Efecto de la velocidad de deformaci´on

not felt or the constraint of felt emotion in order to conform to display rules (Grandey, 2000), was used by all groups in the current research. In line with their great emotional investment in their role, the palliative care nurses showed numerous instances of surface acting. When using surface acting to comply with display rules, the palliative care nurses discussed constraining negative emotions such as anger or frustration as the main consideration. The following comment shows how this nurse constrained her frustration at the client‟s non-adherence to the optimal treatment regime;

“…I had to accept that‟s his call… This is not my journey, this is not my wife and that‟s easy to say necessarily than it is to do but it is the truth… And so if I showed frustration then I‟m not being professional.” [PN5]

In the following example, despite feeling anxious, this palliative care nurse explained how she had to present a calm demeanour in order to reduce the anxiety of a patient and his wife;

“… so I‟m sort of trying to keep him calm just letting him know what‟s going on because he obviously realises that there‟s bleeding happened there and she gets very anxious so I‟m sort of trying to keep her calm… and that‟s quite anxiety producing for yourself…you‟re naturally a bit anxious when things start to bleed… you are able to deal with it but as a person you‟re sort of thinking, oh Christ, here we go…” [PN1].

In the following situation, the nurse hid her own anger as a response to abuse from a client;

“Well I feel upset, I feel angry … and I mean not that I would anyway, but I mean if someone … in your normal work situation is treating you badly, you can say exactly what you want back to them.” [PN4].

Nurses working in renal wards also indicated a need to constrain negative emotions as the prime reason for surface acting. Frustration was the most commonly constrained emotion. This appeared to occur as a result of longer term issues and the ongoing relationships that existed between nurses and patients;

“So you have to really keep yourself in check because sometimes you really just want to say look, you‟re as dry as a crisp. You don‟t need any more fluid off. You‟ve got an obsession because you‟ve got nothing else to worry about in your entire life apart from your chronic disease.” [RN5].

This nurse explained how she simultaneously masked anger or frustration, while at the same time ensuring that she displayed a cheerful demeanour;

“If I get days where the first couple of patients piss me off, I go behind the counter and go oh for God‟s sake, if they ask me that question one more time I‟m just going to scream but then you go out and you go (pause) and you give a nice big smile and just do your job, yeah.” [RN5].

Emergency nurses also felt the need to mask anger and frustration when dealing with clients. As can be seen by the strength of the language used, a high level of

frustration and anger was evident in the way they spoke of their more difficult interactions. As a result, there seemed to be a substantial effort required to mask

negative emotions. Implicit in the following two comments was a recognition that keeping clients calm was of great importance in order to ensure the efficient running of the emergency department and to protect all employees in the vicinity;

“………well my feelings were along the lines of, why don‟t you just piss off you fucking waste of space sort of thing, I can‟t remember exactly what I thought but I was frustrated but sufficiently aware of the need to calm him down………” [EN2].

“Other days you just feel like saying, fuck off you little tosser. (laughter) But I think you have to look at it as a big picture, if you do anything to inflame these people, you‟re actually putting your colleagues at risk.” [EN5].

There was no evidence in the interviews with the nurses from the emergency department of surface acting as a means of displaying a happy demeanour or to appear overly friendly. It appears that the need to remain calm no matter what was the prime consideration for these nurses.

For the clerical group, surface acting was also used to mask anger or frustration, although the instances of this happening appear less emotionally charged than was the case for emergency nurses;

“… if somebody gets angry at me, my instant reaction is to get angry back but I normally remember where I am and say I don‟t have to be spoken to like that.” [EC2].

“You have to stop your frustration from telling people things over and over again. ...You just have to be calm and repeat what you‟ve already probably told them five times, so there‟s frustration there.” [EC1].

emotional state of clients. Possibly due to this perception of their role plus a physical barrier being present and the subsequent lack of the possibility of a physical

confrontation with clients, the clerks showed a lower propensity to express or constrain emotion compared to emergency nurses. This finding is notable given that both groups work with at least some of the same clients in a similar timeframe in the same vicinity.

Hochschild (1983) suggests that not being able to express how one truly feels may lead the employee to feel hypocritical or disconnected with one‟s true self. The interviewees never described the need to simply put on a smile while feeling a bland indifference. Instead, surface acting consisted of the requirement to repress emotion (most often anger or frustration) whilst remaining outwardly calm. When discussing instances of surface acting in the current research, participants often used strong and emotional language, indicating that the negative feelings at the time had left a residual or unresolved element.