ABSTRACT
Objective:
To analyze the obstetric nurses’ discourse on self-care and decisions make of their life and body, and their relation with care for other women.
Method:
A qualitative, post-structuralist research with 14 obstetric nurses. Data were obtained from in-depth interviews and submitted to discourse analysis, based on the concepts of Foucault.
Results:
The findings reveal that caring of obstetric nurses is produced in the encounter between their own body and the body of the women under their care. The nursing profession was presented not only as a means of work and support but as an essential device for the training of women as subjects. The collective narrative is marked by the attitude of compassion, by the processes of subjectivity incited by the professional practice, by indicators of critical and political care, and by the construction of an interlocking network among obstetrical nurses.
Conclusions and implications for practice:
Acting in obstetric nursing results in self-care and care(less) effects of other women. The study contributes to the analysis and knowledge of the life and work scenario of obstetrical nurses. It also reassures the potential of care as an art that is present in the women’s practices.
Keywords:
Obstetric Nursing. Feminism; Humanizing Delivery; Women’s Health