Successful breast feeding: the mother''s dilemma

A content analysis of 141 articles on breast feeding by discipline revealed differences in the factors considered necessary for breast feeding success and in the criteria used to determine success. Whereas medical articles focused on maternal factors prenatally and infant health post-natally, or the length of time breast feeding was maintained, lay articles focused on the relationship of the mother with her infant (the nursing couple) and the mother's ability to manage breast feeding within the family context. The implications of this discrepancy for nursing practice and research are discussed.     

Reasons for referral to a palliative nursing team

Referral patterns to a palliative nursing team are examined within the context of the developing role of the service Reasons for referral are identified and a checklist developed to encourage specificity in statement of need on referral Comparison is made with the assessment of the Macmillan nurse on assessment Use of the checklist encouraged greater awareness of need There was no correlation between the referrers' perceived needs and the Macmillan nurses' assessments on visiting The literature supports the need for more explicit referral criteria based on needs assessment There are implications for greater awareness of roles, better communication regarding intervention, and organizational review     

Developing trusting, caring relationships: home care nurses and elderly clients

Trusting as an area of research has not been critically examined in nursing research literature In this study, nurses working in home care and elderly clients were interviewed to ascertain the process of developing a trusting relationship Data were obtained from seven home care nurses and six elderly clients who were interviewed from one to three times The data were analysed using grounded theory methodology and sorted using Microsoft Word software on a Macintosh computer The core category which was identified in the data was labelled 'trusting, caring relationships' This core category encompassed trusting which is developed and the caring which the nurses provide Home care nurses and elderly clients moved through four phases initial trusting, connecting, negotiating, and helping The findings have implications for novice nurses working with elderly people, as well as for programme development and education More research needs to be done on trust in different contexts to assist all nurses in establishing nurse–client relationships     

How male nursing students learn to care

The current definitions of caring in nursing education denote a mutual relationship between teachers and students in which they interact to provide an environment which supports the students' personal and professionaldevelopment The learning of caring in an interactional context is typical of the female experience It is unknown if this is representative of the male experience The lived experience of 20 male students as they learned to care as nurses was the focus of this phenomenological research study The participants concurred that, although caring as a nurse could be learned if one was 'open to learning', teachers could only facilitate this learning, they could not directly teach it The interactional strategies of storytelling, modelling, being cared for, the 'aha' encounter, and observing and giving care, were used by the participants in learning to care as nurses The implications of these findings for nursing education and research are presented     

Out of fertile muck: the evolving narrative of nursing

Abstract  The ongoing debate over the appropriateness of embracing multiple research traditions in nursing is discussed, and the impacts of that debate on the development of nursing knowledge and the nature and structure of the discipline are explored. It is asserted that this previously healthy debate has become stalled between extreme positions of unbounded pluralism and critical exclusivism. The author suggests that one possible solution may lie in connecting the elements of human living, human healing, and human wholeness in an evolving narrative that crosses paradigmatic and theoretic boundaries, and reflects the unique meanings revealed in nursing practice and scholarship.