Background 

This scholarship project uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore the experiences of emotional labour among undergraduate student nurses participating in synchronous online tutorials. The project is theoretically informed by Hochschild’s (1983) conceptualisation of emotional labour and is situated within a Communities of Practice (CoP) framework (Lave and Wenger, 1991). The concept of CoP informed the design of this project as the synchronous online learning sessions that participants are interviewed about within the project, employ CoP as a main pedagogical approach. 

Hochschild (1983) coined the term emotional labour, which she defined as “the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display…”. Emotional labour has been widely examined within the nursing profession, where managing emotions is recognised as an integral part of the work (Gray, 2008; Henderson, 2001). Within nurse education, research has explored emotional labour experienced by student nurses during clinical placements (Santo et al., 2019). But  there has been limited exploration of emotional labour within the theoretical components of nurse education. There remains a gap in understanding how emotional labour is experienced by student nurses in synchronous online learning spaces and within a digital CoP. Exploring this provides insight into how students navigate emotional labour within digital learning environments and how this impacts their engagement and learning experiences. 

Method 

Adopting an interpretivist approach, the study uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore how students experience and make sense of emotional labour within online learning environments. Semi-structured online interviews are conducted with final-year undergraduate nursing students who have regularly participated in synchronous online teaching sessions as part of a CoP within their nursing programme. IPA is chosen as a methodology because it focuses not only on exploring lived experience but also on how individuals interpret and make sense of those experiences, which is central to this project’s focus. 

Results 

The study explores how aspects of emotional labour such as emotional regulation, perceived expectations of participation, and discussions of emotionally sensitive clinical topics is experienced by students in online tutorials. These findings contribute to discussions about how emotional labour is impacted by digital learning and the implications for educators seeking to design psychologically safe and supportive online learning environments in nursing education and wider digital CoP. 

Conclusion 

This study explores emotional labour within digital synchronous learning in undergraduate nursing education. It examines how student nurses experience and manage emotional labour during online tutorials. The findings contribute to understanding the emotional aspects of digital learning and inform the development of psychologically safe and supportive online teaching practices in nursing education and wider digital CoP.