “It is beyond my comprehension why anyone would agree to publish this cover. This is an embarrassment to me personally, and I believe to our profession that the Journal would do the very thing nurses are fighting against for all the reasons stated in the article and more. To recklessly put on the cover a sultry nursing image depicting exactly what we state is a detriment to our profession is a contradiction that now adds to the lack of respect for our profession. If there are any apologies to be had, it is sadly now required from the Journal/RNAO.” HallieStreith, Cambridge Ontario

28. “Chuck the cartoon scrubs unless you’re in pediatrics. If you wish doctors to treat you as a colleague in healthcare, society to acknowledge you as authorities and to be paid as your profession deserves, insist upon the image of a professional.” Patricia Raymond, 2004

29. Public Perceptions of Nursing Careers

30. FROM THE STREETVideo Interviews of the Public

31. Why would you want to be a nurse? Do you know what nurses do? Do you really want to clean up CRAP for the rest of your life? -Medical Resident

32. Public Opinions:

33. 87% of responses were positive using descriptors such as: • Caring • Compassionate • Knowledgeable • Intelligent • Responsible • Hard-Working

34. Negative Images pertained to nursing being: • Hard • Tough • Demanding • Overworked • Underpaid

35. The media influenced 60% of these respondents images of nursing • 80% formed their opinions through personal contact with nurses or experiences of others with nurses

36. Despite the fact that 91% of the respondents believed nursing is a highly respected profession • Only 76% would recommend nursing as a career • (Giovannett, 1990, p.7)

37. Support for nursing as a career was found to be lowest among persons with some post secondary education • Two groups from which potential nursing students could be recruited and who are likely to have strong peer influence

38. As level of respondents increases • Positive views of nursing as challenging and interesting decreased • Strong support for nursing as a career decreased

39. 76% of respondents believed nurses should always consult a physician before administering client care • 72% perceived physicians as having total authority over client care

40. Strategies to Implement Change • Develop a positive self-image in nurses • Objective of university programs • Influence the public’s image of nursing • Take action through writing letters • Professional organizations present awards to media presentations that portray the most positive images of nursing • CNA Media Awards for Health • Reporting • Nurse driven radio and television programs • Nursing Approach, television show in 1993 • Recruitment media

41. What Can We Do? • Always identify your self as a nurse. • In clinical, make sure your patient distinguishes you as a student nurse, then be sure to look and act the part • The Butterfly Effect • Major newspapers & magazines • Blog, website, discussion forum • Advocate through letter writing • Bulletin board in the nursing lounge • CHRY 105.5 FM • Read nurse written books like…The Making of a Nurse, By Tilda Shalof • Buy a child the male nurse action figure!

42. Johnson & Johnson Campaign • http://nurs2950-image.wikispaces.com/Video+Examples

43. Who Wants to be a Millionaire

44. References Bischop, V. (2006). Editorial. Journal of Research in Nursing, 11(3), p.177-178. Clarke, I. (2009, March-April). NO to naughty nurse image [Letter to the editor]. Registered Nurse Journal, 21(2), p.7. Hallam, J. (1997). From angels to handmaidens: changing constructions of nursing public image in post-war Britain. Nursing Inquiry. 5:32-42. Kalisch, B., & Kalisch, P. (1982). Anatomy of the image of the nurse: Dissonant and ideal models. In C. Williams (Ed.), Image-making in nursing (pp. 3-23). Kansas City: American Academy of Nursing. Lusk, B. (2000). Pretty and Powerless: Nurses in Advertisements, 1930-1950. Research in Nursing & Health. 23: 229 – 236. Ross-Kerr, J.C. & Wood, M.J. (2002). Canadian Nursing: Issues and Perspectives 4th edition. Toronto: Elsevier Science Canada. Scarrow, J. (2009, January-February). NO to naughty nurse image. Registered Nurse Journal, 21(1), 12-16. Streith, H. (2009, March-April). NO to naughty nurse image [Letter to the editor]. Registered Nurse Journal, 21(2), p.7.