School nursing in COVID-19: the role of professional organizations in identity management

2021 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Identity conflict can leave one feeling frustrated, sad, confused, and breathless with anger. As a school nurse, the fact that a pandemic-inducing respiratory illness led me to feel symptomatic with the weight of my job is not lost on me. My personal experience led me to investigate how a professional association uses communication strategies to navigate and (re)construct profession identity for members in crisis. To accomplish this, I conducted a mixed methods study that relied on my personal narratives and textual analysis using an iterative paradigm. Forty weekly email issues from the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) to school nurse members were analyzed from the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 to the end of the first semester that schools returned to learning in December 2020. As a school nurse, I included my own personal narratives to compare my experience during this time and add depth, breadth, and reflexivity to the research as a mode of inquiry. Three milestones emerged in the data: the onset of COVID-19 and schools closing for the end of the 19/20 school year; the preparation and return to school for the 20/21 school year; and the attempt at a return to normal and the close of the first semester with COVID-19 in the school setting. Results from the study expand the understanding of: a) how a crisis progresses over time; b) professional identities being salient and contested; c) conflict spurring professionals to further narrow their professional identity; d) and that professional organizations may address conflict in a way that increases conflict in members