SECURING LIFE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE: THE FIRST SIX MONTHS FOLLOWING IMPLANTATION OF A TRANSVENOUS INTERNAL CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATOR.
Contributors: University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 283
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Mental Health.
Description: The purpose of this study was to generate a grounded theory to understand the perceptions and experiences of people who live with a transvenous internal cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) during the first six months following implantation. The research question answered by this study was "How do people report experiencing their lives during the first six months following a transvenous ICD implantation?".

A qualitative research design using the grounded theory method was employed in this study. Subjects were recruited from two midwestern medical centers. Three in-depth, audiotaped interviews were conducted with each subject within one week following transvenous ICD implantation, and again at three and six months post-implantation. Through open-ended questions based on time-dependent interview guides, subjects defined what they considered to be relevant issues and clarified the interrelatedness of conceptual categories that emerged from the data. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative analysis method.

A total of 24 subjects were included in this study. All but one subject completed all three interviews. The typical subject was male, Caucasian, married, a high school graduate, and had lived with ventricular dysrhythmias for less than two months.

The core variable that described the experience of living with a transvenous ICD during the first six months after implantation was the process of "securing life through technology acceptance." This was a deliberative process to reduce perceived vulnerability and intrusion associated with sudden cardiac death by making a decision to live with technology. It also involved making changes in oneself, one's way of life, and the technology to assure personal survival and life quality. Securing life through technology acceptance was characterized by three major categories: choosing life with technology, integrating technology into life, and living life through technology. Each of these categories is defined and the relationships between the categories are explained.

The findings of this study suggest that the driving force for technology use is primarily to assure survival, and secondarily, to regain, maintain, or enhance life quality. Implications for nursing and future research are presented.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-02, Section: B, page: 0738.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE, 1994.

School code: 0263.