THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF CHOOSING AMONG LIFE GOALS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY.
Contributors: Adelphi University.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 202
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this phenomenological investigation was to uncover the meaning of the lived experience of choosing among life goals. Seven married female administrators between the ages of 27-37 who were in middle management positions in two New York City metropolitan hospitals were invited to participate in the study. Subjects signed a consent form, filled in demographic data and were asked to provide a written description of a situation in which they found themselves choosing among life goals. No names were placed on the subjects' written descriptions. The written descriptions were returned directly to the investigator.

Giorgi's (1975) qualitative structural analytic method of phenomenology was used to analyze the written descriptions. This analysis generated a situated structural description for each subject which contained the meaning of the lived experience for that subject. The seven situated structural descriptions were synthesized into a general structural description, which was the meaning of the lived experience studied from the perspective of all the subjects.

The general structural description represents the answer to the research question "What is the meaning of the lived experience of choosing among life goals for female nurse administrators in middle management positions?" and is the major finding of this phenomenological investigation. The answer which emerged was: choosing among life goals is struggling to fulfill competing ambitions while experiencing paradoxical feelings of calmness-turmoil, success-defeat, and security-insecurity in the process of affirming cherished beliefs.

Findings from the study, which used the principles of Parse's (1981) Man-Living-Health theory, agreed with that author's concepts of powering (struggling to fulfill competing ambitions), enabling-limiting (paradoxical feelings of calmness-turmoil, success-defeat, and security-insecurity), and valuing (affirming cherished beliefs). From these and from the research findings, the following structure was developed: choosing among life goals is powering the enabling of valuing. This is reaching beyond the immediate moment through the pushing-resisting lived in the struggles and tensions of choosing a selected option in the hope of affirming beliefs.

The findings of this investigation support the value of the phenomenological method for nursing research, and the nursing theory Man-Living-Health (Parse, 1981). The results also reveal the importance of understanding more fully the structures and processes of decision-making.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-09, Section: B, page: 3916.

Thesis (PH.D.)--ADELPHI UNIVERSITY, 1989.

School code: 0001.