Changes in health care facilities have created the necessity for individual nurses
to change, eg, change jobs, pursue additional education, become independent entrepreneurs.
There is a shortage of nurses that places stress on those who remain to care for an
increasing number of persons with too few resources. The purposes of this study were
to explore nurses' perceptions of the circumstances of their work lives and to describe
the processes by which they can create change in these circumstances. The methodology
was an emancipatory design combining tenets of critical inquiry and feminist research.
The method used was a dialectical process of reflection and action (praxis). Three
diverse groups of nurses met weekly over 6–10 weeks. Using the group process method,
each group reflected on, discussed, and analyzed the phenomenon of practicing nursing
today. The outcome of an emancipatory study is reflected in the power of the process.
The group interaction increased awareness, promoted reflection on the status quo,
and energized the groups to derive possible solutions to changing that status quo.
It is not the solutions themselves that are as relevant as is the obvious cogency
of the process to achieve individual and group emancipation. Six codifications reflected
the themes that emerged and 5 processes for exploring untested feasibilities for change
were identified. The participants perceived themselves more as subjects in their history
than objects to be manipulated, capable of transforming a rather dismal situation
of nursing practice into one that was critical, creative, and freer from constraints.
The implication of this study is that nurses are encouraged to adopt and adapt this
process of group interaction because of its demonstrated credibility to empower and
validate the role that nurses have to derive and implement solutions to change their
unsatisfactory status quo.
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Biography
Barbara Bennett Jacobs is an Affiliated Faculty at the Center for Biothethics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
Biography
Joyce S. Fontana is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the School of Nursing, St. Joseph College, West Hartford, CT.
Biography
Maryanne Hidalgo Kehoe is a Doctoral Student at the School of Nursing, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
Biography
Colette Matarese is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the School of Nursing, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI.
Biography
Peggy L. Chinn is a Professor Emerita at the School of Nursing, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
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