Sociological Imagination In Nursing

Everyone has an imagination. It enables individuals to articulate new ideas and envision life through a different perspective. However, without thinking away from one’s familiar routine, it can be difficult to view life from an altered standpoint. Mills (1959/2016) supports this claim through a term he called the sociological imagination (p.2). This entails an individual being able to think away from their current lives and reflect using another viewpoint. For instance, when problems arise in an ordinary individual’s life, they generally lack the quality of mind to consider how this challenge is connected to a bigger societal issue. However, by having a sociological imagination, it enables one to reflect how their own biographies are connected through societal and historical
Conversely, issues are viewed as public complications that have structural or sociological roots affecting many individuals. An example of a public issue is viewed when a significant amount of nurses are leaving their jobs due to work related burnout, resulting in a shortage of nurses. Burnout is characterized as a dysfunctional state an individual may experience that is a result from prolonged stress (Chan, Tam, Lung, Wong, Chau, 2013). Burnout can be viewed both as a trouble that an individual undergoes, or an issue stemming from the dysfunctional health care system. For instance, a nurse may be enduring significant stress in their life due to a sick family member. Due to this emotional burden, the nurse loses vital sleep which affects their performance at work. Consequently, the nurse takes time off work as their personal problems are negatively impacting their care towards patients. According to Mills (1959/2016), since this hardship is only experienced by one individual, it is referred to as a trouble (p.5). On the other hand, an example of an issue can