ABSTRACT
This chapter presents, analyses and discusses empirical data drawn from the Jubilee Centre project – Virtuous Practice in Nursing – which examined how nursing students and experienced nurses conceived character in relation to the nursing role and to nursing as a profession more widely. Data presented provide an initial snapshot of the motivations of the respondents to enter the nursing profession and the sort of nurse (in terms of character, rather than specialism) they wished to be when embarking on their career. In addition, this chapter presents data regarding how respondents across the three career stages conceived their own personal character strengths as nurses and those character strengths they identified with the ‘ideal’ nurse. Data analyses show how respondents have understood the varied contextual factors that enabled and constrained their ability to practise professional virtue in their workplace settings. In exploring these themes, key features of the workplace that influence virtuous practice are considered.
