A Process Model of Emotional Labor of Nursing: Case Study of Two Chinese Public Hospitals

Abstract

This article aims to establish a new process model to indicate the antecedents and consequences of emotional labor of nursing. We conducted a case study on the Intensive Care Unit and Obstetrics Department in two public hospitals in China, respectively. Problem scenarios may cause nurses’ emotional dissonance, and nurses may respond with deep action or surface action. In contrast, death-related scenarios may cause emotional excess and further emotional detachment. We incorporate the emotion regulation theory with the process model of emotional labor to form a new model and verify the cause of nursing emotional conflict as an emotional scenario.