Embodied practice: rediscovering the 'heart' of nursing

Area of Science:

• Nursing Studies
• Philosophy of the Body
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Growing theoretical literature on embodiment across disciplines over the past 20 years.
• Nursing, a fundamentally body-based practice, has significantly neglected theoretical and empirical investigation into embodiment.
• The potential of embodiment insights for nursing practice is substantial yet remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the critical importance of embodiment within the nursing profession.
• To examine diverse sources of authoritative knowledge regarding the body and embodiment.
• To critique dominant scientific and medical epistemologies that marginalize embodied nursing knowledge.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual paper utilizing a discussion-based approach.
• Informed by seminal texts in nursing and sociology, alongside contemporary sources.
• No conventional systematic literature search was employed; focus on theoretical reflection.

Main Results:

• Dominant medical and scientific views of the body offer an incomplete understanding of embodied patient experiences and nursing embodiment.
• Embodied epistemologies in nursing have been historically marginalized by prevailing biomedical paradigms.
• A significant gap exists in theoretical and empirical nursing research concerning the body and embodiment.

Conclusions:

• Proposes a 'corporeal (re)turn' in nursing practice, valuing lived embodied experiences and knowledge.
• Highlights the need to integrate embodied understanding into contemporary person-centered nursing, research, and education.
• Calls for repositioning embodiment as central to nursing, particularly amidst international efforts to elevate care standards.