Abstract: This thesis provides an interpretive critique of the way in which knowledge is viewed, transmitted and crystallized in the practice worlds experienced by four registered nurses working in acute care hospital settings. The theoretical assumptions of critical social theory underpin both the methodological approach (case study) and the analysis of data. In-depth unstructured interview, a critically reflexive dialogue between the investigator and participant focussed on the practice world experiences of the nurse, was the principle research method. A brief analysis of documentation was also undertaken.It is argued that previous studies related to nursing practice, and to the social worlds of nursing, have been limited by their failure to take account of the socio-political context in which nursing takes place. There has been a tendency to treat the transmission of knowledge in nursing and nursing practice process of information exchange. No account of socially generated constraints on personal and professional agency, or of systematic distortions in communication within the practice setting are therefore given.The analysis of data in this study demonstrates the way in which constraints on personal and professional agency were experienced by each of the four participants. In particular, practice expressing the participant's professional nursing knowledge and values ws often denied in the face of shared understandings reflective of the institutional ideology. These shared understandings included a belief in the legitimacy of medical domination over other social factors and the support of doctor, rather than nurse or patient, centered practices.This study demonstrates that the way that nurses and other social actors come to “know” and interpret their social worlds is dependent on the socio-political contest in which that knowledge in produced. It also shows how this knowledge may be treated ad though it were 'an object'. This tendency to treat existing social relationships and practices as 'natural' hence unchallengeable masks possibilities for transformative action within the practice of nursing.It is argued that a particular form of knowledge is required if nurses are to overcome the types of constraint experienced by these four nurses. This knowledge, emancipatory knowledge, is that developed in the process of shared, socially critical self-reflection rather than solitary, self-critical reflection

Abstract: This phenomenological study describes the lived experience of mothering a child hospitalised with acute illness or injury. Seven mothers who had experienced this crisis within twelve months of our first interview agreed to share their stories with me. The resulting data were analysed and interpreted using van Manen's interpretation of Heideggerian phenomenology.Four phenomenological themes emerged from this study. Mothers have a special kind of knowing. They have a need to do with and for their child. Handing over to or leaving their child in the care of strangers and waiting for their child to be returned to their care are very difficult things for mothers to do. Their constant vigilance is enabled by their special kind of knowing and their need to do. The difficulty of handing over, leaving and waiting is emphasised by mothers' constant vigilance.Personal experiences during the course of my study presented significant challenges to my ability to offer an effective phenomenological description of the phenomenon under study. Continuous reflection aided by dialogue with fellow phenomenological researchers has resulted in a meaningful narrative.This description of mothering in a context of crisis is useful in the potential contribution it makes to nurses' understanding of mothers' experience of the hospitalisation of their children. It supports the philosophy of family-centered care and highlights the ability of individual nurses to make a positive difference to a very stressful experience