LEARNING FOR MEANING: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF RETURNING REGISTERED NURSE LEARNERS.
Contributors: University of Wisconsin--Madison.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 249
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Adult and Continuing.
Description: The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to gain insight and to understand the meaning of the baccalaureate nursing program for the returning registered nurse (RRN). Because little in known about the meaning of baccalaureate education to RRNs, particularly the meaning it has for RRNs in their practice setting, this research explored the question, What does the lived experience of being students in a baccalaureate nursing program mean to RRNs in their practice setting? To discover the essences of meaning of the lived experience of returning to school, an interpretive study was designed to give the RRN a voice in describing their experiences as returning students based on an adaptation of van Manen's method of hermeneutic phenomenological reflection.

To explore the phenomenon of interest, descriptions of RRNs' (N = 15) lived experiences were gathered from interviews that generally lasted one hour. The foundation of van Manen's methodology depicts theme identification and analysis which will capture or characterize the essence (nature) of all essential phenomena (themes) that emerge in the study. The adapted version of van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological reflection included two processes: Conducting Thematic Analysis and Mining the Meaning; both consist of a number of strategies subsumed in each process encompassing the whole activity of van Manen's phenomenological reflection.

This analysis revealed the phenomenon of the Personal and Professional Awakening of the RRN or what it now means to be a nurse. The phenomena (themes) of Filling In and Moving Beyond: Embodying Professionhood, Becoming Open-Minded: Removing the Blinders, Making Connections: Attending to the Whole, and Shifting Nature of Relationships illuminated the RRN's new sense of being. The hidden metaphor of Learning for Meaning that emerged out of the relationship of all phenomena facilitated understanding the whole context of RRN's lived experience in the baccalaureate program. The data analysis also revealed Learning for Meaning becomes diminished when RRNs and generic students of nursing are in classes together and when RRNs are not recognized for what they know.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-05, Section: B, page: 2561.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON, 1995.

School code: 0262.