Separation and psychological trauma: a paradox examined

This paper explores the separation of children from their parents that took place in British hospitals in the middle years of the 20th century (Bradley 2001). It is widely believed that this child-parent separation was the product of a failure to understand the child's psychological and social needs (Bowlby et al 1939, Brain and Maclay 1968, Branstetter 1966, Editorial 1957). Paediatric nurses have been blamed for this ignorance and the resulting failure of care (Bowlby et al 1939). However, evidence suggests that such accusations are flawed in logic and in fact: paediatric nurses of the time were fully conversant with the prevailing understanding of child psychology and practised that psychology. In this article it is argued that the cause of child-parent separation lies elsewhere. Data are drawn from a study concerning the social history of paediatric nursing between 1920 and 1970 (Jolley 2004). Oral history data were collected from past nurses of children and from people who had been in hospital as children within this period. Oral history data from 30 participants were recorded, content analysed and validated by the participants.