Nursing--Psychological aspects

With expanded nursing roles emerging in the health care system, it is imperative to identify psychological barriers that can limit the potential of these practitioners. If feelings of inadequacy exist in the RNFA, the nurse may pursue tasks that are less than those of which the person is capable. The purpose of this study was to ascertain if RN First Assistants (RNFA) experience the impostor phenomenon, an intense, subjective feeling of achievement-related fraudulence. The Impostor Phenomenon Scale, a 14 item, 7-point Likert Scale, was self-administered to 109 registered nurse First Assistants to determine the degree of security and comfort they experience in their roles. The results of this research indicated that the RNFA sample did not experience the impostor phenomenon. The demographic data presented some facts that can possibly explain the high degree of competency that RNFAs perceive in their role.

This qualitative research study used the hermeneutic phenomenological method to discover the meaning of the experience of being a satisfied nurse. The study utilized van Manen's approach to phenomenology. The methods of inquiry included turning to the nature of the lived experience, existential investigation, identification of themes, phenomenological reflection, and phenomenological writing and rewriting. The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of being a nurse who finds satisfaction in the nursing profession. Six themes emerged as being significant to the experience of being a satisfied nurse: connecting with others, committing oneself, experiencing rewarding feedback, uncovering the unknown, caring for others, and finding meaning to life. The six themes reflect a unity of meaning of the experience of being a satisfied nurse. The unity of meaning is in feelings of enhanced humanness of the nurse and others. Implications for nursing research, nursing practice, and nursing education were discussed.

This research study, utilizing Colaizzi's phenomenological method, explored the lived experience of connectedness as experienced by nurses practicing in an acute care setting. Eight currently-practicing nurses described their experiences of connectedness with a patient. Based on the significant statements which were formulated into meanings and then grouped into themes, five common themes emerged. These themes revealed that connectedness occurs with death or during near-death situations, when the nurse identifies with the patient, provides an authentic presence in the nursing situation, utilizes non-verbal communication, creating a pleasant and exhilarating experience. Through providing a better understanding of this phenomenon, nurses may experience a greater fulfillment in nursing.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe and interpret the meaning of intuition in nursing practice. Interviews with six nurses were audiotaped and transcribed into text. Initial and essential themes emerged through thematic analysis. Initial themes were variables dealing with the manifestation, interpretation or application of intuition. Essential themes reflected an awareness, sensation, understanding or feeling of a particular nature to be comprehended, known, or perceived in connection with reflection upon the experience of intuition. The unity of meaning was described using the words of the participants and two metaphors: a figure of a human being, DNA, and galaxies which represented the potential and sense of wonder felt from the participants; and electricity which is used as a tool and is valued though its action is not fully understood. Through intuition nurses experience "being with" patients and see each one as a whole, unique person.

Caring has been identified as an essential value for baccalaureate education across all programs of study. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to investigate the lived experience of students learning caring in a college of nursing grounded in a caring philosophy. The question guiding the research was: "What is the student's experience of learning caring in a college of nursing that has caring as a central tenet in its philosophy?" This study was guided by the caring theories of Boykin and Schoenhofer (2001), Roach (2002), and the philosopher Mayeroff (1971). The researcher interviewed seven senior baccalaureate student nurses attending a public university. The nursing program at this university was grounded in a caring philosophy. The research questions explored the students' experiences of learning caring at this school of nursing. One student shared this thought with the researcher, "I knew who I was and I knew I could care about people, but I didn't know how to use caring in nursing. The educational process helped me to transfer caring to nursing." Transcripts of the audiotaped interviews were analyzed using Colaizzi's seven-step methodology. Two major themes and six sub-themes related to learning caring emerged and an exhaustive description of the students learning of caring in a caring based curriculum was developed. The two major themes identified were: Innate Knowing of Self as Caring, and Caring in the Curriculum. The first major theme of Innate Knowing of Self as Caring is supported by the sub-themes: Being present for the patient, Being open to reshape the patient's experience, and Enhanced capacity to care. The second major theme of Caring in the Curriculum is supported by the sub-themes: Clinical experiences are valuable to learning, Doing little things to express caring, and Learning activities facilitated understanding caring. Descriptions of the two major themes and six sub-themes were portrayed with verbatim stories told to the researcher by the student participants. Finally, implications for nursing education, research, practice, theory, and policy are presented for the reader.