A PRELIMINARY-ANALYSIS OF MEMORABLE SUPPORT AND NONSUPPORT MESSAGES RECEIVED BY NURSES IN ACUTE-CARE SETTINGS

This study presents a preliminary analysis of recalled messages of sup port and nonsupport received by nurses in a midsize, midwestern hospit al. In interviews nurses recalled specific incidents of support and no nsupport they had experienced in the workplace. The structural and fun ctional characteristics of these memorable messages of support and non support were then independently coded by trained coders within the fol lowing categories: (a) the structure and form of the message, (b) the context and timing of the message, (c) the relationship between the so urce and receiver, and (d) the content of the message and the message effects. The results of chi-square analyses and McNemar tests are pres ented. The results suggest that in the specific categorical areas exam ined, support and nonsupport messages exhibit a relatively high degree of similarity within-participants. That is, participants appeared to use a cognitive template for classifying communication acts as support ive and nonsupportive. Specific between-participant message similariti es and differences are also enumerated and explained.