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Privacy, Dignity, and Integrity: A Material Culture Analysis of What Space and Technology Affords the Neonatal Nurse

  • Author / Creator
    Paz Orellana-Fitzgerald
  • Despite a large and ever-growing body of literature that is concerned withthe relationship between the neonatal nurse and the physical environment of herworkplace, particularly as knowledge that can inform the design of NICUs, thereis very little work that looks to understand how the neonatal nurse experiences theparticular objects and spaces of her work environment. Taking a material culturestudies approach to the study of one intensive care unit in Edmonton, Alberta,Canada, this research describes how nurses working within this site interact with,perceive, and describe two everyday technological objects (the Overhead Warmerand the Hokki Stool) and one space (Pod 1) in the NICU. Based on an analysis ofdata collected through an artifact analysis, observations, and interviews, this thesistells the story of how nurses need and value privacy, dignity, and integrity in theirwork, and how these experiences are afforded through their interaction with thisspace and these objects. The findings of this research have implications for thedesign and development of the NICU and NICU design related products, as wellas being a contribution to scholarship related to the material culture of nursing,and the material culture of work.

  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Graduation date
    Fall 2018
  • Type of Item
    Thesis
  • Degree
    Master of Arts
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/R3QF8K149
  • License
    Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.