THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING A PSYCHIATRIC NURSE IN THE RURAL COMMUNITY.
Contributors: Union Institute (U.S.)
Published: 1996
Number of pages: 270
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Psychology, Clinical.; Sociology, Individual and Family Studies.
Description: The purpose of this study was to uncover the day to day practice experiences of community psychiatric nurses. This phenomenological study was based on Benner's (1984) interpretive research of expertise in nursing practice. However, in contrast to Benner who studied nurses in a hospital setting, the researcher investigated nurses who practiced in clients' homes. The question that guided the research was: What is the nature of the experience of psychiatric nurses as they provide home care for psychiatric clients living in the rural community? The investigator enlisted ten nurses who practiced in an Eastern state to tell their stories of caring for psychiatric clients. The unstructured conversational interviews were audio-taped and transcribed for analysis. Using a Heideggerian hermeneutical method of analysis as described by Benner, the investigator uncovered themes, paradigm cases (vivid whole cases depicting a pattern of practice meanings), and exemplars (meaningful transactions). This interpretive process revealed that psychiatric nurses were instrumental in assisting and empowering clients to cope with the effects of mental illness and to reclaim parts of their lives. These nurses spent an inordinate amount of time combating stigma, locating scarce resources, and advocating for clients. The nurses perceived that other healthcare providers misunderstood their roles. An unexpected significant issue emerging from the analysis of the data was the character of the nurse/client boundaries. The results of this study offer a first indepth description of psychiatric home health nursing practice in the rural community and validate the importance of clinical practice informing psychiatric nursing theory.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-05, Section: B, page: 3132.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNION INSTITUTE, 1996.

School code: 1033.