The philosophical basis of nursing research is simply about increasing our knowledge and addressing everyday challenges through reflective thinking. This article explored the fundamental principles that inform nursing research and stresses nurse researchers' vital role in meeting everyday challenges. By employing classic philosophical concepts and contemporary ways of knowing, this article explained how individual beliefs, conceptions about truth, and reflections on self had contributed to knowledge development. To put it plainly, this article is about the story of a nurse researcher and the illustration of how a nurse's philosophy impacts research and consequently contributes to the development of nursing science. Instead of regarding this process as a quest for the ultimate truth, this article recognized the evolving process of interacting with fluid knowledge to advance nursing practice and do well in society.

PURPOSE: This study was done to investigate changes in image of nursing in first year students of nursing after courses on history & philosophy of nursing. METHODS: Participants were 100 first year students at a nursing college located in K city. The students were asked to submit a written answer to an open-ended question. Data were collected in March, 2011, before the students started nursing courses, and again in June, 2011, after they had finished one semester of nursing courses. Data were analyzed using Van Kaam's phenomenological method. RESULTS: Before the nursing courses, students regarded nursing as caring for patients comfortably with warmth and kindness, helping patients with self-sacrificing spirit and service, and being tough and overwhelming to do. After finishing one semester of nursing courses, they regarded nursing as a profession that requires motherly care, love and devotion, and as meaningful and beautiful to do. CONCLUSIONS: After finishing one semester of nursing courses, the images of nursing held by the students changed from a traditional perspective emphasizing the emotional and negative aspects to one focusing more on the professional and positive aspects. It is essential to establish healthy and positive images of nursing among students through the nursing curriculum.
Curriculum ; Humans ; Love ; Philosophy ; Students, Nursing

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of doctoral dissertations in nursing science submitted since 2000. METHOD: Three-hundred and five dissertations of six schools of nursing published from 2000 to 2006 in Korea were analyzed with the categories of philosophy, method, body of knowledge, research design, and nursing domain. RESULT: In philosophy, 82% of all dissertations were identified as scientific realism, 15% were relativism, and 3% were practicism. Two-hundred and fifty dissertations (82%) were divided into a quantitative methodology and 55 dissertations (18%) were qualitative methodology. Specifically, 45% were experimental, 23% methodological, 13% survey and 17% qualitative designed researches. Prescriptive knowledge was created in 47% of dissertations, explanatory knowledge in 29%, and descriptive knowledge in 24%. Over 50% of all research was studied with a community-based population. In the nursing domain, dissertations of the practice domain were highest (48.2%). CONCLUSION: Dissertations since 2000 were markedly different from the characteristics of the previous studies (1982-1999) in the increase of situation-related, prescriptive and community-based population studies. A picture of current nursing science identified in this study may provide a future guideline for the doctoral education for nursing.
*Dissertations, Academic as Topic ; Education, Nursing, Graduate/*trends ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing Research/*trends ; Nursing Theory ; Philosophy, Nursing ; Qualitative Research ; Research Design

Cultural diversity is a highly important issue in nursing education and nursing practice today. This study is a philosophical approach to the power relationship between a health care provider and a care recipient. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationships between nurses and ethnic minority patients based on the discussions of some Foucauldian concepts that are related to cultural diversity. Based on the analysis, this study provides some suggestions for cultural competency in nursing practice.
*Cultural Diversity ; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Minority Groups/*psychology ; *Nurse-Patient Relations ; *Philosophy, Nursing/history ; *Power (Psychology)

PURPOSE: This research was aimed to explore the major subjects and research theme and to classify characteristics of the key words in recent Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing. METHOD: With survey design, whole 103 published papers during 2003-2006 were analyzed with structured analysis form; research subjects, research methodology, data analysis, and key words of the published papers were classified and extracted. Various theme was founded and classified to 9 domains. RESULT: Most of the research subjects were women. Eighty-eight percent of papers conducted quantitative research; 83% chose convenience sampling and 69% used survey design, while experimental design was 29%. Key words were categorized 9 domains: demographic, health related concept, health behavior(intervention), sex-related, life event, disease, et al. Among 9 domains, health related concept, especially psycho-social topics such as depression, anxiety, stress were mostly studied and then physiologic topics such as labor pain, fatigue, and menstrual symptoms. CONCLUSION: Most of the subjects were women and the most common domain studied was health related concepts in Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing. And key words and topics were on women's health issues. We can conclude that Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing has published by her own philosophy.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Fatigue ; Female ; Humans ; Labor Pain ; Nursing* ; Philosophy ; Pregnancy ; Research Design ; Research Subjects ; Statistics as Topic ; Women's Health*

PURPOSE: The purposes of this methodologic paper are to (1) describe theoretical background in conducting research across different cultures; (2) address measurement issues related to instrument administration; and (3) provide strategies to deal with measurement issues. METHODS: A thorough review of the literature was conducted. A theoretical background is provided, and examples of administering instrument in studies are described. RESULTS: When applying an instrument to different cultures, both equivalence and bias need to be established. Three levels of equivalence, i.e., construct equivalence, measurement unit equivalence, and full score comparability, need to be explained to maintain the same concept being measured. In this paper, sources of bias in construct, method, and item are discussed. Issues related to instrument administration in a cross-cultural study are described. CONCLUSION: Researchers need to acknowledge various group differences in concept and/or language that include a specific set of symbols and norms. There is a need to question the philosophical and conceptual appropriateness of an assessment measure that has been conceptualized and operationalized in a different culture. Additionally, testing different response formats such as narrowing response range can be considered to reduce bias.
Attitude of Health Personnel/ethnology ; Attitude to Health/ethnology ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Communication Barriers ; *Cross-Cultural Comparison ; Data Collection/*methods/standards ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic/methods/standards ; Nursing Assessment ; Nursing Research/*methods/standards ; Philosophy, Nursing ; Psychometrics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Research Design/standards ; Researcher-Subject Relations/psychology ; Transcultural Nursing/*methods/standards ; Translating

