The birth story interview: enhancing student appreciation of the personal meaning of pregnancy and birth.

Women's health faculty seek to promote nursing students' understanding of the personal experience of birth and inspire student appreciation of social, cultural, and healthcare system influences on childbirth. The authors describe the effective implementation of an ethnographic birth story interview assignment through which undergraduate nursing students gain insight into the meaning of pregnancy and birth through the experience of a woman.

Rehabilitation nurses working as collaborative research teams.

Rehabilitation nurses conducting research would benefit from working within collaborative research teams. The development of intradisciplinary (one discipline) and interdisciplinary (many disciplines) research teams is described in this article. A research team is defined as more than a single person in the role of the researcher while studying the same topic of interest in a joint or collaborative manner.

Worry: women's experience of HIV testing.

Although HIV infection is increasing among all women, pregnant women are primarily targeted for testing. The authors explore the experience of nonpregnant women seeking HIV testing, particularly factors that influenced testing, waiting for results, and the testing process. They interviewed 26 first-time testers, analyzed transcripts independently, then compared and consensually validated.

Coherence in the urban family caregiver role with African American stroke survivors.

Expressions of coherence by urban caregivers in African American family systems are the focus of this ethnographic study. The profound changes that can accompany stroke may create considerable stress for families caring for the affected person. Coherence, a sense of mutuality, and differences in functioning among family members were discovered in this study to be important for maintaining stability within the family.

Understanding homeless adults by testing the theory of self-care.

This article explicates, within a sample of homeless adults, the relationship between self-care agency, self-care, and well-being, while controlling for select basic conditioning factors. Self-care is found to explain 30% of the variance in current well-being. Self-esteem and affect balance, along with the power components of self-care agency, are found to explain 25% of the variance in self-care and, together with select basic conditioning factors, to explain 54% of its variance.

Using NOC outcome of risk control in prevention, early detection, and control of hypertension.

Hypertension is a major health problem addressed by nurses in all settings. This article reviews long-term hypertension outcomes and asserts the need to use intermediate outcomes focusing on prevention and early detection to effect change in the prevalence of hypertension and its complications. The Nursing Classification Outcome of Risk Control is presented as a framework to evaluate the state of the science and to develop a research agenda related to hypertension "Risk Control.

Caring and cultural maintenance and transformation for secondary urban family caregivers of persons with stroke.

An ethnographic study examined secondary urban family caregivers' caring and cultural maintenance and transformation as it influences their capacity to care for persons with stroke within African American family systems. Caring as experience was demonstrated by two domains: caring actions and caring family functions. Caring as meaning was centered in one domain: caring expressions.

Coping methods of patients with inflammatory bowel disease and prediction of perceived health, functional status, and well-being.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is chronic, incurable, and requires that affected patients cope with their condition on a constant basis. The purpose of this descriptive study was to predict the perceived health, functioning, and well-being among patients with IBD through the use and effectiveness of various coping methods. Forty-six patients with IBD completed the Jalowiec Coping Scale, the Health Status Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire.

The negative effect of the clinical model of "health": implications for health care policy.

America has no overall health policy agenda that provides direction for improving the health of the nation. Historically, policies have focused on financing medical care. However, the philosophical model underlying that care is disease, not health, oriented.

Barriers to access: frustrations of people who use a wheelchair for full-time mobility.

A phenomenological study was conducted to answer the question, What is it like being an individual with a disability who uses a wheelchair for full-time mobility and lives in society with many potential barriers? A total of 9 people from Ohio and Pennsylvania composed the purposively selected sample. Colaizzi's method of data analysis was used to review transcriptions of interviews with those in the sample. The analysis identified a major theme: all participants had feelings of frustration concerning access.

Constraints that nursing program administrators encounter in promoting faculty change and development.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the constraints that nursing program administrators encounter in promoting faculty change and development. The underlying theoretical framework was based on the concepts of change and innovation presented by Lunde and Hartung, Downs and Mohr, and Kanter. Administrators of baccalaureate schools of nursing (n = 271) who were members of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing participated in this study.

Teaching population-focused practice to baccalaureate nursing students: a clinical model.

As the future of healthcare changes, there will be an increased demand for community-focused care, especially in the areas of health promotion and disease prevention. However, to meet these future demands, nurses must develop a population-focused, wellness-oriented approach to practice. This article briefly describes why many nurses may lack this focus, and then presents a model for teaching these essential community health principles to baccalaureate nursing students.