Grounded theory is a systematic qualitative research method of data collection and analysis, ultimately leading to a theoretical explanation (a “grounded theory”) that is grounded in those data and that explains a phenomenon of interest. Widely used in nursing, grounded theory enables researchers to apply what they learn from interviewees to a wider client population. This book describes traditional and focused grounded theory, phases of research, and methodology from sample and setting to dissemination and follow-up. The grounded theory method was developed by Glaser and Strauss, in response to Blumer’s call for a method founded on concepts of symbolic interactionism, the social psychological theoretical framework that provides the guiding tenets of grounded theory methodology. Over the years, grounded theory has undergone an evolution of sorts. An alternate method of grounding data in qualitative research is dimensional analysis. Other scholars have developed variants of grounded theory, such as constructivist grounded theory and situational analysis. The book describes the extent to which nurse researchers have published grounded theory and presents an overview of the process of conducting a qualitative study using grounded theory as the method. Varied case studies range from promoting health for an overweight child to psychological adjustment of Chinese women with breast cancer to a study of nursing students’ experiences in the off-campus clinical setting, among many others. The book also discusses techniques whereby researchers can ensure high standards of rigor. Examples from published nursing research, with author commentary, help support new and experienced researchers in making decisions and facing challenges.

This book presents a framework for nursing to build and, ultimately, sustain partnerships. Exemplar case studies written by nurses working in global health follow each chapter to illustrate specific elements of a strong partnership. The guiding principle for the book is that partnerships are paramount in creating sustainable outcomes. Varying degrees of partnership integration can include coordination, cooperation, and close collaboration. No matter their degree of partnership, nurses are ethically and morally obliged to be concerned with the world’s suffering. The book begins with a chapter which discusses types of existing partnerships and how nurses make the selection of an appropriate program to begin a partnership. Chapter 2 addresses how cultural perspectives, personal attributes, expectations, and knowledge of host country influence a volunteer nurse’s experience. In the third chapter, nursing roles in host country are addressed, community assessment as essential knowledge is highlighted. The importance of nursing licensure, mutual respect, and partnership is also dealt with. Chapter 4 presents examples of nurses’ experience with volunteers or partners, differences in the scope of practice between nursing partners, and the role of the nurse and nursing profession in host countries. This is followed by chapter which emphasizes the importance of resources, whether human, material, or financial, which are essential in developing a partnership. Two other chapters discuss important aspects of collaborative nursing research in international settings and explore the elements of sustainability to address the leadership required to maintain the partnership.

Phenomenology seeks to describe and articulate the fundamental structures of human experience just as this experience presents itself to and in and for experience. It can explore the logic of the whole gamut of human experience from the experience of looking at a work of art to the experience of falling in love with another person, from the experience of perceiving an object in space to the experience of fixing a broken piece of furniture. Phenomenology in nursing is concerned with the subjective, living person in her or his lived body in the experience of health and illness both nurse and patient. This book highlights some recent studies categorized according to focus, with special attention to those in which the study samples were patients or the general population, in which case they would be potential patients. It addresses a number of themes that emerged based on what the women shared about their experiences of being in the life in their narratives themes that emerged around why the women entered prostitution, what their first experience in it was like, why they stayed in it, and how they came to leave. Qualitative inquiry honors the subjective nature of reality, and the many meanings that may be inherent in a particular phenomenon or experience. The book includes stories from the methods of some studies conducted with 30 head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. Personal reflections between a dissertation chair and a doctoral student who conducted a hermeneutic phenomenological study about the meaning of health among midlife Russian-speaking women, are reflected on. Finally, the book talks about the lessons learned from the field, and the challenges of intrafamily relations.

This book merges the full spectrum of Caring Science evolution and identifies a clear path for future growth and development. It provides an opportunity to experience the delicate space of praxis, as the examples of a living philosophy are made accessible to the reader. The book through personal narrative, exemplars, and discourses on Caring Science, helps the reader to understand the history, accomplishments, and vision of human caring as a serious ethical, ontological, epistemological, practical endeavor. Its intent is to create a compendium of cutting-edge literature related to Caring Science to inform and transform nursing practice. The book comprises 50 chapters and is structured with 10 sections, each focused on a particular theme. Section I assumes that nursing knowledge is evolving towards a unitary-transformative worldview, and the ontology of Caring Science is embracing the tenets of this unitary worldview. Section II describes explicit connections between established programs or initiatives and Caring Science. Section III discuses Caritas science literacy. Section IV is on caritas literacy as a foundation for nursing education. Section V focuses on how scholarly inquiry advances the epistemology of Caring Science in the areas of leadership, research, and education. Section VI explores epistemology of research, aesthetic knowing (healing environments), and Caritas Praxis. Section VII integrates Caring Science grounded in Watson’s Theory of Human Caring and the 10 Caritas Processes into large complex healthcare systems. Section VIII reflects the process of Caring Science and cross-cultural (transcultural) ethical significance that is being developed in many parts of the world. Section IX focuses on advancing disciplinary-specific knowledge grounded in a relational unitary worldview within the context of Unitary Caring Science. The final section focuses on how Caring Science can become a journey of personal and professional transformation engaging in aesthetic ways of knowing.

