bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Experience of social support in rehabilitation: a phenomenological study
Authors: Nätterlund Birgitta , Ahlström Gerd 
Published: March 2003

Experience of social support in rehabilitation: a phenomenological study The progressive muscular weakness brought on by muscular dystrophy causes the sufferer many problems in everyday life. Earlier studies in Sweden have shown that adults with hereditary muscular dystrophy often have difficulty in gaining access to rehabilitation. For this reason a special rehabilitation programme was drawn up and carried out, extending over a period of 18 months. The purpose of the study is to describe the participants’ experience of social support in connection with the programme. Thirty‐seven participants (21 women and 16 men) were interviewed. The analytical method was phenomenological, incorporating validation by independent judges. Nine overall themes emerged from the interviews: psychosocial support, meeting other people with muscular dystrophy, knowledge and learning, adjustment in daily life, coping with illness‐related problems, adjustment at work, management of physical disability, medical examination and treatment, and involvement of relatives. The results indicate that the participants encountered staff with a sense of commitment and felt themselves to be ‘seen and confirmed’. From the discussions and the contact with others in the same situation there arises a sense of affinity and a better understanding of one’s own situation. There was appreciation of the education about the disease, its hereditary aspect, technical aids, grants and physical training. Hardly any of the participants spoke of knowing such things before. In conclusion there was approval of the received support, and recognition that persons with muscular dystrophy should be given access to recurrent rehabilitation.
Clinical supervision: a concept analysis
Authors: Lyth Gordon M. 
Published: March 2003

Clinical supervision: a concept analysis Clinical supervision is a commonly discussed concept within nursing. There appears to be a common belief that it is a good thing for nursing. Many practitioners, however, are still unsure what clinical supervision is and what is expected of them. A number of definitions and models of supervision have been developed but it remains ill defined. This paper develops a conceptual analysis of clinical supervision using the method developed by Rodgers (1989). A review of the literature precedes description of the attributes, antecedents, consequences and references. A model case is outlined prior to a proposed definition of supervision being given. It is hoped that this paper will stimulate further exploration and study of this concept.
Weaving the seamless web of care: an analysis of parents’ perceptions of their needs following discharge of their child from hospital
Authors: Smith Lynda , Daughtrey Hilary 
Published: March 2003

Weaving the seamless web of care: an analysis of parents’ perceptions of their needs following discharge of their child from hospital Changes in children’s nursing services in the United Kingdom in recent years have focused on the need for adequate and efficient services to be provided in the interests of the child. Early discharge is now the norm and children are often sent home in an earlier recovery stage than adults with comparable conditions. Whilst the contributions of paediatric community nursing services have gone some way to providing specialist nursing care for children and their families in their own homes, the majority of children are discharged home without such support being available. This may place an overwhelming responsibility of caring for a recovering child onto parents. The purpose of the qualitative research reported in this paper was to identify any gaps in nursing services for acutely sick children and their families following discharge, and to suggest ways to improve integration and communication between hospital and primary care to facilitate a ‘seamless web of care’ for families. Families were surveyed following discharge (n=164) and interviews carried out with those experiencing problems (n=20). General practitioners were also surveyed for their opinion as key contributors of primary care. Findings revealed the isolation felt by parents following discharge, with their need for information about a child’s illness and expected recovery, and for reassurance and specific advice through some means of support, which was clearly not being met. The perceived benefit of continuity of care was a common theme, with both parents and professionals acknowledging the importance of closer liaison between hospital and primary health care services. This study is valuable in providing preliminary qualitative information regarding the gaps in children’s nursing services and how these can be overcome by using our present resources more imaginatively, in order to ensure the delivery of cost‐effective and quality health care services in the best interests of local need.
‘All the services were excellent. It is when the human element comes in that things go wrong’: dissatisfaction with hospital care in the last year of life
Authors: Rogers Angie , Karlsen Saffron , Addington‐Hall Julia 
Published: March 2003

