Balance and harmony through connectedness: the intentionality of Native American nurses

This article describes how Native American nurses facilitate and promote harmony and balance through connectedness. According to the Conceptual Framework of Nursing in the Native American Culture, connectedness is at the core of intentionality of Native American nurses. Connectedness occurs through the dynamics of an interdependent and interrelated relationship between the nurse and client. The worldview of Native Americans is illuminated and illustrated within the context of culturally congruent nursing interventions.     

Healing through self-reflection

BACKGROUND: Today, women have an enlightened view towards their life cycles, which is evidence of their healing potential. Women need to share their insights about their healing potential gained through self-reflective processes. Their voices must be heard so that we can benefit from their collective wisdom. The process of healing through self-reflection has begun as a group of nurses share their insights. Documenting the perspectives of these nurses provides the opportunity for other women to learn from and apply this knowledge to their lives. METHOD: Through purposive sampling, eight registered nurses, all women, were selected to participate in in-depth, personal, semi-structured interviews. The purposes in this paper are to describe a three-stage (i.e. awareness, critical analysis, and new perspective) reflective-thinking model and discuss the application of this model to women's expressed inner knowledge and wisdom across personal and professional life cycles. RESULTS: Three themes, signifying their ability to heal themselves, were labelled: Spirituality, Be-ing Versus Do-ing, and Eustress Versus Distress. CONCLUSIONS: Essentially, self-reflection results from both personal and professional stimuli and signifies the need for change so that healing can begin. Recommendations are offered for nurse educators and researchers.     

Healing through prayer: a qualitative study

A qualitative study using a semistructured interview process explored the experience of being healed through prayer in 20 participants from several Protestant Christian faith traditions. Five cluster themes and their subthemes were identified, such as Spirituality and Suffering (subthemes of Purpose of Suffering and Spiritual Meaning of Suffering); The Healing Experience (subthemes of Problems that Were Healed, Incomplete Healings or Recurrences, and Healing of Friends and Family Members); The Connecting Network of Prayer (subthemes of Connection to God, Connection to Others, Meaning of Prayer, Methods of Prayer, and Unanswered Prayer); Spiritual Transformation of Prayer (subthemes of Changed Lives and Sense of Purpose); and Spiritual Phenomena (subthemes of Sense of God's Presence, Use of Complementary and Alternative Practices, and Mysterious Phenomena).     

半导体激光照射对家兔皮肤伤口愈合的影响

目的探讨波长650 nm的半导体激光照射对家兔皮肤伤口愈合的影响。 方法选用21只家兔,建立伤口模型,随机分为对照组、5 mW照射组和10 mW照射组。分别在第5天、第9天和第13天,通过生物统计学方法测量并计算伤口面积变化百分数（△S）,同时行组织形态学观察。 结果5 mW照射组与对照组△S相比,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;10 mW照射组与对照组△S相比,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;而5 mW照射组与10 mW照射组△S相比,差异无统计学意义（P&rt;0.05）。2个照射组炎症消退以及胶原、新生血管和上皮的形成均优于对照组。 结论波长为650 nm、能量为1 J的半导体激光照射,选择功率5 mW或10 mW,均对家兔皮肤伤口的愈合有促进作用,且作用的差别不大。     

Performative retelling: Healing community stories of loss through Playback Theatre

ABSTRACT

Restorative retelling (RR) is an evidence-based procedure for facilitating adaptation following traumatic bereavement. In this paper, we introduce performative retelling (PR), a variation on RR, which fosters healing from personal losses and portrays personal reactions to collective tragedy. We describe our collaboration with an ex-offender reentry program, the Memphis Police Department, and Playback Theatre to use improvisational community theatre to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the citizens they serve. We review program outcomes to-date and illustrate its impact using participant stories. We argue that training police and citizens in PR can potentially transform broken narratives of police-community relations.     

Looking at stuttering through the lens of complexity

In this theoretical paper, the disorder of stuttering is viewed through the lens of complexity. The complexity perspective is a way of understanding complex systems and it has been applied for this purpose across a range of domains, including architecture, economics, sociology, psychology and, most importantly in the present context, health. In this paper we apply some principles and metaphors of complexity to explain the disorder of stuttering. Through the complexity lens, stuttering comprises a number of complex systems, within both the person and the environment, that self-organize in response to a disturbance in the neural processing that is thought to underpin stuttering. The complexity perspective allows us to see this complex disorder in its entirety and provides a framework for integrating research and theory. The complexity perspective also highlights the importance of early intervention.     

