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Biomedical subjects

Sally Thorne

Publications and source records attributed to Sally Thorne.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Men, masculinities, and prostate cancer: Australian and Canadian patient perspectives of communication with male physicians.

Patient-physician communication is vital in cancer care, and aspects of the patients' experiences provide insight into what constitutes effective cancer communication. Complexities inherent in prostate cancer regarding screening, treatment(s) efficacy, and side effects commonly form the basis of patient-physician discussions. However, the specificities of patient-physician communications, particularly in the male dyad, and the connections to masculinity are poorly understood. The authors used secondary analysis of data from two interview studies of 19 Canadian and 33 Australian prostate cancer survivors who were treated by male general practitioners and prostate cancer specialists. Participants acknowledged that physician expertise and compassion underpinned the development of trust, and both reassurance and humor were effective communication strategies. Participants were often self-directed in researching prostate cancer, consistently using biomedical language and numerical markers when discussing their disease. Analysis of findings enabled interpretations regarding what might be considered prostate cancer communication competencies in the male patient-physician dyad.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2006

Hope and probability: patient perspectives of the meaning of numerical information in cancer communication.

Although the complexities inherent in human communication make it a difficult target for empirical investigation and systematic interpretation, it is well recognized that patient-provider communication can have either a powerfully negative or positive influence on the experience of cancer. Drawing on an extensive data set derived from interviews with 200 cancer patients, the authors examine the impact of information provided in numerical form within cancer care communications from the patient perspective. In this context, they present findings related to various uses and abuses of numbers within cancer care communication, and illustrate how numerical information constitutes a specialized communication form with considerable potency for shaping the cancer experience. In particular, accounts of the thematic relationship between numbers and hope, from the perspective of those on the receiving end of cancer care, provide a unique perspective from which to interpret issues of compassion, caring, and informed consent.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Preparing the next generation of senior nursing leaders in Canada: perceptions of role competencies and barriers from the perspectives of inhabitants and aspirants.

This paper describes the findings of a two-part study designed to elicit preliminary answers to the questions: "How do incumbents and potential aspirants describe key role functions and competencies associated with senior nursing leadership positions in Canada?" and "What Lessons can be drawn for considerations of leadership succession planning?" The study was undertaken to develop a grounded knowledge framework upon which to develop national and local strategies. Such knowledge may help minimize the impact of an impending crisis by identifying gaps between expectations and reality in order to support proactive succession planning strategies and sustain senior leadership in Canadian nursing.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2005

Land mines in the field: a modest proposal for improving the craft of qualitative health research.

In this commentary, the authors encourage a renewed enthusiasm for attention to quality criteria in qualitative health research by poking fun at what they understand to be patterns and themes emerging from data collected in their respective extensive "fieldwork" experiences within the genre. Conceptualizing some of the particularly problematic interpretive turns as land mines in the field (or, alternatively, missteps in the dance, cracks in the pottery, wrong turns in the journey, weeds in the garden, or dropped stitches in the quilt), they challenge researchers' collective relationship to both factual and metaphoric empirical claims. With a warning to those unaccustomed to self-deprecating humor, the authors challenge all to pay serious heed to what does and does not constitute rigorous, high-quality, empirical science within the qualitative tradition.

Australia↗
PubMed2004

Health care communication issues in multiple sclerosis: an interpretive description.

Communication between persons with chronic illness and their professional health care providers is a critical element of appropriate health care. As the field of health care communication evolves, it becomes apparent that aspects of the illness experience shared by those affected by specific diseases might be a source of particular insight into what constitutes effective or appropriate communications. This interpretive description of health care communication issues in multiple sclerosis was based on qualitative secondary analysis of a set of in-depth interviews and focus groups conducted with 12 persons with longstanding MS experience. Analysis of their accounts illustrates an intricate interplay between common features within the disease trajectory and the communications that are perceived as helpful or unhelpful to living well with this chronic illness. From the analysis of these findings, the authors draw interpretations regarding what might be considered communication competencies for those who care for patients with this disease.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Qualitative metasynthesis: reflections on methodological orientation and ideological agenda.

In an era of pressure toward evidence-based health care, we are witnessing a new enthusiasm for qualitative metasynthesis as an enterprise distinct from conventional literature reviews, secondary analyses, and the many other scholarly endeavors with which it is sometimes confused. This article represents the reflections of five scholars, each ofwhom has authored a distinct qualitative metasynthesis strategy. By providing the reader a glimpse into the tradition of their various qualitative metasynthesis projects, these authors offer a finely nuanced examination of the tensions between comparison and integration, deconstruction and synthesis, and reporting and integration within the metasynthesis endeavor. In so doing, they account for many of the current confusions about representation and generalization within the products of these inquiries. Through understanding the bases of their unique angles of vision, the reader is invited to engage in their commitment to scholarly integrity and intellectual credibility in this emerging methodological challenge.

Humans↗
PubMed2003

Embedded assumptions in qualitative studies of fatigue.

