S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016

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that shoulders the burden; and without due acknowledgement. As Fisher et al. (1996) observed of remote nurses ‘[they] are reluctant to draw attention to themselves and the state of their job conditions for fear of drawing unwanted media attention to local community problems’ (p. 198). 9.4.4 Robustness Robustness is the quality or condition of being strong, in good condition or the ability to withstand or overcome adverse conditions ( Shorter Oxford Dictionary , 2007). Adversity is hardship or suffering associated with misfortune, trauma, distress, difficulty, or a tragic event (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000; Rutter, 1999; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). ‘Workplace adversity can be viewed as any negative, stressful, traumatic, or difficult situation or episode of hardship that is encountered in the occupational setting ‘(Jackson, Firtko & Edenborough, 2007, p. 3). None of the nurse participants stated, nor does the literature illustrate, remote nurses unwilling to caring for mental health patients on the basis of being too hard or difficult. On the contrary, remote nurses continue to place themselves in danger and expose themselves to unacceptable risks in their caring role (McCullough et al., 2012). They can only do this if they continue to withstand adverse conditions and events. A quintessential example of remote nurse robustness relates to the level of violence they are subjected to, particularly from mental health patients (Ferns et al., 2005). Chapter six highlighted the remote nurses concern about this issue. The researcher refers to Fisher et al. (1996) who stated in relation to this topic, ‘These [remote] nurses make an active decision to become part of the folklore of the ‘outback’. It takes courage … to live in an isolated region: let alone to take on

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