Reading literature on kinship in a clinical context: a qualitative study of a reading group for nurses

Family members, relatives and friends are all affected when someone is hospitalised with a life-threatening illness. However, they often feel neglected and sometimes ignored by healthcare professionals. To address this, the reading of literature has been used in various clinical contexts in an attempt to humanise the care of patients and their relatives. Reading fiction enables healthcare professionals to imaginatively enter relatives' perspectives, fostering a deeper understanding of their experiences, which may in turn enhance family-centred care in clinical practice. However, research on how healthcare professionals engage with the reading of literary texts and what they discuss in such contexts has not yet been explored. This article presents findings from a qualitative study exploring a reading group for nurses at a hospital ward in Denmark, where literature on kinship was read and discussed. We examined the following specific research question: What takes place when nurses join a reading group in a clinical context to read and discuss literature on kinship?Based on a hermeneutical analysis of four audio-recorded reading group sessions, we identified the following three themes: (1) awareness of kinship and the negotiation of norms, (2) engagement with various perspectives and (3) acknowledgement of emotions when caring for family members. These themes are discussed in light of Felski's concept of recognition as knowing and acknowledgement. Additionally, by applying Meretoja's theory of narrative agency, we demonstrate how reading literature in a clinical setting can foster narrative agency, enabling nurses to expand and clarify their understandings and assumptions of kinship based on their ability to navigate and influence what Meretoja terms their 'narrative environment' in a clinical context.