‘All the services were excellent. It is when the human element comes in that things go wrong’: dissatisfaction with hospital care in the last year of life Patient satisfaction surveys are seen as an important way of obtaining ‘user views’ of health service provision. However, there is a growing body of research and theoretical literature that questions the validity of the concept of ‘patient satisfaction’ and hence the use of this type of survey. A postbereavement survey of people who registered a random sample of cancer deaths in an inner London health authority was undertaken in 1996/7. The survey questionnaire (VOICES) included 14 open‐ended questions which asked respondents to add any comments they felt were relevant about the care of the deceased. This paper uses these data to examine the causes of dissatisfaction with hospital‐based care. Of the 229 informants responding to the questionnaire, 138 included some written comment about care in hospital. At least one negative comment was made by 59% (82) of those making any comment. Of these, 55% (44) rated the care given by doctors as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ and 63% (50) rated that given by nurses as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. Qualitative analysis of responses to open questions suggest that expressions of dissatisfaction arise from a sense of being ‘devalued’, ‘dehumanized’ or ‘disempowered’ and from situations in which the ‘rules’ governing the expected health professional–patient relationships were broken. As such, the causes of dissatisfaction for this particular group of patients are similar to the causes of dissatisfaction with health care in general reported elsewhere. The palliative care approach emphasizes patient‐ and family‐centred care and aims to promote physical and psychosocial well‐being. The study findings suggest that adoption of the palliative care approach could reduce the experience of dissatisfaction for many service users, not only those whose deaths are anticipated.
Researching ethnic diversity in the British NHS: methodological and practical concerns
Authors: Gerrish Kate 
Published: March 2003

Researching ethnic diversity in the British NHS: methodological and practical concerns The collection of data on ethnic groupings has become an increasingly pervasive feature of contemporary health policy and research in the United Kingdom, with attention concentrating primarily on monitoring access to and utilization of services by different ethnic groups, together with epidemiological data on morbidity and mortality. At the same time, the collection of data on ethnic populations by census and health agencies has been the subject of a wide‐ranging and contentious debate and there is a growing critique that challenges the collection and use of such data on political, methodological and practical grounds. This paper explores the nature of these debates as they apply to health research. Issues of validity and reliability arising from the application of pre‐defined ethnic categories, such as those used within the National Health Service derived from the 1991 census, are considered and alternative approaches which utilize a range of variables such as language, religion and length of residency in a country suggested. Experiences derived from an ethnographic study of the provision of district nursing care to patients from different ethnic backgrounds are used to illustrate some of the practical issues of researching ethnic diversity. Strategies for addressing some of the methodological and practical concerns are proposed.
Effort–reward imbalance and burnout among nurses
Authors: Bakker Arnold B. , Killmer Christel H. , Siegrist Johannes , Schaufeli Wilmar B. 
Published: March 2003

Effort–reward imbalance and burnout among nursesThis study among a sample of 204 German nurses tested the hypothesis that an imbalance of high extrinsic efforts spent (i.e. job demands) and low extrinsic rewards obtained (e.g. poor promotion prospects) are associated with the burnout syndrome: the depletion of nurses’ emotional resources. The results of a series of analyses of variances confirmed this hypothesis, by showing that those nurses who experienced an effort–reward imbalance (ERI) reported higher levels on two of the three core dimensions of burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) than those who did not experience such an imbalance. Moreover — as additionally hypothesized — significant interaction effects indicated that burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment) was particularly prevalent among those nurses who experienced ERIandput relatively high intrinsic effort into their jobs, as reflected by their strong tendency to be personally in control over job conditions.
Manual handling activities and injuries among nurses: an Australian hospital study
Authors: Retsas Andrew , Pinikahana Jaya 
Published: March 2003

Manual handling activities and injuries among nurses: an Australian hospital study The aims of this study were to identify patterns of manual handling activities and their associated injuries and consequences among nurses working at a large teaching and referral medical centre in Melbourne, Australia. A self‐report 140‐item questionnaire was distributed to 523 registered nurses working full time at the medical centre. Of the 269 (51·4%) nurses who completed the questionnaire, 108 (40·1%) retrospectively reported an injury associated with manual handling activity, of which 75·9% (82) comprised back injuries. When all full‐time nurses working at the medical centre are considered, the prevalence of all manual handling injuries was 20·6% (n=108) and 15·7% (n=87) for back injuries. About two‐thirds (67·6%) of all manual handling injuries were associated with direct patient care activities and another third (32·4%) with non‐direct patient care activities. Approximately one‐third (34·3%) of all injuries were associated with lifting patients and this activity comprised one half of all causes associated with injuries arising from direct patient care activities. The consequences of injuries were significant. Recommendations for reducing manual handling activities and injuries are made and future research directions are discussed.
Videotaped recording as a method of participant observation in psychiatric nursing research
Authors: Latvala Eila , Vuokila‐Oikkonen Päivi , Janhonen Sirpa 
Published: March 2003