Qualitative research has gained wide acceptance in nursing research. This book examines ethnography as a research design of particular relevance to nursing and provides specific information to guide graduate students or experienced nurses who are novices in the designs in conducting studies from the point of view of patients and their families. It reviews the philosophical basis for choosing ethnography as a research tool and describes in depth its key features and development level. The book provides directives on how to solve practical problems related to ethnography research, nursing examples, and discussion of the current state of the art. This includes a comprehensive plan for conducting studies and a discussion of appropriate measures, ethical considerations, and potential problems. It describes the meaning of health and well-being from the emic viewpoint of rural Nicaraguan men and talks about a study which explored health care providers’ perspectives regarding guideline compliance for rapid malaria testing in peripheral health facilities in Ghana. The book reviews the culture of the indigenous Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, and the application of Leininger’s transcultural nursing theory and describes a study, which examined childbirth in Fiji, compared the culturally specific methods used during childbirth to control pain and to reduce the risk of injury to the mother and the infant. It also deals with the needle exchange program to reduce the incidence rate of hepatitis and presents an ethnographic study done with a small group of poor and working-class Black American women who are sustained by their storefront church. The book also discusses other issues such as recovery of women from alcohol abuse, and personal privacy and interactional patterns in a nursing home.

This book is unique in its contribution to the theory textbook literature with its goal of expanding nursing’s knowledge-generating capacity by engaging nurses in theory and knowledge development through their practice lenses. It presents philosophical, historical, practical, and theoretical perspectives regarding practice-centered knowledge development. The book is divided into fifteen chapters. The first chapter discusses nursing knowledge. In the second chapter, intermodernism is featured as a philosophy of nursing science and practice that synthesizes important tenets of other philosophical views. The third chapter discusses doctoral nursing roles in knowledge generation. Chapter four describes practitioner-centered research. Chapters five, seven, nine, twelve, and fourteen are presented as interludes where readers can pause and explore specific aspects of knowledge development in reference to their own nursing practice and research. The sixth chapter discusses knowledge translation in terms relevant to the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) project, and presents models along with specific guidelines for the DNP project process. Chapter eight talks about creating a nursing intervention out of a passion for theory and practice. The tenth chapter presents history and future possibilities of clinical scholarship. The goal of chapter eleven is to guide and encourage nurses to be knowledge generators by engaging in practice-based evidence research in settings where they may practice or teach, from point-of-care with patients to system level health care. Chapter thirteen presents a paradigm for the production of practice-based knowledge. The final chapter addresses ethical and epistemic considerations as rationales for the move to practice-based evidence research beyond traditional evidence-based practice procedures. The book is intended for graduate-level nursing students, particularly students enrolled in DNP and PhD programs, nurse practitioner students, and master’s level nursing students.

This book reflects the ongoing efforts and leadership of nurses to provide guidance and inform pediatric and child health nurses with standards of excellence as it pertains to the commonalities of practice that intersect with all areas of pediatric nursing. The guidelines provide a road map along the continuum to address health and the determinants of health for nurses in all roles providing care to children, teens, and their families. The book is organized around the identified guidelines of nursing excellence. It presents these seventeen guidelines as chapter titles. Each chapter concludes with a case study illustrating use of the guideline. The book will be an invaluable resource for nursing colleagues in clinical practice, education, research, and policy making. The following are some of the guidelines of nursing excellence addressed in the book: 1) Children and youth have an identified health care home (medical home). 2) Children, youth, and families receive care that supports growth and development. 3) Children, youth, families, and health care providers are partners in decisions, planning, and delivery of care, including appropriate community services. 4) Cultural values, beliefs, and preferences are integral to family-centered care. 5) Family concerns are recognized as a priority, and family strengths are respected and supported in the care of children and youth. 6) Children, youth, and families have high-quality, affordable, and accessible health care. 7) The child’s, youth’s, and family’s needs are identified, prioritized, and services are offered. 8) Children, youth, and families receive care that optimizes wellness, promotes and maintains physical and mental health, and prevents disease and injury. 9) Pregnant adolescents and women, children, youth, and families have access to genetic and genomic testing and genomic-appropriate counseling. 10) Children and youth receive care that is delivered in a physically and emotionally safe environment.

This book examines the crucial interrelationship between nursing research and health policy. It presents examples of specific health care policies that have been influenced, implemented, or changed as a result of nursing research, as well as a number of examples that have the potential to change policy as they move forward in their translation. The book encompasses research related to major policy statements of the decade, including the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Future of Nursing report, the Affordable Care Act, and the genomic nursing science blueprint, and highlights how they have influenced, and will continue to influence, health policy. The book is organized into three sections. The first is an introductory section composed of six chapters that deal with major concepts related to research shaping policy. In the second section, a series of research programs and models, successful strategies for implementation, and lessons learned are described. The third section consists of a single chapter that summarizes and analyzes the strategies and models used throughout the text, noting the unique characteristics and similarities in the approaches and strategies used by the researchers in both setting the stage for and actually shaping policy. Various levels of change have been effected, and several researchers have broken new ground that anticipates potential policy change as they and the next generation of researchers and policy experts move forward.