The meaning of nurses' experiences caring for families where mothers and infants are addicted to substances
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Date
2013
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Publisher
University of New Brunswick
Abstract
This phenomenological study explored nurses’ meaning of caring for families where mothers and infants are addicted to substances. There is an absence of literature indicating how nurses’ experiences caring for mothers with substance misuse issues. The literature does suggest that individuals with mental health issues, specifically substance misuse issues, face negative stigmatizing attitudes when interacting with the healthcare system and nurses.
Using written descriptions submitted via email, nurses’ experiences were analyzed-synthesized using Giorgi’s (2009) descriptive phenomenological method to produce a phenomenological description of the everyday experience. Descriptions were viewed through the disciplinary lens of Doane and Varcoe’s (2005) family nursing as relational inquiry.
The findings of this research have the potential to transform our understanding of what it means for nurses to care for families where mothers and infants are addicted to substances and what is important for nurses to know when caring for families with substance misuse issues.