Issues in comprehensive pediatric nursing
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Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs · Apr 1991
Case ReportsChronic sorrow in mothers of chronically ill and disabled children.
A qualitative study is presented following the hybrid model of concept development to examine the emotions present in mothers who care for their chronically ill children at home. In particular the study attempts to examine the presence or nonpresence of chronic sorrow in three mothers through the use of observation and intensive interview techniques and by following the Schatzman and Strauss (1973) method of field research. The population for this study varied in diagnosis, sex, age, prognosis, and family structure. ⋯ Although many different reactions have been presented in the literature regarding the emotions of parents of chronically ill children, chronic sorrow has not been one of them. The examination of this emotion has been disease specific. The presence of this emotion in this population has implications for nurses working in all care settings.
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The purpose of this descriptive study was to survey the parents of well children to determine the ethical principles that influenced the decisions they made in regard to hypothetical choice of treatment options. Sixty-one parents responded to a mailed survey designed to measure the principles of autonomy, beneficence/nonmaleficence, and justice. ⋯ Open-ended questions regarding the principle of justice revealed many frustrations of the sample population regarding the health care system. The study identified the need for nurses and other health care providers to be aware of the influence these ethical principles have on decision making and the importance of autonomy to the parents of well children.