Guest Contributor: Meghann Buyco
Nursology.net Intern
PhD student in nursing, Trinity Western University

Over the past few years, I have been so absorbed by nursing research that it has become an integral part of my “practice” as a nurse. Although at some points I have been engrossed in the fundamentals of the laborious steps and procedures of research, my eyes and heart are also constantly open to the bigger concepts of what we are attempting to address, such as social determinants of health, injustice, and intersectionality; for me, it is how human rights are demonstrated in each of our everyday. While we would agree that nursing research is about investigating the promotion of health and well-being, identifying evidence-based practices, improving nursing education, and contributing to advance nursing knowledge, for me, research has been a way to find meanings, especially as I listen to stories and generate new knowledge, making me reflect on how I view and interact with the world.

Human rights, in its international form (e.g., the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), is broad and ambiguous; it reads more as an aspiration than clear directions of how to move forward to achieve such rights. What does it actually look like, and what does it mean when everyone is entitled to have human rights? As nurses, we are particularly concerned about the principle that everyone has the right to health; yet we know that many vulnerable populations are far from receiving that right. How are people experiencing their right to health? What actions must be taken to ensure everyone is able to enjoy their rights? For example, for the last four years, I have been engaged with persons with albinism and their mothers in countries in Africa. While albinism in North America is mainly attributed to its vision impairment and pale skin and hair as clinical manifestations, in various regions across the world, it is associated with mythical beliefs about the condition that persist to this day.

Albinism is believed to be a curse or a bad omen to families and communities, leading to discrimination and ferocious abuse against them, especially women affected by albinism (Kajiru & Nyimbi, 2020; Reimer-Kirkham et al., 2020). When considering their right to an adequate standard of living, it is reflecting on their need to cautiously ration their earnings for food as well as paying for sunscreen for their family with albinism, recognizing the harsh climate in their area. When thinking about their right to freedom and safety, it is worth considering the heart-wrenching choices many mothers had to make to bring their children with albinism to temporary shelters instead of attempting to hide them in their homes to prevent kidnapping and attacks. When thinking about the right to live free without discrimination, mothers often bear the brunt of the harsh name-calling and blame in order to protect their children with albinism, and some reported these attitudes and behaviours being displayed when accessing health services. Promoting human rights is complicated and messy, and duty-bearers (government) are first and foremost held responsible. As nurses, however, we have a social and ethical duty to promote and protect everyone’s human rights.

Chinn and Kramer (2018), particularly through Emancipatory Knowing, call for nurses to “recognize social and political problems of injustice and inequity, to realize that things could be different, and to piece together complex elements of experience and context to change a situation that improves people’s lives” (pp. 71-72). Provided that human rights describe conditions in which individuals and nations aspire, nurses can reflect more broadly on a situation to recognize the political, social, and economic dimensions to identify what must be right and implement social change. Since our professionalization, Thorne (2014) asserts that social justice is a normative position for nursing. The basis that nursing was formed on the goal of ensuring the best for all and enabling everyone to attain health gives rise to the idea that human rights exist in nursing. Through emancipatory knowing, nurses can then recognize the injustices that, according to Chinn (2010) are created by humans, and thus, humans can change these circumstances. The barriers such as those experienced by women affected by albinism are not just their sole problems because they are situated in the broader social contexts and structures. Emancipatory knowing not only highlights the need to critically examine social, political, and institutional structures but to be a catalyst for change and disrupt the status quo to promote health equity. It asks nurses to expand our reach and engagement in areas we know need to be improved, revised, or transformed. Individuals face challenges that exist outside of healthcare; it is our responsibility to advocate and promote the right to health for all.

As you read this post, I ask nursologists to reflect on how you understand and engage with human rights and how you have been protecting everyone’s rights within your place of work. Although we often see human rights brought about in political and moral spheres, we live it everyday. While, as nurses, we promote the assumption that everyone is entitled to have human rights protected on the basis of our inherent nature as humans, we can also make powerful discussions and actions that stem from human rights in addressing social injustice and wrongdoing due to its implications in centering the equality and dignity of humans.

References

Chinn, P. (2010). Critical theory and emancipatory knowing. In J. Butts & K. Rich (eds.), Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing practice (143-163). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Chinn, P. L., & Kramer, M. K. (2014). Knowledge development in nursing: Theory and process. Elsevier.

Kajiru, I., & Nyimbi, I. (2020). The impact of myths, superstition and harmful cultural beliefs against albinism in Tanzania: A human rights perspective. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad, 23(1).

Reimer-Kirkham, S., Astle, B., Ero, I., Imafidon, E., & Strobell, E. (2020). Mothering, albinism and human rights: The disproportionate impact of health-related stigma in Tanzania. Foundations of Science, 1-22.

Thorne, S. (2014). Nursing as social justice: A case for emancipatory disciplinary theorizing. In P. Kagan, M. C. Smith, & P. L. Chinn (Eds.), Philosophies and practices of emancipatory nursing (pp. 79-90). Routledge.

About Meghann Buyco

My name is Meghann Buyco and I am from British Columbia, Canada. I am an intern for Nursology.net. I am in my first year of my PhD in Nursing at Trinity Western University. Clinically, I work in an outpatient cancer centre and long-term care facility. I work as a Project Coordinator for an international research on mothering, albinism, and human rights. My interest is in human rights, disabilities, health equity, and global health.