| Learning Objective #1: Describe the characteristics of an advocate within the context of a qualitative design study | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Identify the components of the advocacy model and apply the advocacy model to a practice situation |
The role of advocacy is an integral dimension of the practice of nursing and the nursing profession. Nurses in clinical practice are confronted on a daily basis with situations involving advocacy issues. Resolving these advocacy issues may result in conflict, thus creating anxiety for the nurse. The purpose of this study was to gain insight, as well as understanding of the experience of advocacy lived by nurses in clinical practice. The specific research question was “what is the meaning of advocacy among nurses in clinical practice as expressed by responses in a written account of the lived experience?” A qualitative study design was used to generate data from written accounts by nurses that revealed underlying themes of advocacy. The Colaizzi phenomenological method of analysis was used to describe, identify, and comprehend the essence of advocacy. The NUD*IST data analysis program was utilized to identify themes related to advocacy. The study consisted of a purposive sample of fifteen nurses in clinical practice at a local community care facility, who were all assumed to have had an advocacy experience. The concept of existential advocacy was chosen because it fully differentiated advocacy from consumerism and paternalism and presented advocacy as the ideal way of nursing. Results of the study identify five basic elements related to advocacy from which four central themes emerged. The five basic elements were situation/crisis, testing role, barriers, relationship, and outcome. The four central themes that evolved from the five basic elements were “response-ability,” “inhibiting the moving forward,” “knowing is the beginning of caring,” and “fulfilling the need to do good.” From the five basic elements and four central themes of advocacy an exhaustive written description of advocacy was developed. A descriptive model of advocacy was constructed to further refine and define nurses’ perception of advocacy in clinical practice.
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