TREATMENT DECISION-MAKING FOR AN INCAPACITATED FAMILY MEMBER: THE SURROGATE'S LIVED EXPERIENCE (LIVING WILLS).
Contributors: St. Louis University.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 112
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Sociology, Individual and Family Studies.; Health Sciences, Health Care Management.
Description: The purpose of this study was to explore the surrogate's lived experience during treatment decision-making. Past research in the area of surrogate decision-making focused on the ability of the surrogate to predict a family member's wishes regarding medical treatment and the type of decisions surrogates make. Little is known about the surrogate's lived experience during decision-making.

The research design of this study was qualitative in nature, utilizing a phenomenological research method. The theoretical orientation was from Watson's theory of transpersonal human care which recognized nursing as a human science. Description and interpretation of data utilized the lifeworld existentials proposed by van Manen; lived space (spatiality), lived body (coporeality), lived time (temporality), and lived human relation (relationality).

Snowball sampling was used to recruit participants, 11 of whom were included in the analysis. Participants were interviewed, using a semi-structured interview guide, in their home or in the researcher's private office. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed by a transcriptionist. Additional sources of data included a video documentary and a published anecdotal essay.

Four major themes were identified from the data that provided a pattern to the surrogate experience: Contextualizing, Actualizing, Reviewing and Resolving, and Transcending. Results indicate that the engagement of a surrogate in treatment decision-making must begin as early as possible in the family member's illness; attention to the physical environment is important when sharing information about the patient with the surrogate; the presence of advance directived did not lessen the feeling of responsibility for decision-making; surrogates gained peace after the experience through faith, sharing with others, and interacting with a church community. Three paradigm cases were identified: Caregiving, Protecting, and Trusting. Knowledge of the surrogate's experience contributes to nurses' understanding of supportive caring practices and the meaning surrogacy has for family members.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-02, Section: B, page: 0988.

Thesis (PH.D.)--SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY, 1995.

School code: 0193.