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Biomedical subjects

G J Mitchell

Publications and source records attributed to G J Mitchell.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

The experience of living with persistent pain.

This article reports themes from a descriptive exploratory study conducted with 17 persons who live with persistent pain. The purpose of the research was to enhance understanding of what it is like to live with persistent pain from the perspectives of those who live the experience. Participant narratives of living with persistent pain included descriptions of physical pain as well as the pain of loss and restriction. The theory of human becoming provided the framework for guiding researcher-participant discussions and interpretation of findings. Three themes arose from the analysis: forbearance surfaces with the drain of persistent anguish; isolating retreats coexist with comforting engagements; and hope for relief clarifies priorities for daily living. The findings expand understanding about quality of life for persons who live with persistent pain. They also challenge nurses to begin focusing on the person who lives with pain as the messenger of how to endure. Recommendations, based on new understanding, are offered for practice and additional research.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1998

Patients' views of quality of life: transforming the knowledge base of nursing.

Nurses in advanced practice roles are leaders of the transformative process that will further define the discipline of nursing as a human science of lived experience. Essential to the transformation is a change in nursing's knowledge base, a change that defines practice and research as participative, open, and quality enhancing. To demonstrate the transformation of knowledge in practice, the authors present findings from a qualitative research study guided by the nursing theory called human becoming. The purpose of the study was to enhance understanding of quality of life for patients receiving acute psychiatric care. A descriptive exploratory design was used to guide data gathering and analysis of 24 people. Findings are presented in themes that represent quality-of-life issues, including feelings of loss and shifting value priorities, the complex nature of relationships that ease and upset, and the hopes that fuel the intense struggle to go on living. Directions for practice and research are suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Quality of life and the human becoming theory: exploring discipline-specific contributions.

This article explores the concept of quality of life. Current understandings of quality of life are considered in relation to the notion of discipline-specificity. The authors contend that different disciplines require distinct definitions of quality of life and that research which informs practitioners about quality of life needs to be discipline-specific and theory-based. The contribution of the human becoming theory to knowledge and understanding of quality of life in nursing science is explored, drawing on insights from theory-guided practice and research.

Human Development↗
PubMed1994

The meaning of being a senior: phenomenological research and interpretation with Parse's theory of nursing.

The purpose of this article is to report findings from a phenomenological analysis on the meaning of being a senior. Six hundred narrative stories written by older Canadians on their personal experiences in later life were analyzed using the operations of the van Kaam phenomenological method. Seven common elements were created to capture the shared meaning about being a senior contained in the narratives. The seven elements when linked together formed the central finding of the study in a structural definition. The structural definition arising in this study is: Being a senior means engaging the now while rolling with the vicissitudes of life as refined astuteness surfaces a buoyant unburdening. It is as though shifting rhythms propel discovery through grateful abiding in wondering awareness as anticipation of new possibles enlivens connectedness and altruistic commitments affirm self amidst the retrospective pondering of everydayness. This definition was interpreted from Parse's theoretical perspective in order to expand the knowledge base of nursing science. Descriptive expressions from the narratives were linked with major concepts from Parse's theory. Implications for research and practice are specified. Discussion includes comparison of the findings with other qualitative investigations exploring the meaning of aging with older persons in the United States, Germany, Britain, and Nepal.

Adaptation, Psychological↗