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

Abstract: This thesis provides a reflexive critique of the power structures which constrain nursing actions in the practice setting, an abortion clinic, of the registered nurses who participated in this study. The development of abortion services, like other health services for women, has been based on a medical ideology of health which has created many ethical dilemmas for nurses. One of the most complex of these is the extent to which nurses should fulfil the role of client advocate. While the literature on nursing advocacy has been prolific, published research in this area is scant.The theoretical assumptions of critical social science, provide the basis for the methodological approach of action research adapted in this study. In depth, unstructured interviews involving exchange of dialogue amongst the participants with the researcher focused on the participants' experiences of their own nursing practice, with a view to uncoveing and removing restrasints, which had prevented them fulfililng an advocacy role. Diaries were also kept and used as supplementary research tools.The analysis of the data demonstrates the ways in which nurses interpret their own practice world as a system independent of their own actions. It shows how the shared understandings of the participants were 'ideologically frozen' and power relations inherent in the health care system are deep rooted and subtle, coming to be treated as natural by the nurses, and so denying them their own ability to make changes.It is suggested that opportunities for nurses coming together and engaging in such critically reflexive dialogue may provide a basis for future emancipation from traditional power structures. In this way effective and satisfying nursing practice dependent on emancipatory knowledge and a reinterpretation of power structures may result in an advocacy role for nurses

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to provide a partial theoretical description of the phenomenon of caring in nursing practice. Three practice settings involving cancer patients were selected: hospital, hospice, and community with thirty patients and thirty-two nurses participating in the study. A research design combining a phenomenological perspective and grounded theory strategies was implemented. Data were collected by interview, participant observation and records. The data were analysed by the method of constant comparative analysis.A number of concepts were developed from the data and the theoretical framework of “The Actualized Caring Moment” was formulated to explain how the actual caring process occurs in nursing practice. This caring moment is the moment at which the nurse and the patient realise their intersubjective connectedness in transforming healing-growing as human beings in a specific-dynamic changing situation. The actualized caring moment is a gestalt configuration of three carting moments. The pre-conditions, The on-going interaction, and The situated context.The Pre-conditions, which consist of the nurse, personally and professionally prepared to care, and the patient, a person with compromised health and wellbeing, are pre-requisites for the occurrence of the caring process. The nurses has the qualities of benevolence, commitment, and clinical competency to be ready to care. The patient is a unique person in a vulnerable state and requires assistance from the nurse to meet personal health needs.The on-going interaction, the actual caring process, is the continuity of the nurse-patient interaction moment by moment which brings together six caring elements: Being there, Being mindfully present, A relationship of trust Participation in meeting needs, Empathetic communication, and Balancing knowledge-energy-time. The Situated Context is the situation and environment where the actual caring process is taking place, and this is comprised of circumstances of the nurse-patient meeting and care-facilitating working conditions.The conceptual framework of “The Actualised Caring Moment” offers nurses an opportunity to understand their practice more fully in providing effective nursing service. Consequently, its implications are valuable for education, research, and the development of knowledge focussed on the discipline of nursing

Abstract: The question for this study arose from the observation that health care often does not match the client's self-determined needs and desires, and hence is wasted care. As a result, the study proposed to discover what elements are involved when women with dependent children make health care choices and what they want in the way of health care.The exploratory study was conducted using strategies of grounded theory. Fourteen in-depth interviews, involving eleven women, were conducted. The selection of participants and of the questions for the interviews was basef on theoretical sampling. Constant comparative analysis and integrative diagramming were used to analyse the data.The theory that emerged from the data was Bonded Caring and its two essential categories; Interconnectedness and Caring. Bonded Caring requires an intimate and ongoing relationship in which there is development of in-depth knowledge of the unique characteristics of the person(s) involved. It is characterised by a strong and enduring effective quality, and by a concern, worry and serious attention to the needs of the person(s) involved. This concern necessitates the gathering of information about the nature of the needs, and making the best possible choices concerning their management.During this research for knowledge and skills needed to carry out health care, women assess their own knowledge and experience; the level(s) of health care needed by each individual; the availability, competence and expected response of the resource person or health care consultant; the perception of risk associated with a health concern; and the family's culture and life style. The women considered these elements within a structural framework of finite material and personal resources. The women juggled the distribution of these resources in a way that allowed them to select the avenues of health care that provided the best degree of safety and protection of development within the context of their circumstances