Digital artifacts of self-representation: A critical qualitative analysis of nursing memes

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dc.contributor.authorHubert, Jaymelyn
dc.contributor.authorBeaumont, Madelaine
dc.contributor.authorBungay, Vicky
dc.contributor.authorSlemon, Allie
dc.date.accessioned2026-03-05T17:18:55Z
dc.date.available2026-03-05T17:18:55Z
dc.date.copyright2025
dc.description.abstractStereotypes in mass media depict harmful and inaccurate portrayals of nurses and nursing work. As memes are understood to be units of culture, they may be examined as artifacts, deepening understandings of contemporary culture. This critical qualitative analysis of nursing memes from two popular social media platforms seeks to identify current cultural narratives and social meanings of nursing reproduced within the public domain. Memes were selected from popular hashtags and nursing meme accounts with more than 2500 followers. Memes were included if they followed traditional meme format and content-centered discourses of gender, race, and other aspects of power and oppression within nursing and healthcare systems. Our analysis employed a qualitative descriptive design within an overarching critical social theoretical framework. We identified that nursing memes reproduced stigmatizing and discriminatory narratives of patients and perpetuated harmful notions of "who" nurses are and "what" nurses do, while also drawing attention to systemic challenges facing the profession. Memes therefore serve as a valuable artifact for communicating contemporary cultural narratives about nursing and nursing work. Generating and distributing memes to raise awareness of systemic pressures may serve as a valuable social strategy toward advocating for systemic shifts in nursing and healthcare to address persistent challenges.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.identifier.citationHubert, J., Beaumont, M., Bungay, V., & Slemon, A. (2025). Digital artifacts of self-representation: A critical qualitative analysis of nursing memes. Nursing Inquiry, 32(2), e70021. https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.70021
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/nin.70021
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/23420
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherNursing Inquiry
dc.rightsCC BY-NC 4.0en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.subjectcritical qualitative analysis
dc.subjectmemes
dc.subjectnursing
dc.subjectnursing work
dc.subjectsocial media
dc.subject.departmentSchool of Nursing
dc.titleDigital artifacts of self-representation: A critical qualitative analysis of nursing memes
dc.typeArticle

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