Caritas--caring as an ethical conduct.

The aim of this theoretical study is to describe and analyze caritas by seeking the primary source for this phenomenon, which is used as a central motive in Eriksson's Caritative Theory. The search for the origin and the essence of caritas by critical analysis will create an opportunity to assimilate new meaning into the practice of caring science. This new meaning, based on interpretation, will also act as a solid base for the creation of future theories within caring science.

Drama as a new rehabilitation possibility for women afflicted with breast cancer.

The aim of this qualitative longitudinal study was to evaluate drama as a method within the rehabilitation of women afflicted with breast cancer. By purposeful sampling, 11 of a total of 20 women participated in the study and were interviewed 3 times over 9 months. The interviews were transcribed.

Virtue and health--finding meaning and joy in working life.

The perspective of this investigation is the humanistic caring tradition of caring science where caritas motive, i.e. charity and love, constitutes the basic motive and suffering the basic category of caring, i.

The role of significant others in the care of women with breast cancer.

This study seeks to gain knowledge of how significant others experience the nursing care of women with breast cancer and what their own caring needs might be. The overall research design is a clinical application research within the hermeneutic tradition. Thirty-seven significant others have contributed their own narratives about the care on the basis of open, structured questions.

Clinical application research: a hermeneutical approach to the appropriation of caring science.

Clinical caring science researchers contribute, by means of various participatory research efforts, to bring clinical practice closer to the ideals of caring. These research efforts have in the main been developed from classical action research rooted in critical theory. In this article, the authors launch an alternative research approach called clinical application research, the basis of which can be traced to the interpretative paradigm, or hermeneutics.

Suffering related to health care: a study of breast cancer patients' experiences.

A previous study indicated that patient narratives include experiences of suffering caused or increased by health-care encounters. The aim of this study was to interpret and understand the meaning of patients' experiences of suffering related to health care from an ethical, existential and ontological standpoint. Sixteen women with breast cancer in Sweden and Finland took part in qualitative interviews analysed with a hermeneutic, interpretive approach.

Significant others' experience of suffering when living with women with breast cancer.

This is an inquiry into how significant others experience being close to a woman suffering from breast cancer. In order to find this out, theme interviews were arranged with 17 women and 16 significant others from four different caring cultures in Sweden and Finland. A phenomenological case study methodology was adopted and in the analysis of the data a scientific teamwork model was employed, based on ideas developed at the Vancouver School of Doing Phenomenology.

Hermeneutics and narration: a way to deal with qualitative data.

Hermeneutics and narration: a way to deal with qualitative data This article focuses a hermeneutic approach on the interpretation of narratives. It is based on the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur's theory of interpretation but modified and used within a caring science paradigm. The article begins with a presentation of the theoretical underpinnings of hermeneutic philosophy and narration, as well as Ricoeur's theory of interpretation, before going on to describe the interpretation process as modified by the authors.

Grasping the essence of the spiritual dimension reflected through the horizon of suffering: an interpretative research synthesis.

The purpose of this research synthesis was to describe the essence of the spiritual dimension reflected through the horizon of suffering. The material reviewed consisted of 18 articles published between 1989 and 2000 in caring and nursing journals. A depth in the interpretation of the texts was discovered where four different themes emerged: undemanding communion, confirmation of dignity, the dialectic of suffering, and the creation of coherence of meaning.

The face of suffering among women with breast cancer-being in a field of forces.

Through qualitative interviews, the suffering experiences of women with breast cancer and their significant others were disclosed. Seventeen women with different stages of breast cancer and 16 significant others from 4 different care cultures in Sweden and Finland participated. Five of the women had advanced metastatic breast cancer, and 12 had a localized disease.