Paula M Karnick | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Feeling lonely: theoretical perspectives.

Much has been written about the phenomenon of loneliness. Despite the plethora of theoretical information concerning loneliness, the phenomenon lacks a clear, consensual definition. Nurses often work with persons who feel lonely. Feeling lonely is a phenomenon that is a universal lived experience that is significant to health and quality of life. In this column, the author examines the existing body of theoretical knowledge regarding the phenomenon of feeling lonely. The author's perspective is the human becoming theory, in which health is viewed as the way individuals live what is important to them.

Humans↗

PubMed2005

Human becoming theory with children.

As a nurse practitioner, I am often challenged with providing care for children in the traditional medical model. Struggling with these challenges has created new ways of being with patients and their families. Working with children is gratifying, stimulating, and life changing. Living true presence with children as they draw images of their realities gives rise to a powerful interconnectedness that facilitates greater understanding of their meaning about what is important to them as they create new ways of seeing health opportunities. Bearing witness to children as they use art and words to describe their feelings encourages and fosters new ways of becoming for the nurse and the child and the child's family. This column describes a dialogical-engagement of this nurse practitioner and a young child and how this process transformed the nurse practitioner as she moves to be with children and families in new ways.

Adaptation, Psychological↗