Videotaped recording as a method of participant observation in psychiatric nursing research This paper describes videotaped recording as a data collection method when conducting participant observation in a psychiatric nursing study. The videotaped episodes were part of the daily life of psychiatric nursing in a hospital environment. The advantages and limitations of using videotaped recording in nursing research will be discussed. This paper is based on two studies. The data consisted of 21 videotaped episodes of nursing report sessions or interdisciplinary team meetings in the psychiatric clinic of a university hospital. The participants consisted of patients, their significant others, nurses, doctors, social workers and physiotherapists. All videotaped material was transcribed verbatim. An essential advantage of videotaping is that most potentially useful interaction and behaviour can be captured. The advantage in terms of the credibility of videotaping was that the investigator was able to review the same videotaped situations again and again. Videotaped material is rich and provides several possibilities for analysing the data. In these studies data and source triangulation enabled the researchers to reduce personal influence on the results. The investigator must also be aware of the limitations concerning this method. The most essential limitations are mechanical problems and the influence of videotaping on behaviour. Careful ethical considerations are important concerning personal privacy, informed consent and respect for the self‐determination of psychiatric patients.
Evidence‐based practice and health visiting: the need for theoretical underpinnings for evaluation
Authors: Elkan Ruth , Blair Mitch , Robinson Jane J.A. 
Published: March 2003

Evidence‐based practice and health visiting: the need for theoretical underpinnings for evaluation In this paper we argue that evidence‐based practice, which is being introduced throughout the British National Health Service to make decisions about the allocation of limited resources, provides a welcome opportunity for health visitors to demonstrate their efficacy, skills and professionalism. However, the paper argues that to view health visiting as evidence‐based is not to reduce health visiting merely to a technology through which scientific solutions are applied to social problems. Rather, health visiting needs to be viewed as a political movement, based on a particular model of society, which shapes the goals which health visitors pursue and influences the strategies they adopt to achieve their goals. The paper describes various models of health visiting as a way of showing how the goals of health visiting are always framed within a particular set of assumptions and causal explanations. The paper then turns to look at the issue of evaluating health visiting services. It is argued that evaluation should properly take account of the models which shape health visitors’ goals and intervention strategies, and in turn, health visitors need to be explicit about the theoretical frameworks underpinning their interventions. Finally, it is argued that health visitors’ knowledge and understanding of a range of models of society enables them to move between the various models to choose the most appropriate and effective means of intervention. Hence it is concluded that the emphasis on evidence‐based practice provides health visitors with a valuable opportunity to show that their unique, professional skills and understanding are the preconditions for effective intervention.
Living with stroke: a phenomenological study
Authors: Burton Christopher R. 
Published: March 2003

Living with stroke: a phenomenological study Understanding how stroke sufferers experience their stroke and recovery is essential if the development of rehabilitation services is to be effective and appropriate. Previous research in this area has tended to be either cross‐sectional or with a limited amount of informant follow‐up, and consequently has limited utility. This paper describes a study underpinned by a phenomenological approach, which tracked the experiences of six patients admitted to a rehabilitation unit in the north‐west of England. Informants were followed for at least 12 months after stroke, and a total of 73 interviews were undertaken during the study. The data demonstrate that recovery from stroke involved restructuring and adaptation in physical, social and emotional aspects of an individual’s life. Two important features of recovery were highlighted. First, whilst aspects of pre‐stroke life may be used to describe individual progress, no end‐point to recovery was identified as informants described and anticipated life with stroke. Second, informants focused on the social context of recovery where engagement in the social world was emphasized over discrete physical function. Although no common path of recovery was found, it is recommended that stroke services are structured to take account of the long‐term needs of stroke patients and their families in their home environment.
Experiencing liver transplantation: a phenomenological approach
Authors: Forsberg Anna , Bäckman Lars , Möller Anders 
Published: March 2003

