Abstract: This study investigates the induction of comprehensive Nurses into a professional culture during their polytechnic education and the first year of Hospital practise. A critical theory framework combined with case study method is used to demonstrate the ways in which social forces constrain individual and professional action. It is argued that a more socially critical approach to the design of Nursing curricula might begin to transform some of the social structures which presently inhibit and constrain the professional choices and actions of student and graduate Nurse

Abstract: The focus of this thesis is the practice of the nurses employed in the Native Health Nursing Scheme in New Zealand from 1911 to 1930. These nurses were a vanguard movement for change in community nursing services as they established a new role and developed innovative ways of practicing nursing while claiming greater autonomy and accountability for nurses who worked in community settings. Consequently they contributed to an increase in status for nurses in New Zealand.The Native Health Nursing Scheme was established by the Health Department to replace the Maori Health Nursing Scheme, an initiative by Maori leaders for Maori nurses to provide nursing care for their own people. The original scheme had foundered amid under-resourcing, a lack of support from hospital boards and administrative chaos. Government policy for Maori health was openly assimilationist and the mainly non-Maori Native Health nurses carried out this policy, yet paradoxically adapting their practice in order to be culturally acceptable to Maori.Their work with the Maori people placed the Native Health nurses in a unique position to claim professional territory in a new area of practice. As they took up the opportunities for an expanded nursing role, they practiced in a manner which would develop the scope and status of nursing. The geographical isolation of their practice setting provided the nurses with the challenge of practicing in an environment of minimal administrative and professional support, while also offering them the opportunity for independence and relative autonomy. Obedience, duty and virtue, qualities highly valued in women of the day, were expected especially in nurses. These expectations were in direct contrast to the qualities necessary to perform the duties of the Native Health nurse. The conditions under which these nurses worked and lived, the decisions they were required to make, and the partnerships they needed to establish to be effective in the communities in which they worked, required courage, strength, organizational ability and commitment

Abstract: This paper outlines a phenomenological study carried out to explore the experience of nausea, vomiting and retching associated with pregnancy. These phenomena lack Nursing research and are debilitating symptoms which effect the quality of life for 50-75% of all pregnant women. Madjar ( 1991) indicates that the communication of such experiences can deepen our understanding of human life and coping. It is importance for Nurses to develop an understanding of lived experiences so that they can make more effective interventions. This study explores the essential humanness of life experiences as they are for those who live them. It involved collecting data from those experiencing the phenomena and analysing it. It focuses on the study of phenomena not as separate entities in themselves but as they are perceived as they are experienced. A 'purposeful sample' was required for this study. The aim was to include women who had direct knowledge of the phenomena of nausea, vomiting and retching associated with pregnancy. The study involved in depth interviewing of six women, the interviews were taped and independently transcribed, the transcripts were analysed to determine the meaning of the experience and to identify common themes. The experiences of the women are discussed in relation to what van Manen (1990) describes as four main life world existentials; the lived body, the lived other, lived space and lived time

Abstract: The experiences of nurses employed on casual contracts were explored using grounded theory methodology. Data analysis showed that the experience of casual nursing is constituted by interwoven processes of discontinuity and marginality with an overall theme and processes of compromise to obtain a sense of balance by the casual nurse. Implications for permanent staff, casual nurses and organizations are developed

Abstract: This phenomenological study describes the lived experience of mothering a child hospitalised with acute illness or injury. Seven mothers who had experienced this crisis within twelve months of our first interview agreed to share their stories with me. The resulting data were analysed and interpreted using van Manen's interpretation of Heideggerian phenomenology.Four phenomenological themes emerged from this study. Mothers have a special kind of knowing. They have a need to do with and for their child. Handing over to or leaving their child in the care of strangers and waiting for their child to be returned to their care are very difficult things for mothers to do. Their constant vigilance is enabled by their special kind of knowing and their need to do. The difficulty of handing over, leaving and waiting is emphasised by mothers' constant vigilance.Personal experiences during the course of my study presented significant challenges to my ability to offer an effective phenomenological description of the phenomenon under study. Continuous reflection aided by dialogue with fellow phenomenological researchers has resulted in a meaningful narrative.This description of mothering in a context of crisis is useful in the potential contribution it makes to nurses' understanding of mothers' experience of the hospitalisation of their children. It supports the philosophy of family-centered care and highlights the ability of individual nurses to make a positive difference to a very stressful experience