Qualitative researchers have long recognized that fatigue is a common concern among those with chronic illness; however, the insights derived from this body of inquiry have not been synthesized into a coherent body of clinical knowledge that could provide direction for nursing practice. Using a synthesis approach of meta-study, the authors identify four predominant assumptions embedded in qualitative studies that have influenced the way researchers have interpreted and made sense of their findings about fatigue in chronic illness over the past two decades. They argue that these assumptions may have inhibited the development of more dynamic, comprehensive understandings of fatigue. They conclude that addressing some of the methodological issues within this body of research might lead to a more accurate portrayal of the complexity, fluidity, and contextual nature of the fatigue experienced in chronic illness.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2003

The structure of everyday self-care decision making in chronic illness.

As health care reform strategists increasingly recognize the critically important potential of effective everyday self-care decision making for reducing the burden of illness and the strain on health service systems, we must find ways to understand and support it. In this study, the authors investigate persons with expertise in self-care management of type 2 diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis to understand how everyday self-care decision making is learned and experienced. They used interview, think-aloud, and focus groups to construct an account of how persons affected by these chronic diseases make decisions in relation to the choices in their everyday lives and learn to manage the untoward effects of these conditions according to their unique contexts and values. The findings form a conceptual foundation for ongoing inquiry into this complex phenomenon and provide insights that might assist clinicians to understand more fully the responses and attitudes of those they serve.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2002

Complementary/alternative medicine in chronic illness as informed self-care decision making.

The reasons that persons with chronic illness explore complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) have not been well understood. Using data from a study of self-care decision making in chronic illness, we conducted a qualitative secondary analysis to interpret the rationale underlying decisions to experiment with and use various CAM practices and products. The findings confirm that CAM use can be understood as a critical component of self-care management in general, and not as a rejection of conventional medicine or an unrealistic search for cure. In contrast, it represents personal responsibility for health, reframing the measures by which therapeutics are evaluated, and adopting a pragmatic approach to living as well as possible in the context of a chronic condition.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Ethical dimensions in the borderland between conventional and complementary/alternative medicine.

Consumer enthusiasm for complementary and alternative medicine presents complex challenges for conventional Western biomedically dominated health care systems and for those who practice within them. In particular, this trend forces new ethical dilemmas related to how we create consensus about the nature of ethical clinical practice and what constitutes evidence sufficient for public health policy. In this paper, we examine the historical context into which complementary and alternative medicine has been introduced, and consider the ethical and scientific challenges with which it confronts mainstream health systems.

Complementary Therapies↗
PubMed2002

Chronic illness experience: insights from a metastudy.

Concurrent with the recent enthusiasm for qualitative research in the health fields, an energetic call for methods by which to synthesize the knowledge has been generated on various substantive topics. Although there is an emerging literature on meta-analysis and metasynthesis, many authors overestimate the simplicity of such approaches and erroneously assume that useful knowledge can be synthesized from limited collections of study reports without a thorough analysis of their theoretical, methodological, and contextual foundations and features. In this article, the authors report some of the insights obtained from an extensive and exhaustive metastudy of qualitative studies of chronic illness experience. Their findings reveal the complexities inherent not only in any phenomenon of interest to health researchers but also in the study of how we have come to know what we think we know about it.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2002

Disease-specific influences on meaning and significance in self-care decision-making in chronic illness.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the everyday self-care decision-making of individuals with chronic illness for the purpose of developing a comparison of decision-making processes between chronic diseases and to identify criteria by which persons with various chronic conditions evaluate the quality of self-care decisions. A sample of 21 individuals with either Type II diabetes, HIV/AIDS, or multiple sclerosis, who were nominated as expert self-care managers by their clinicians, recorded the decisions they made in their daily self-care over a 1-week period and were interviewed in depth to elaborate on the decisions, the processes by which they made them, and the factors that influenced them. This process was repeated to obtain depth and detail in relation to decisions and decision-making processes. The findings revealed that although participants shared similar elements in their self-care decision-making, they differed in the perceived meaning and significance of their decisions, depending on disease-specific attributes relating to timeliness, biomarkers, interaction within a social context, the construction of healthy practices, and available relevant information. Findings were analyzed and compared to suggest future directions for research and educational interventions to enhance the quality of self-care decision-making in chronic illness by considering the influence of disease-specific attributes in self-care management.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Strength in adversity: motherhood for women who have been battered.

Research into violence against women in intimate relationships has begun to uncover women's experiences of abuse. However, there is a paucity of research addressing women's mothering experiences in the context of partner abuse. The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of motherhood from the perspective of women who have been battered. The methodology used was interpretive description, a qualitative research approach in which the women's accounts could be conceptualized as constructed narratives. Five mothers who had been battered were interviewed twice. Analysis revealed that the abuse shaped their experiences of motherhood and that they faced complex mothering challenges, but that motherhood nevertheless acted as a buffer against the abuse and as a source of strength. The findings extend our understanding of the complexities of mothering in the context of abuse and provide direction for improving health-care support for mothers who have been abused.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Patient-provider communication in chronic illness: a health promotion window of opportunity.

As chronic illness takes its rightful place as an imperative for planners and policy makers globally, the obligation to provide appropriate self-care management support and promote optimal health among the chronically ill is attracting considerable attention. A generation of insider research into the chronic illness experience has yielded powerful evidence of the critical importance of communication between the chronically ill and those who provide their healthcare services. In this article, insights gained from the body of chronic illness research shape recommendations for attitudinal and structural adjustments that might steer our course toward promoting improved health for those affected by a chronic disease.

Chronic Disease↗