PURPOSE: This study was performed to provide data for improvement in clinical practice education through analyzing the status of clinical practice education in maternity nursing in four year course nursing schools in Korea. METHOD: Analyzed subjects were 43 schools out of 53 four year course nursing schools in Korea. RESULT: Credits in theory and clinical practice are on the decline. The relationship between goals and areas of clinical practice was not sufficient. The department was not efficient in meeting the demands between theory and practice. The number of students in a group according to clinical areas were thoughtfully assigned, and clinical practice was performed based on real situations. Instructors for clinical practice used practice lecturers, part-time lecturers, preceptors, and assistant instructors including faculty. Methods of practice education and evaluation were varied. CONCLUSION: A suitable philosophy and goals of clinical practice education maternity nursing should be established at this point in time. Furthermore, a study should be performed to analyze the relationship between goals and contents of clinical practice for maternity nursing. In addition, a standardized tool should be developed to evaluate clinical practice.
Education* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea* ; Maternal-Child Nursing* ; Nursing* ; Philosophy ; Pregnancy ; Schools, Nursing*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the theoretical characteristics and direction of inquiry in the discipline of nursing by analyzing doctoral dissertations. METHOD: The materials used in this study were 277 doctoral dissertations from five universities in Korea. The framework for the study was derived from Kim's(1993) alternative linkage among philosophy, theory, and method in nursing science. RESULT: Of the 277 dissertations it was found that there were 13 types of linkages out of a possible 54 types. Most of the dissertations (128 of 277) were done within the linkage of realism/etic/quantitative/explanatory knowledge type. Of the 218 dissertations within scientific realism, 42 were within relativism, and 17 within practicism. There were 134 dissertations of the explanatory knowledge type, 112 descriptive ones, and 31 prescriptive ones. Studies done within the etic quantitative methodology included 209 dissertations and within the emic perspective, 43 with qualitative methodology, and 7 with quantitative. CONCLUSION: The results show that it is necessary to develop more alternative linkages for nursing practice and this will lead to expanding nursing knowledge.
Adult ; Dissertations, Academic as Topic ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing Research/*trends ; Philosophy, Nursing

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to illustrate the main stream of postmodernism which has influenced theory and research in the nursing science, and then to consider the meaning and value ofwhat the postmodern perspective has meant to nursing science in the 21st century. METHOD: Derrida and Foucaults philosophical thoughts that characterized postmodernism through the interpretation of their major literature was studied. Based on their philosophy, it was shownhow Derrida's idea could be applied in deconstructing the core paradigm in modern nursing science. In terms of Foucault's post-structuralism, reinterpretation of the nursing science in relation to power/knowledge was completed. RESULT: Postmodernism created multiple and diverse paradigms of nursing theory as well as nursing research. This was accomplished by deconstructing the modernism of nursing science which was based on the positivism and medical-cure centralism. Specifically, the post-structuralist perspective revealed issuesaround the relationship of power and knowledge, which dominated and produced modern nursing science. Contemporary nursing science accepts pluralism and needs no unitary meta-paradigm, which can reintegrate multiple and diverse paradigms. CONCLUSION: In considering the issue of nursing science in postmodernism, it can be summarized as follows: the postmodern thinking discovers and reveals diverse and potential nursing values which were veiled by the domination of western modern nursing science. These were motivated to create nursing knowledge by conversation in interpersonal relationships, which can contribute to practical utilities for the caring-healing situation.
Nursing Research ; *Philosophy, Nursing ; *Postmodernism

PURPOSE: This descriptive - comparison study was conducted to investigate the critical thinking disposition of senior nursing students in three types of nursing program. Method: The convenience sample was drawn from 472 nursing students. Instruments used in this study were made California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory developed by Facione & Facione (1994). Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test with SAS 6.12 program. RESULTS: 1. The total mean score of critical thinking disposition was 279.06. Inquisitiveness was the highest with an mean score 45.50, while systematicity was the lowest with mean score of 36.15. There was a statistically significant difference in critical thinking disposition(F=14.36, p=.00)according to senior nursing students in three types of nursing programs. 2. There was a statistically significant difference in critical thinking disposition(F=5.53, p=.00) according to age, marital status(t=-3.15, p=.00), religion(F=3.26, p=.02) and critical thinking course taken previously(t=3.10, p=.00). CONCLUSION: There was a statistically significant difference in critical thinking disposition(F=14.36, p=.00) according to senior nursing students in three types of nursing program. There was a statistically significant difference in Critical thinking disposition according to age, marital status, religion, logic, philosophy, critical thinking course.
California ; Humans ; Logic ; Marital Status ; Nursing ; Philosophy ; Students, Nursing ; Thinking*