Paper
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Nursing Facilitation of Health as Expanding Consciousness With Families Who Have a Child With Special Health Care Needs
Sharon Koval Falkenstern, CRNP, MSN, PhD, School of Nursing, School of Nursing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| Learning Objective #1: Discuss the life patterns of families who have a child with special health care needs and the effects of community patterns of caring and prejudice on these families |
| Learning Objective #2: Discuss the power of research as praxis as a nursing intervention for families as well as a way for nurses to build community through research |
Objectives: to do intervention nursing research with families who have a child with special health care needs; to test the theory of health as expanding consciousness Design: Qualitative research within the unitary-transformative paradigm Sample: Seven Families who have a child with special health care needs Setting: Families' homes Concept/Intervention: Research as praxis. The nurse and family form a partnership to discuss the families' life experiences. Through dialogue, families discover choice points, achieve insight, and progress through turning points to transformations. Method: Newman's Health as Expanding Consciousness Research Method. The nurse researcher engaged each family in open ended interviews. The family reflected on the first interview during second and third interviews. All interviews were analyzed using hermeneutic dialectics. Findings: A pattern of the whole of all families included experiencing surprise/shock or expected challenge, entering another world, accepting or denying reality, pulling the family together, hoping for a miracle, persevering through a turbulent time, transforming, living with uncertainty, and extending a circle of caring. Community patterns of caring and prejudice emerged and affected each families' successes and challenges with their special needs child. Conclusions: Every family manifested patterns of turmoil and expressed the need for a nurse to help them make sense of their experiences, guide them through periods of confusion, and to support them in decision making. Implications: Research as praxis is a powerful nursing intervention that can enable nurses to make a difference in families' lives and build a sense of community through research for themselves and their clients.
Back to Children and Families
Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004