Développement et mise à l’essai de récits audio dans une activité de réflexion collective avec des infirmières accompagnant des jeunes mères ayant vécu de la maltraitance
INTRODUCTION: A significant proportion of young mothers in early childhood intervention programs have experienced childhood trauma. Nurses do not always feel supported, nor competent, to approach this topic with them. When used in a collective reflection activity, digital stories have been identified as relevant tools to support nurses in their practice. However, the development of these devices and their actual use remain poorly described. AIM: This report describes the development of digital stories and their utilization in a collective reflection activity with nurses in an early intervention program. METHOD: Two digital stories were created with reference to Fraiberg's (1975) work with young mothers who have experienced childhood trauma. A period of immersion with the team of nurses in their daily activities allowed a contextualized approach to recruit credible informants, conduct separate narrative interviews with a nurse and a young mother, and write two short stories. Five nurses participated in a collective reflection activity based on a reflective practice framework (Rolfe, 2011), the course of which was recorded iteratively to ensure ongoing support and co-supervision of the group facilitator. FINDINGS: Upon hearing the voice of a young mother and recognizing themselves in the short story of a nurse, participants shared repressed emotions, started to describe their own practice and engaged in a critique of the conditions that shape their professional practice. Initiating a dialogue on a sensitive and silenced issue, the conversation highlighted nurses’ emotional laboring. Reflective practice was essential to develop group facilitator skills that were supportive to initiate collective reflection and analysis. CONCLUSION: Theories are valuable tools to create digital story devices that have the power to initiate group mediated reflections on sensitive and unacknowledged issues. This project reveals that nurses in early childhood intervention programs could readily pursue further engagement in reflective practice with their peers on this generally unspoken topic; and that further attention is required to support emotional competence development so that nurses feel prepared to hear the voices of young women with a childhood history of abuse and neglect.
digital stories primary care nurses collective reflection childhood maltreatment young mothers emotional laboring emotional competency early intervention program