Biomedical subjects

Barbara J Patterson

Publications and source records attributed to Barbara J Patterson.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Childhood nutrition: perceptions of caretakers in a low-income urban setting.

The incidence of overweight and obese children, especially those from low-income and minority backgrounds, continues to rise. Multiple factors contribute to the rising rates. In order to gain an understanding of factors contributing to obesity in low-income families, a qualitative study was conducted with the purpose of gaining knowledge of low-income urban caretakers' understanding and attitudes regarding children's nutrition. A focused ethnography was used as a means of understanding behavior within the context of a person's cultural environment. The sample was 17 caretakers of children in the 1st-3rd grades. Four focus groups were conducted. Two themes emerged from caretakers' perceptions: knowing the right things children should eat and balancing healthy nutrition with unhealthy choices. Four categories emerged regarding influences on food choices: tradition, finances, time constraints, and role models. Lastly, five barriers and three facilitating factors emerged. Implications of the study findings for school nurses include the need, when implementing healthy eating programs for school children, to gain information from caretakers about their perceptions of childhood nutrition.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Lessons learned: one experience with focus groups in a school setting.

Focus group research is an effective way for school nurses to gain knowledge about a diverse range of issues that children in schools may face. It is a means to gather information about perceptions, feelings, points of view, and manners of thinking from a group of individuals about a specific topic. This article overviews focus groups as a research methodology and describes an experience of using them to gain information about low-income caretakers' knowledge of childhood nutrition. Several important lessons were learned from this study. These included the need to be flexible during the research process, to be creative in recruitment strategies, to maintain open communication with all the involved parties, and to share enthusiasm for the study. Learning more about children and their families can assist school nurses in planning and implementing interventions that enhance health and school achievement.

Child↗

PubMed2002

From practice to theory: tightening the link via three fieldwork strategies.

BACKGROUND: Theory that is directly linked with clinical experience has far greater relevance for nursing practice; however, problems continue to persist with the establishment of that linkage. The use of fieldwork as a strategy for developing and linking theory has enormous potential for enhancing the number of theories that truly fit the clinical practice realities of nursing. Traditionally, fieldwork has been conducted in contexts that are unfamiliar to the researcher. However, nurses have a wealth of clinical understanding in their areas of practice. Conduct of inquiry in a familiar practice area may facilitate identification of significant, clinically relevant concepts and expedite theory development that is closely linked to nursing practice. AIM OF THE PAPER: wo-step fieldwork approach and three specific strategies are presented that have been found useful for developing theory that is tightly aligned with nursing practice. The strategies of theoretical selectivity, theoretical integration, and theory creation are described and an example of each presented. The strategies are an extension of the Hybrid Model of Concept Development. These strategies identify alternative paths for concept clarification and theoretical congruence through fieldwork in clinical settings. The focus of theoretical selectivity is elaboration of concept definition with selection among theories. In contrast, the focus of theoretical integration is the linking of a central concept with an existing theory or perspective in the prefieldwork phase and then using the full fieldwork to evaluate its usefulness. Lastly, the theory creation strategy emphasizes describing a phenomenon of interest, identifying influencing factors, and beginning to create relational statements. It is closest to standard inductive theory development.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

PubMed2002

Perceptions of the maternal-child clinical rotation: the male student nurse experience.

Although male student nurses have expressed their discomfort with beginning their maternal-child clinical experience, little actually is known about the nature and quality of their experience. To address this gap, a phenomenological study was conducted to investigate the experiences of 8 male student nurses who had completed their maternal-child rotation. Three theme clusters emerged: preconceptions about the maternal-child rotation, enduring the clinical experience, and surviving the clinical rotation. Students began their rotations with mixed feelings (e.g., dread, anxiety, apprehension, unknowing, fear of rejection). Maternal-child nursing was viewed by male students as a woman's domain, in which they were visitors. The students expressed concerns about meeting clinical objectives and personal goals because of their gender and possible misinterpretations of their care. Consequently, they undertook special precautions when performing postpartum assessments. Faculty played a significant role in clients' responses to the students and in providing a supportive learning environment. Faculty need to be cognizant of students' feelings as they plan clinical experiences. Identification of student concerns prior to the experience may be beneficial for enhancing the learning environment.

Adult↗