Abstract
It has been widely assumed that nurses are generally submissive (e.g. Bush and Kjervik, 1979). Further, it is claimed that this is because most nurses are female and thus the socialisation process has been blamed. Others (e.g. Bennet, 1979) have blamed the rigid bureaucratic hierarchy in nursing. According to the Royal Commission on the National Health Service, the nursing profession is suffering from a number of ailments and nurses are open to misuse. Nurses, themselves, have suggested a multitude of reasons for this. For example (Herman, 1977) highlights a problem—job dissatisfaction:
‘Nurses lament that they are disappointed in their choice of careers. Instead of feeling fulfilled and enhanced as persons, they feel that they have no control over what they do, that they are not listened to, and, in general, that they are exploited.’ (p.281)
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© 1982 William Jeyam Alagaratnam
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Alagaratnam, W.J. (1982). A Survey of Anxiety and Assertiveness in Student Nurses and Undergraduates. In: Redfern, S.J., Sisson, A.R., Walker, J.F., Walsh, P.A. (eds) Issues in Nursing Research. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06200-3_12
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