Elders' experiences of the death of an adult child.

The death of a child can result in complicated grief. Thirty-one adults, 60 years of age or older, who lost an adult child, participated in a qualitative study using a focus group format that allowed them to discuss their experience. A hermeneutical approach was used to develop an overall thematic description of what it meant to an older person to lose an adult child. Four major themes emerged: losses, limited influence/decision making power, regrets, and decreased quality of life. Suggested interventions to prevent complicated grief in elders who experienced the death of an adult child include attentive listening, storytelling, and the use of metaphors.

Being treated with compassion by nursing students in their baccalaureate program.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Compassion is an essential component of nursing education. Having nursing students describe situations in which they were treated with compassion may offer guidance for faculty. The purpose of the study was to uncover themes in descriptions of undergraduate nursing students who described self as being treated with compassion during their Baccalaureate nursing education. METHOD: Conventional content analysis was the method used in the study. RESULTS: Four themes represent the findings. These are: 1) compassion began in situations where students were lost, confused, frightened, and discouraged; 2) emerged in a relationship focused on being recognized, valued, and understood; 3) developed with the other taking charge, listening carefully, remaining patient, and maintaining presence; and 4) ended with feelings of success, comfort, and belonging. CONCLUSION: The findings offer a description of compassion from the students' point of view. An approach for teaching compassion based on the study findings is proposed.

Self-deception among men who are mandated to attend a batterer intervention program.

TOPIC: Intimate partner violence continues to be a confounding national health problem, especially for women and children. Certified batterers' intervention programs are one means currently being used to combat intimate partner violence. METHOD: Existential phenomenology was utilized in this qualitative study to gain an understanding of the perceptions of the perpetrator prior to beginning a batterer intervention program. FINDINGS: The batterer's experience is divided into two major themes: lack of justification of behaviors toward him and minimization and justification of his behaviors toward the victim and others. CONCLUSIONS: It is hoped that obtaining this understanding will encourage program personnel working in the area of batterers' intervention programs to include more emotional skills training within such programs, thus improving the quality of life for victims, perpetrators, and their families.

Batterer intervention program: the victim's hope in ending the abuse and maintaining the relationship.

In this existential-phenomenological investigation, women whose partners were mandated to attend a batterers' intervention program (BIP) were interviewed about their experiences before their partner attended his first class. The goal of this study was to gain an understanding of the woman's expectations of the BIP in the aftermath of her experience of abuse and her reasons for maintaining the relationship. Women described their experience as one of living in a dangerous environment that keeps them nervous, confused, fearful, and feeling bad about themselves, but yet hopeful that the abuse will stop now that their partner is being sent to treatment. BIP was, in fact, the "last hope," an optimism unsupported by current research data.

Female sexual assault: the impact on the male significant other.

In this existential-phenomenological investigation five men were interviewed about their experience of being a male significant other (MSO) of a female sexual assault victim. The purpose of the study was to understand the MSO's meaning of the rape and the emotional impact it had on him. The thematic structure of a man's response to having a female significant other sexually assaulted depicts an impact on his emotional life in four significant areas: (1) his immediate painful thoughts and feelings, (2) his relationship with the victim, (3) his world view on male attitudes, and (4) the long-term effects of the trauma. It is an experience that has left him feeling angry, helpless, and guilty, prompted him to self-inspection, and thus changed him forever.

Recovery from intimate partner violence: a difficult journey.

In this existential-phenomenological investigation 15 women were interviewed about their experience of recovering from intimate partner violence (IPV). The purpose of the study was to examine the healing process from IPV from the perspective of those who have experienced it. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using a hermeneutic process. The thematic structure of a woman's journey is comprised of three distinct but connected phases of her life: the abusive past, the struggles of freeing herself physically and emotionally from the abuse/past, and finally the healing/growth that occurs as a woman releases herself from the bitterness and anger of the past. Most of the women in this study were able to experience the peace and healing that occurs with recovery, although a few remained emotionally stuck and unable to free themselves from the past. Thus, there are two stories that are told in this study. The first story is about a journey of recovery. Sadly, the second story is about nonrecovery.