Themes relating to sexuality that emerged from a discourse analysis of the Nursing Times during 1980–1990

Abstract

The intention of this study was to develop insight into how the concept of human sexuality has been addressed within a popular nursing medium, namely the publication Nursing Times, during the decade 1980-1990. The study begins by clarifying discourse analysis and its role in the social construction of language. Exploration of the use of metaphors within nursing text is made to highlight the ability to convey multiple meaning and ideology within nursing practice. The 86 text papers generated during this decade were subjected to a process of qualitative data analysis entitled 'Framework'. The emerging themes from this process were used to inform a discussion of the ideological and practice relationships that exist between nursing and human sexuality.