Research Program

Stemming the projects I undertook in my graduate studies, my research interests focus primarily on the structures (e.g., legal, political, organizational, societal, etc.) in which nurses practise. Among other things, these interests allow me to examine and problematize the effects of nursing practices beyond their therapeutic and humanistic intents, and to explore how nurses experience practising in such contexts and environments. My research program revolves around two very specific themes. Questions linked to power, risk and identity construction fit concomitantly within these two research themes and allow me to extend my research interests to various settings where nursing care is dispensed, which include, the broad domains of psychiatry, mental health, and public health.

Theme 1: The Government of ‘Dangerous’ Individuals.

The first research theme of my research program aims to better understand how various systems govern individuals deemed dangerous for the purpose of public protection. With a focus on medico-legal nursing in the domain of mental health and psychiatry, this research theme situates itself at the juncture of (nursing) care, social control, exclusion, and public protection. Inserted within a critical exploratory perspective, this research theme allows for an examination of the existing tensions between these domains and for the problematization of taken-for-granted “therapeutic” nursing practices.

Theme 2: Experiences of Nurses Practising in Mental Health & Psychiatry.

The second research theme complements the first in that it seeks to understand how nurses who practise in the broad domains of mental health and psychiatry experience the complex environment in which they provide care. Once again rooted in a critical perspective, this research theme allows for an exploration of the effects of healthcare structures (e.g., legal, political, institutional, societal, etc.) on the personal and professional identities of nurses, and by extension, on the care they provide to patients.

Interwoven within these two themes is my desire to make nurse-led research, and particularly nurse-led critical research, accessible to nurses and clinicians who must navigate very difficult care environments and, in doing so, may be contributing to maintaining the status quo in these environments. To achieve this, I routinely involve clinicians, including nurses, in my research projects, from conception to knowledge dissemination. It is my hope that by engaging clinicians in research, it will increase the uptake of practice-related recommendations and contribute to making the research process more accessible and palatable.