| The thesis employed a Heideggerian Hermeneutical Analysis (HHA) approach for a study of returning registered nurse students (RRNS) from a nursing/health management context. In essence, a descriptive interpretive study the intent has been to unveil the common meanings embedded in the lived experience of RRNS' return to formal (advanced) studies. The phenomenon or issue of interest was pursued in the form of a question: What is meaningful and significant for participant RRNS in their everyday world on re-engaging in formal (advanced) studies?;The study participants included RRNS coming from a management background and, therefore, very much at the cutting edge of rapid and continuing change in health care provision. What the narratives disclosed was the compelling need experienced by the RRNS to increase their understanding of changing requirements in the workplace.;Fourteen RRNS from a university nursing programme participated in extended non-structured interviews lasting 60 to 90 minutes. The interviews were audiotaped and then transcribed. The texts (transcriptions) were analysed hermeneutically using Heideggerian phenomenology. The concern is to make visible participants' experience of their 'world'. It is a premise of phenomenology that an understanding of the meaning and significance of the lived experience can be acquired from the phenomena under study themselves. Approaching a participant as an expert by virtue of directly experiencing the phenomenon, is basic to phenomenology.;In the present study several common or major themes, two relational themes and one constitutive pattern were identified through the process of textual interpretation. The constitutive pattern 'Nursing is Dwelling in Thoughtful Concern as Context Calls Forth', emerged as the major finding of the study. This pattern witnesses to the pragmatism that is inherent in nursing. For the participant RRNS nursing had become a way of engaging their energies in the workplace. The two relational themes, 'Nursing is a whole pile of things'; and 'Curriculum: Reflective Openness' reveal the inherent meanings of the constitutive pattern. Firstly, that nursing is diverse in practice and has many dimensions; and, secondly, that a curriculum befitting the diversity of nursing requires us to constantly challenge and test the learning experiences we provide for RRNS.;Adopting new relationships and 'leaping-ahead' (Heidegger, 1962), to be able to see the whole picture of what was being experienced, reveals the RRNS becoming--as interpreters for both colleagues and clients. Sharing the story of their lifeworld as RRNS, the participants have exemplified 'reflective openness' (Senge, 1990. Appreciating that, however much we value our daily life practices and understandings, they need to be 'always subject to test and improvement'. In effect, the participants have bestowed on us that, within the framework of a curriculum for RRNS, we must generate a process of learning amenable to both individual and group requirements. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