Experiencing liver transplantation: a phenomenological approach In order to promote health, nurses and other health care professionals need to discover and articulate the meaning that is implicit in experiencing life after liver transplantation. From such an understanding, appropriate nursing interventions can be based. The aim of this study was to investigate the subjective experiences of the meaning of having a liver transplant, 1 year after the transplantation. After approval from the ethics committee at Göteborg University, 12 patients, nine women and three men, were interviewed. The study sample was chosen strategically to represent common diagnoses preceding liver transplantation. A phenomenological approach was chosen for the study. Analyses of the interviews were based on a modified version of a phenomenological method by Karlsson. Seven categories emerged: facing the inevitable; recapturing the body; emotional chaos; leaving the experts; family and friends; the threat of graft rejection; and honouring the donor. Having undergone a liver transplant meant living in a paradoxical situation. Knowing that you survived, it was a struggle to regain physical strength under great emotional stress. The recipients had to self‐administer life‐long medication, recognize symptoms indicating a potential problem and monitor for the possibility of graft rejection. Social support was essential for recovery. Meeting others with the same experience helped liver‐transplanted patients to deal with their identity crises as well as undergo a transformation from being utterly unique to a survivor among others. The clinical implications from this study are that interventions, such as patient education, and social and mental support, are important tools to optimize both self‐care capacity and the ability to maintain a healthy perception of identity after having a liver transplant at least up to 12 months post‐transplant.
The current scope and future direction of perioperative nursing practice in Victoria, Australia
Authors: Riley Robin , Peters Gwenda 
Published: March 2003

The current scope and future direction of perioperative nursing practice in Victoria, AustraliaUnlike some overseas countries, perioperative nursing roles in Australia are largely undeveloped, and very little research has explored the opinions of perioperative nurses regarding the development of their specialty. This study was undertaken to identify the current scope, possible future directions, and the barriers to developing perioperative nursing practice in the state of Victoria (Australia). The study design was descriptive and utilized survey methodology. An instrument was constructed by the researcher for the specific purposes of the study, and comprised three stages of development: questionnaire development; validation by a panel of experts; and a pilot study. The questionnaire was sent randomly to selected perioperative nurses (n=224) and a response rate of 79% (n=176) was obtained. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data, and independent samplet‐tests, one‐wayANOVAand Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to test differences between groups. For the purpose of data reduction factor analysis was undertaken. The findings of the study indicated that the perioperative nursing model in its espoused form is not being practised, but a large majority of participants believe that perioperative nursing practice should not be restricted to the intraoperative phase of the perioperative model. Expanded rather than extended activities and functions were perceived as more important for development of the specialty, and perceived barriers to advanced perioperative nursing practice centred predominantly on the current application of the perioperative model. Recommendations include refinement of the perioperative nursing model to reflect changes in the delivery of healthcare, addressing issues of cost associated with further education, and undertaking interpretive research to provide more detailed information on the possible future direction for perioperative nursing.
Towards an aesthetics of nursing
Authors: Wainwright Paul 
Published: March 2003

Towards an aesthetics of nursing This paper re‐appraises the work of Barbara Carper on aesthetics and the art of nursing. It identifies serious flaws in Carper's original arguments and the way in which she and subsequent authors have conflated the concepts of art and aesthetics in nursing. The paper explores a broader approach to aesthetics and proposes a way in which a theoretical approach to nursing aesthetics could be developed. The paper concludes that nursing is a fit object of aesthetic appreciation and that aesthetic quality is a necessary attribute of good nursing practice.
Using mass media within health‐promoting practice: a nursing perspective
Authors: Whitehead Dean 
Published: March 2003

Using mass media within health‐promoting practice: a nursing perspective For some time health professionals have recognized the growing importance of utilizing mass media strategies as part of their health‐promoting practice. The ever‐evolving climate of technology and increasing reliance on mass communications has further reinforced the position of mass media initiatives. The enormous potential for mass media resources to reach certain audiences and influence their health‐related behaviours has become particularly well established. Despite these facts, however, it is argued that the nursing profession has been less than pro‐active in acknowledging, accommodating and adopting such practices. Consequently, the incorporation of health‐related mass media initiatives into nursing's health‐promotional role remains an elusive exercise. The maintenance of such a position, it is claimed, is potentially damaging for the profession as a whole. In light of this state of affairs, this paper seeks to review the literature surrounding the nature and processes of mass media strategies, their relevance to health promotion and nursing, how they are currently utilized and how they can be incorporated further into nursing practice. In conclusion, it is argued that nursing should seek to become a more active user of mass communication/media technology — especially in relation to its health‐promotional practices.