BEING WITH THE ELDERLY IN COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING: EXPLORING LIVED EXPERIENCE THROUGH REFLECTIVE DIALOGUE.
Contributors: University of Maryland, College Park.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 322
Subjects: Education, Curriculum and Instruction.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Adult and Continuing.; Gerontology.
Description: Although the profession of nursing encompasses the largest number of workers in the health care field and comprises the greatest number of health care providers to the elderly, few undergraduate nursing curricula provide the recommended diversity of clinical experiences in gerontological nursing. In addition, since research in gerontological nursing education is rooted in an empirical tradition, few studies speak to the meanings of students' experiences with the elderly.

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the meanings of nursing students' experiences with the elderly in a community health clinical experience. Hermeneutic phenomenology formed the philosophical base for the study. Through dialogue journal writing, a written form of interactive conversation, and reflective oral conversations, my voice and the voices of my nine students were heard as we learned and grew together and began to shape a curriculum grounded in reflection. Texts from dialogue journals, my own field diary, and transcripts of taped oral conversations were reflected upon within a hermeneutic-phenomenological framework.

By reflecting upon oral and written interactive discourse with participants living out experiences with the elderly, it became possible for new ways of thinking about the elderly to emerge. The notions of place, presence, and authenticity emerged as essential elements of the students' experiences of being with the elderly. Engaging in reflective dialogue also enabled participants to see new possibilities for their being as nurses an as persons and assisted them in becoming more humane nursing professionals by uncovering the meanings within their nursing experiences.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-03, Section: A, page: 0729.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK, 1989.

School code: 0117.