The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the meaning of the experience of Korean immigrant nurses working in US hospitals.
Purposive sampling yielded 15 Korean immigrant nurses who had more than one year of clinical experience in US hospitals. Data were collected from March to August 2012 through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis was conducted using van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach.
The findings were classified into eight themes: 'struggling from staff at workplace being territorial to outsiders', 'feeling oppressed due to language barrier', 'accepting rational and horizontal relationships at work', 'staying alert in the environment where lawsuits are rife', 'feeling a sense of stability from the social system that values human dignity', 'maintaining self-confidence from prominent nursing practices and senior Korean nurses' professional reputation', 'performing essential comprehensive nursing care', 'promoting self-development to be equipped with professionalism.'
The findings indicate that the Korean immigrant nurses were able to excel in their workplace when their clinical experience at US hospitals was combined with the lived space in US politics and environment, lived time of patience, lived body to be alert, and lived others with multi cultural characteristics.
The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of fluid management in hemodialysis patients by describing how they manage fluid intake and what affects fluid management.
Purposive sampling yielded 11 patients who have received hemodialysis for one year or longer in one general hospital. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analysed using Giorgi's phenomenological method. Data collection and analysis were performed concurrently.
The findings regarding how hemodialysis patients manage fluid intake were classified into four constituents: 'recognizing the need for fluid control', 'observing the status of fluid accumulation', 'controlling fluid intake and output', 'getting used to fluid management'. The factors that affect fluid management of hemodialysis patients were revealed as 'willpower', 'change in the mindset', 'support system', and 'emotional state'.
The study results show that hemodialysis patients manage fluid intake through food and exercise as well as interpersonal relationships. These findings suggest that strategies in the development of nursing interventions for hemodialysis patients should be directed at assisting them in familiarization with fluid management based on an understanding of their sociocultural contexts.
The study was done to explore meanings and essence of the experience in South Korea of men defectors from North Korea.
Data were collected from March, 2011 to May, 2012, through in-depth interviews with ten men defectors. Data analysis was conducted using the process of hermeneutic phenomenological reflection.
Eight essential themes were extracted; 'buoyant expectation for a new life', 'feeling guilty about family left behind in North Korea', 'inability to become acclimatized due to communication difficulties', 'inability to socialize with South Koreans due to different lifestyles', 'finding strength through trustworthy acquaintances', 'continuing reconciliation with oneself while trying to assimilate into South Korean culture', 'self-realization of one's original self', and 'continuing to feel out the possibility of a future in South Korea'.
The findings indicate that North Korean men who defect to South Korea shape their identity through three phases: forming self-image during escape from North Korea, trying to become accustomed to South Korean society, and finding their own identity by self-realization of their original self. Eventually, the whole process enables them to recover their identity, to feel a sense of belonging, and to discover possibilities for a better future.
This study was done to develop a measurement tool for evaluation of continuing nursing education programs and to verify its validity for effective management and quality of education programs.
The draft of the evaluation measurement was developed from consultation with professionals, focus group interviews targeting groups of nurses, and individual interviews with education program planners. After 6 professionals examined content validity, 46 items were retained. A pilot-survey was conducted to confirm the time required to complete the questionnaire and the level of understanding of general content and each item in the questionnaire. Construct validity was verified through exploratory factor analysis of data from a survey with 44 items completed by 452 nurses and 59 education program planners.
The final evaluation measurement for continuing nursing education programs consisted of 6 evaluation factors and 36 evaluation items. The 6 evaluation factors included identifying program goals and target groups, program planning, performance, operation and management, program outcomes, and program effectiveness.
The evaluation measurement for continuing nursing education programs developed in this study is considered suitable to utilize as an evaluation measurement of the quality of continuing education programs for nurses.
The purpose of this study was to explore the re-employment process of inactivated nurses returning to the nursing field and to develop a grounded theory about their re-employment experiences.
Data was collected through a face-to-face interview and telephone interviews from 10 nurses. The ground theory methodology of Strauss and Corbin (1998) was used for theoretical sampling in accordance with their unemployment period and reason for leaving prior to reemployment; whereas works of data collection and analysis were performed concurrently.
The core category was discovered to be 'identifying a career path by striking a balance between the practical and the ideal'. This series of processes was categorized into five stages: 'trying to get a job again', 'tolerating difficulties as a beginner', 'trying their best to remain a nurse', 'trying to get another job', and 'staying in the profession till the end'.
The results of this study suggest an understanding and profound insight on the issue of a nursing shortage.
This study aimed to identify the associated factors of the perceived health status of the elderly in Korea and to provide basic data for developing nursing interventions for the elderly's health management.
This study used a descriptive correlational research design. The subjects of this study were 335 elderly people over 60 yr living in an urban city. Data were collected through personal interviews using questionnaires from September 2006 to March 2007. Empirical indicators of perceived health status were measured by SF-36, nutritional screening initiative (NSI), activities of daily living (ADL) Index, and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scale. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and hierarchical regression.
The mean age of the subjects was 72.8 and 57.0% of subjects were female. 41.5% of variance in physical health was explained by nutrition, ADL, IADL, and the number of years attending school. Among them the most important factor was ADL. 13.2% of variance in mental health was explained by the number of family, nutrition, and IADL. Among them the most important factor was nutrition.
It is necessary to develop supportive interventions for improving the perceived health status of elderly people by considering the most important factors shown in this study.