Commentary - Nursing and the Body

Abstract

In this short paper I will argue that "psychosocial" nursing research is premised on a mind/body split that disembodies persons and fragments the representation of health and illness experiences. I will also argue that this disembodiment has created a rift between nursing research and nursing practice. When I review the nursing research literature on acute care, I am struck by the scarcity of attention to the body. Nursing researchers seem to have left the body to the biomedical investigators, concentrating their own efforts on the psychosocial dimension of acute illness.