| Learning Objective #1: Relate results from multinodal data collection methods regarding smoking and smoking cessation for southern Appalachians | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Evaluate the usefulness of a nonlinear, multidimensional linking methodology for nursing knowledge development |
Objective: To use a completed study of smoking cessation in southern Appalachia as an exemplar to describe development of Webben, a methodological approach that moves beyond traditional quantitative and qualitative methods and may be better matched to exploring nursing phenomena.
Design: The three-phased exemplar study included a descriptive survey using random-digit-dialed sampling, a grounded theory study, and triangulation analysis to validate or revise the Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change (TMHBC) in this population. Webben methods were then applied, analyzing additional unifying data nodes including a survey of area restaurants for smoking/non-smoking seating; a survey of primary care providers to describe their perceptions of clients' beliefs and use of change strategies; and historical analysis of the meaning of tobacco within the region.
Findings: Smokers in southern Appalachia are more likely to be in the early stage of precontemplation than smokers from national samples. Constructs of temptation and decisional balance did not follow patterns from previous research, and the idea of a staged process was not consistently supported. Providers think that clients see more pros to smoking than they do, and while tobacco is a part of this populations' heritage, smoking is recognized as life threatening.
Conclusions: Webben methods assisted identification of linkages between multiple data nodes in this study, significantly expanding understanding of an important health problem in this unique vulnerable population. Behaviors of smoking and smoking cessation for southern Appalachians do not readily fit previous theories, including the TMHBC, and Webben methods allowed for clearer explication of findings.
Implications: Webben serves as the beginnings of an innovative methodology that attempts knowledge development that is neither empirical nor naturalistic. Results from the unifying, non-linear, multidimensional nodal linkage perspective of Webben yielded a unique level of knowledge development suggesting such an approach may have value for nursing research in the future.
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Back to 14th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
10-12 July 2003