Grief and bereavement. Healing through hurt

Based on the premise that understanding bereavement as a natural healing process provides a foundation for nursing assessment and intervention, this article focuses on adult reactions to grief. Suggestions for facilitation of healthy grieving in survivors including staff and for sensitive, caring, and empathetic responses are included. Nurses are challenged to use creative ways to help bereaved persons build bridges to health, not walls to loneliness.     

Choosing personhood: intentionality and the theory of nursing as caring

Drawing on a story of a nursing situation for practical context, this article explores the meaning of intentionality within the theoretical context of Nursing as Caring. May's definition of intentionality as the structure that gives meaning to experience is interwoven with the concepts of the theory of Nursing as Caring to explore the topic. Mayeroff's concepts of hope and commitment contribute to an understanding of intentionality in relation to Nursing as Caring. The major thesis of this article, that intentionality is consistently choosing personhood as a way of life and the aim of nursing, is demonstrated in the practice situation.     

Meanings of death seen through the lens of grieving

Through the lens of grief we can discern many meanings of death, human existence, suffering, the life of the deceased, the life of the mourner, and love. This essay summarizes what the author, in part inspired by Herman Feifel, has learned about such meanings in nearly three decades of thinking, teaching, and writing about grieving as an active response to what happens in bereavement and the suffering that loss entails. It recasts his rethinking of grief within the broad categories of philosophical reflection, including meta-theory and philosophy of science, conceptual analysis, existential-phenomenological analysis, philosophy of mind, epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics.     

Healing pathways through energy work in the perianesthesia care setting

Energy-medicine therapy such as healing touch is a powerful way to promote relaxation and enhance the healing process. Healing touch is a sacred healing art and a way of caring in which practitioners use their hands as channels to assess and balance the energy field that encircles the body in order to promote the innate ability to heal. A collection of energy-based treatment modalities are used to assess and treat the human energy system. The energy system that is life is influenced by healing touch, which is used extensively in the nursing profession. This energy-medicine therapy is used in all areas of nursing. This article discusses the concepts of healing touch, the human energy field, and applications of healing touch in professional practice in the perianesthesia setting.     

Racism and the mentor-student relationship: nurse education through a white lens

This paper is based on a study of relationships between Internationally Recruited Nurse (IRN) mentors and White students in one nurse education department in England (Scammell, 2010). The aim of the study was to analyse mentorship relationships, focusing on interaction in which perceptions of difference were in play. The research drew upon the principles of qualitative ethnography. Data were collected through focus groups, interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. The purposive sample included 10 IRNs, 23 nursing students, two lecturers and five placement-based staff development nurses. The data were analysed thematically. Essentialist constructions of different 'cultures' emerged amongst students speaking of their experiences with IRN mentors. These were used to explain and justify differences in practice and often to portray IRN education as inferior. Difference was viewed as a problem, leading to the reinforcement of boundaries that differentiate 'them' from 'us'. Racism was denied as a source of these views. The findings suggest that Whiteness as a source of power was influential in the production of racism within everyday nursing practice. Whiteness appeared to be normalised: essentially nurse education is seen through a White lens. Students require deeper sociological understandings to better equip them to recognise and to challenge racism and to acknowledge their own part in its reconstruction.     

Experiences of infertility through the lens of Iranian infertile women: A qualitative study

Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of Iranian infertile women regarding infertility. Methods: A qualitative design, based on a content analysis approach, was used to reach this study aim. After employing purposive sampling to choose 10 women who were seeking infertility treatment at a referral center in Tehran, Iran, semi‐structured interviews were carried out to gather data. Results: During the data analysis, four main themes emerged including “abuse”, “marital instability”, “social isolation”, and “loss of self‐ esteem”. Conclusion: Infertility influences both the psychological and social well‐being of women. Improving the knowledge of healthcare professionals especially nurses about the complications of infertility and its related cultural–contextual factors are crucial in order to provide high quality care to infertile women.