Nurses’ Illness Narratives:Influences on Family-Centered Care

Lindsey Lawson & Barbara Couden-Hernandez

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study is to explore nurses’ personal experiences of illness and the way that these experiences shape their understanding of family-focused care.

How do nurses experience their own illness narratives?

How do these experiences impact nurses’ understanding of families and healthcare?

Research Questions

Methodology

Qualitative study.

Grounded-theory methodology.

Research team:

4 Master’s level MFT students.

2 primary researchers.

Participants

Approximately 30 participants from Southern California.

Stratified sample:

10 nursing students.

10 newly graduated nurses.

10 nurses with approximately 15+ years of experience.

Sample Quotations

“I remember when I was 10, we got in an accident. My dad was epileptic, he had constant seizures, and we were in the car and on the freeway one time, the 15 freeway, and we ran into the ditch... I knew he had it [epilepsy] but it was never an issue because he took medicine for it. I guess what happened was that he didn’t take his medicine for a week, so we didn’t think anything was wrong... I guess that morning he had a seizure but he didn’t tell anybody. And then later we went to the car and he had a seizure on the freeway.”

“I think I’d tell them: “well, think about your family.” Pull that in there. What will your family think? Are you willing to risk your life because you won’t take this medicine for your family? The people who love you the most? Because when you make decisions it affects everyone around you. I’m very... I’m very... frustrated with those people. This will affect this person, and that person, and every other person... are you really willing to risk that for your pride?”

Sample Quotations

“My cousin, she was also 13, and the doctors thought she had strep throat. She’d gone in a couple of times and the doctors saw swelling in her throat and then after she had antibiotics and they had bloodwork done, it came back that she had a rare form of leukemia.”

“I love toddlers and I love to treat them, but I also don’t want to see a 2 year old with leukemia. I’ve been through that... I don’t want to see a 2 year old with leukemia and in my mind, there’s not a likely chance that they’re going to live a few more years, if that. So I specifically wanted to be in the emergency room. I figure, at least that way, I can see people who are more than likely to heal. It’s not very often that you take someone with leukemia to the emergency room. I’d rather have a short, good relationship with someone in the emergency room than get to know them for a long, long time and then have them pass away.”

Sample Quotations

“My uncle is like, 480 pounds. And he has medical problems due to his weight. And you know, if he came to me, I would tell him “you need to exercise. You probably wouldn’t have this, or you’d have a lot easier time with this if you’d just walk a mile. It’s not really anything that significant... you just can’t expect to lead a sedentary lifestyle and be as healthy as can be.”

“Patients that I would probably butt heads with would be people who... like, someone who comes in extremely overweight and then they complain that they have diabetes. And I think to myself, you may have medical issues that may lean you towards being a little on the overweight side, but not... people don’t need to weigh 500 pounds. People who are blatantly... blame their problems on diseases, even though their diseases come from neglect.”

Future Goals

• Include additional

disciplines.

• Expand region

of study.

Thank YouLindsey Lawson

lalawson@llu.edu