Overcoming: a concept analysis

BACKGROUND. Nurses often work with individuals and populations striving to improve or maintain the quality of their lives. Many, struggling from complex health and social problems, are challenged to surmount barriers to achieve this goal. The growing number of homeless families in the United States represent one such cohort. AIMS. To develop an operational definition of overcoming and explicate its meaning, attributes, and characteristics as it relates to homeless families. METHODS. Using the concept analysis method described by Walker and Avant, along with an extensive literature review, and sample cases pertaining to family homelessness, we delineated the defining attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents of the concept, overcoming. CONCLUSION. The results of this concept analysis, particularly the relationship of overcoming to family homelessness, provide guidance for further conceptualization and empirical testing, as well as for clinical practice.