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

Abstract

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.