Existential caring in the family health experience: a proposed conceptualization.

Empirical realities and technological advances in the clinical practice context continuously call for ethical dialogue among healthcare providers. The nurse's voice of advocacy for humane caring grounded in an existential understanding of the complexities of the health experience remains a salient responsibility of moral agency. If nurses are to care for families, as society requires, then nurse caring, a phenomenon currently defined and understood primarily at the individual patient-nurse level, must be diligently and broadly explored in terms of its worth to guide nursing service with families.

Temperament and fatigue management in persons with chronic rheumatic disease.

Background: In persons with chronic conditions, fatigue is often a disruptive symptom with a devastating impact on overall well-being. Descriptions of experiences with fatigue contribute to advancing knowledge and improving health outcomes.

Aim: To describe the influence temperament has on fatigue representation, self-care strategies, and strategy success.

A method for pattern recognition.

Although pattern is a dominant concept in nursing science, only Newman's method for recognizing pattern has been fully articulated and widely used in research about the human health experience. This article proposes an alternative, less costly method to facilitate research with larger numbers of participants in clinical settings. Cluster analysis, a quasi-quantitative technique, and content analysis were combined to produce a technique for recognizing patterns of person-environment interaction.

Temperament and satisfaction with health status among persons with rheumatoid arthritis.

Purpose: Health-related quality of life is a subjective phenomenon shaped by personal attributes. Research has demonstrated links between temperament and health outcomes. Because temperament is relatively stable, it could function as a moderator of quality of life.

Experiencing health in the context of rheumatoid arthritis.

The purpose of this study was to explicate the health experience of persons with rheumatoid arthritis who manifest a strong sense of well-being. Five women and three men participated in unstructured interviews in order to answer the research question, What are the subplots that emerge in the descriptions of health given by persons with rheumatoid arthritis? A hermeneutic method was used to analyze the transcripts. Three subplots emerged: (a) The evolving--not knowing and then knowing something, but never really knowing, (b) the reframing, and (c) the relational fugue.