A CONCEPTUALIZATION OF PRESENCE AS A NURSING PHENOMENON.
Contributors: University of Utah.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 157
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Presence was analyzed from a nursing perspective so that qualities of presence, the concept, would be identified and described sufficiently to be useful in nursing theory and practice activities. Presence represents a therapeutic modality for nursing that has theoretical implications for nursing as a science of caring. A research-based exploration of presence was undertaken in order to develop a conceptualization with clinical grounding. The study addressed the following research questions: What is common in descriptions of presence in nursing contexts; and, what defining characteristics for presence, the concept, are suggested by descriptions of presence in the literature and descriptions elicited from practitioners.

The development of a conceptualization methodology became a secondary focus of this study. A conceptualization methodology makes explicit the strategies used to pursue development of a concept. Methodology includes the activities of data collection and analysis as well as the intentions and rationale associated with each of the following phases of the study: problem analysis, determination of the aims of analysis, method selection and implementation, data analysis, presentation of the results and evaluation.

Descriptions of presence in the nursing literature and by nurses in acute care settings were analyzed thematically and five defining characteristics were identified: engagement, physical proximity, confirmation, availability for any contingency, and therapeutic effect. Nurses in this study referred to presence as a therapeutic process. Additionally, nurses descriptions of presence referred to a context characterized by sharing the experience of illness and suffering with another.

The conceptualization of presence resulting from this study was evaluated against general standards for adequacy and judged to be valid and reliable as well as showing promise for guiding practice. Presence is a significant nursing concept. The conceptualization is dynamic and subject to change as nurses' use of presence to refer to a particular nursing phenomenon might change.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-08, Section: B, page: 4121.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, 1991.

School code: 0240.