Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine aspects of the behaviour of Nurses towards persons with alcohol related problems. Similarities and differences in helpful and unhelpful behaviour as perceived by providers and users of care are identified using the behaviour to alcoholism management ( B.R.A.M.) scale. The research covers two phases. In phase One 27 Registered Nurses and 12 members of Alcoholics Anonymous completed critical incident questionnaires which furnished a list of helpful behaviours and a list of unhelpful behaviours. These have been analysed and a set of descriptive statements prepared which constitutes the B.R. A.M. scale. In Phase Two this has been administered to 67 Registered Nurses and 46 members of Alcoholics Anonymous and the results assessed. The findings show that Nurses and Problem Drinkers view the same behaviour as helpful. There is however a significant difference between the two groups on the types of behaviour they consider to be unhelpful. This finding has consequences for those who provide care for problem Drinkers and for Teachers and students in education programs for Nurses

Abstract: “A brief look at self-care and some of the issues relevant to nurses recognising it as a component of acute care”

Abstract: This study focussed on nursing practice in action. The research goal was to identify nursing-relevant dimensions within a person's experience of being a hospital patient undergoing elective surgery. In order to discover and conceptualize the underlying processes which are present as patients are nursed through this experience, an open question was posed – What is happening here? A qualitative research method ws the most appropriate means of discovering an answer to this question.The particular method chosen was the grounded theory approach developed by Glaser and Strauss. Data were collected in five surgical wards of a large city hospital over a period of five months. The research participants were twenty-one patients and the nurses involved in their care. Primary sources of data were interviews and the nursing records. These were augmented by field notes and accounts of observed incidents relating to the care of each patient.Using the inductive strategies of the grounded theory method, numerous descriptive concepts were generated during the data analysis. These were ordered within an integrating social process derived from anthropology. By this means a founded theory in the form of a theoretical framework – the Nursed Passage – was developed. Within this passage the patient is the passage and nursing is translated into action through the agency of the nurse.The Nursed Passage is a patterned partnership with three key elements. Firstly, the temporal element, characterised by ongoing movement and constant change, is conveyed in the sequence of phases or stages. Secondly the participative element is portrayed as a patterned relationship in which both nurses and patient are actively involved in progressing the patient through the passage. Finally, the contextual element recognises complex factors within the nursing environment which have an impact on the shape of the relationship between patient and nurse.This theoretical framework, generated from the reality of nursing as it occurs in one setting, assigns a specific shape to the encounter between nurses and patient. It identifies the contribution nursing alone can make to optimise each patient's hospital experience. In this way it both complements and facilitates the work of medical and other colleagues with whom nurses work. Thus it serves to revalue nursing in terms that can maximally utilise the registered nurse's knowledge and skill for the benefit of all concerned. Consequently, it has the potential value for nursing practice, education and research

Abstract: The ICN International classification for nursing practice project.Terms used by Community-based Mental Health Nurses to describe their practice.In December 1995 a team of advisors from throughout the Asia and pacific region gathered in Taipei, Republic of China, for the International Council of Nurses (ICN) International Classification of Nursing Practice (ICNP) project. During the week long workshop the early draft Classification architecture was presented and exercises were undertaken to test the relevance and accuracy of selected Terms and associated characteristics from the classification. The team of Consultants, who have been working on the Classification since 1990, identified that the most underdeveloped aspects of the hierarchy were community health and mental health nursing. They encouraged the team of Advisors to conduct research with nurses to add to these areas of the Classification in particular.The purpose of the ICP is to make nursing visible through an internationally accepted language which represents nursing diagnoses, interventions and outcomes. The classification is sponsored by ICN and follows a format similar to the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD) which is used extensively throughout the world to statistically record work completed by medical practitioners.The research undertaken at Lakeland Health with five Community-based Mental Health Nurses used the retrospective method of nursing diagnosis validation tool and field exercise method provided by the ICNP Consultant team. These were underpinned by participatory action research methodology. Over four sessions the participants identified six Terms and then field tested each to assess the relevance of that Term in practice. At the weekly sessions the participants shared their reflections on the validity of each Term and discussed other outcomes resulting from their involvement in the research process.The research report outlines the ICNP project and associated literature, explains the research methodology, identifies the resulting Terms and characteristics ready for submission to the ICNP Consultant team and examines outcomes from involvement in the participatory process