The experience of disgust by nursing and midwifery students: An interpretative phenomenological approach study.

Although disgust is recognized as a common and prominent emotion in healthcare, little is known about how healthcare professionals understand, experience and conceptualize disgust. The aim of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how nursing and midwifery students experience, understand and cope with disgust in their clinical work. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Six participants (all women: two nursing students, four midwifery students) from a university in the South of England were interviewed. Four superordinate themes with eight subthemes were identified. Overall, findings suggest that participants experience both moral and physical disgust; however, they find it difficult to talk about and use other terms to describe their experience. Findings are discussed through the lens of social identity theory, to understand the relevance of professional identity and how this might further maintain the disgust taboo. The strategies participants have developed in order to cope with disgust are explored and understood within the current healthcare climate. Future research should focus on ways of addressing the experience of disgust by healthcare professionals in order to improve the quality of care provided, especially in the climate of the COVID-19 crisis.

The experience of disgust by healthcare professionals: A literature review.

BACKGROUND: Disgust is a common emotion experienced by healthcare professionals which in extreme cases can contribute to neglect and abuse of patients. However, little research has explored how healthcare professionals experience disgust and what coping strategies they use to manage it. AIM: To identify, evaluate and synthesise results from empirical papers that have explored how healthcare professionals experience, understand and manage disgust in clinical work. DESIGN: A narrative literature review. DATA SOURCES: Using the EBSCOHost interface, a range of databases were systematically searched alongside manual searches and citation chaining which yielded the 11 papers included in this review. REVIEW METHOD: Qualitative synthesis. RESULTS: Three major themes were identified: The professionals' struggle to talk about disgust; the importance of boundaries: boundary breaching and boundary building; and the role of empathy in caring. CONCLUSION: This review found that disgust is a common experience for healthcare professionals, yet it is not talked about or openly expressed. Professionals have developed ways to cope with disgust and use empathy as a main strategy to overcome it. The review suggests that healthcare professionals should consider ways of making disgust part of a wider conversation, allowing clinicians to engage with their feelings, rather than feel ashamed of them and hiding disgust away as a silent part of care.