Feelings of mutuality of caring in visiting nurses elicited by reevaluating psychological distress promotes development of their professional identities

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to determine whether cognitive reevaluation of psychological distress in visiting nurses promotes the development of their professional identities and elicits feelings of mutuality of caring. In study 1, we administered a questionnaire survey to 371 visiting nurses. A covariance structural analysis showed that, although most of the visiting nurses suffered more psychological distress from caring for clients, their professional identities were further developed through feelings of mutuality of caring caused by the successive reevaluation of future care for clients. In study 2, we intervened visiting nurses via e-mail. The results showed that, in experimental conditions in which visiting nurses successively reevaluated their psychological distress while considering future care for clients, the nurses had higher scores for measures of professional identity. These results supported our hypothesis and demonstrated the effectiveness of successively evaluating patient care, to elicit feelings of mutuality, in developing the professional identities of visiting nurses, who experience various kinds of psychological distress.