PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING: PHENOMENOLOGIC MEANING AND DIALECTICAL THEORY.
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1988
Number of pages: 328
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Public Health.
Description: The focus of this phenomenologic inquiry was the question: What is the meaning of nursing to public health nurses? The purpose of the study was twofold: (1) to describe the meaning of nursing as experienced by public health nurses; and (2) to generate theory based on the meaning.

Phenomenologic methodology was used in the present study to bracket the concept of public health in the research question. Prior knowledge in the form of the investigator's experience in public health nursing and concepts from the professional literature were described and bracketed.

Ten public health nurses individually discussed their experiences in two interviews with the investigator. From the interviews, six metathemes and unity of meaning evolved. (1) Repeated contact over time is the basis for observing change. (2) The context of care in public health nursing practice is a dialectic between illness and prevention of illness or unwanted conditions. (3) The focus of care in public health nursing practice is a dialectic between the individual recipient of care and the family, groups, or community. (4) The individual recipient of care and the community are understood holistically with an awareness of their multiple dimensions and interrelatedness. (5) Facing dilemmas is a dialectical process in which conflicts between the client's rights, values, or decisions and the participant's own values are resolved. (6) Approaching individuals, families, or communities involves choosing between working within the client's boundaries or working from the participant's own personal/professional framework.

Unity of meaning, the essence of nursing as experienced by public health nurses, means "being in relationship to." Unity of meaning and the six metathemes served as a basis for the generation of a dialectical theory of public health nursing.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-02, Section: B, page: 0492.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1988.

School code: 0227.