Holistic Nursing Practice Research Articles

Standards for Holistic Nursing Practice: A Way to Think About Our Care That Includes Complementary and Alternative Modalities

The Standards of Holistic Nursing Practice were developed by the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) as a public statement regarding the practice of holistic nursing as a specialty. This article reviews the development of the practice standards, and presents the philosophies and values which underpin holistic nursing. Certification in the speciality is awarded through the American's Holistic Nurses' Certification Corporation (AHNCC) to nurses able to demonstrate knowledge and skills described in the Standards. The relationship between holistic nursing practice and complementary and alternative modalities is discussed.

HOLISTIC NURSING: Taking Your Practice to the Next Level*

The goal of holistic nursing is to enhance healing of the whole person from birth to death. The new AHNA Standards of Holistic Nursing Practice define the ways to accomplish this goal, describing the scope of holistic nursing practice and the level of care expected from a holistic nurse. Nurses can reduce the devastating effects of crisis and illness of individuals by using this reference. 1

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVES AND INTERVENTIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH AND PARISH NURSES

Spirituality is an integral part of holistic nursing practice. Limited research has been done that explores nurses' spirituality and the spiritual interventions they have made with patients in their practice. Much of the extant research has been done on nurses involved in terminal care such as oncology and hospice nursing. This study explores spiritual perspectives and spiritual nursing interventions in two other nursing specialties that require holistic nursing care as well: mental health and parish nurses. The findings indicate that both groups report high spiritual perspective scores and provide a variety of interventions to patients in their practices.

The interface of anthropology and nursing guiding culturally competent care in psychiatric nursing

Nurses and all health care providers are called on to involve patients and families in health care decision-making and to accommodate culturally diverse populations. This article describes the Interface of Anthropology and Nursing Model (IAN), which is derived from the works of Kleinman and Peplau, classical theorists from anthropology and nursing, respectively. This model provides a framework for nurses to uncover cultural information through the elicitation, analysis, transfer, restructure, and feedback of explanatory models within the interpersonal nurse-patient relationship. Such integration of theory enhances a holistic nursing practice incorporating good communication, mutual decision making, and fostering patient agency. Copyright © 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company

Prayer: an ancient healing practice becomes new again.

Prayer is an ancient healing practice not generally available in our health care system. However, the majority of Americans believe in the healing power of prayer. A recent Time/CNN poll found that 82% of Americans believe that prayer can cure serious illness, 73% believe that praying for others can cure illness, and 64% want their physicians to pray with them. Nurses should know what prayer is, should be familiar with the growing body of literature on the effectiveness of prayer, and understand potential uses of prayer as part of holistic nursing practice.

The Concepts of Caring and Story Viewed from Three Nursing Paradigms

The concepts of story and caring in nursing are inextricably connected. The focus of this article is to view various facets of the concepts and explore interpretations of story and caring from three nursing paradigms. The challenge for nursing is to refine methods of research and practice from each of the three perspectives. In the past, most of the nursing literature was written from a reductionistic or correlational view with little from the holistic view. Although in recent years more nursing articles have been written from a holistic paradigm, further development of holistic nursing research and practice is needed encompassing story and caring.

On What Basis do Australian Men Make Informed Decisions about Diagnostic and Treatment Options for Prostate Cancer?

Men rely on general practitioners (GPs), other medical and nursing staff to provide them with information on prostate cancer and urinary symptoms. This paper identifies several problems encountered by Australian men in gaining information necessary for making an informed decision with respect to the detection and treatment of prostate cancer. An examination of disparities between national guidelines for screening and screening practices of GPs reveals that complex medical issues exist in relation to the supply of screening tests. Similar complexities exist for Australian men trying to make an informed decision about prostate cancer treatments. In particular, there is very little evidence to show that any treatment option or combination of treatments has better outcomes. Thus, it is unlikely that Australian men, even those who are assertive and information literate, make fully informed decisions when consenting to screening procedures and treatment for prostate cancer. Men with limited use of English and poor literacy skills, such as older migrants are further disadvantaged in terms of gaining information, and are likely to remain largely uninformed on even the basic issues relating to prostatic symptoms and prostate cancer. The task facing nurses is to research the needs of men and their communities as a basis for the development of accessible information resources. This approach will provide evidence in support of holistic nursing practice as well as increasing the likelihood that men's consent to prostate screening and treatment constitutes an informed decision.

Holistic interventions for acute pain episodes: an integrative review.

Pain is a universal experience that lends itself to nursing interventions based on a holistic approach. Pain is a dynamic process, and relaxation techniques are based on the recognition of the interaction between the physiological and psychological components of the human body. Although acute episodes of pain are found in all areas of nursing practice, limited research using relaxation techniques as supplements to pharmacologic intervention has been reported. This article reviews six research studies that have implications for holistic interventions in nursing practice. Theoretical bases, findings, and discussion of relevance for holistic nursing practice are presented as well as recommendations for future research in the area of relaxation technique use during episodes of acute pain.

Essential Readings in Holistic Nursing

Part 1 Foundations of holism and healing: caring spirituality synchronicity expanded consciousness. Part 2 Caring and the caregiver. Part 3 Integrating holism within the client's cultural and environmental world: culture environment. Part 4 Health promotion for clients with selected lifestyle alterations/abuse. Part 5 Selected holistic nursing interventions. Part 6 Exemplars of holistic nursing practice.

Imaging ourselves: nurses' metaphors of practice.

Metaphors are vivid, expressive tools popularly used in everyday conversations. The familiarity of metaphors combined with their capacity for generating meaning make the metaphor a powerful heuristic device for effecting nursing discoveries and pedagogical shifts. Exploring nursing metaphors can provide opportunities to develop new understandings of nursing and challenge metaphorical images that may be constraining and/or obscuring significant elements of holistic nursing practice. A research study that examined the metaphorical images of practicing nurses uncovered a wide variety of images. The thematic analysis of the metaphorical descriptions illuminated four major themes: (a) the character of nursing work, (b) power and empowerment, (c) nursing as a growth process, and (d) the relational nature of nursing. Nurses' metaphorical images provide a window into the complexities and ambiguities within nursing practice. The images highlight the significance of social and organizational constraints that influence how nurses take up their practice, the ways in which nurses feel unable to practice holistically, and the struggles nurses encounter when they try.

A holistic view of nursing concepts and theories in practice.

This article offers an alternative view to Hall's statements concerning concepts and theories in nursing practice. This article also represents an example of how journal articles can be forums for ongoing dialogue about the complex matters related to developing nursing knowledge. New ideas are presented by which the concept of self-transcendence, developmental theory, and theory in general are viewed from a holistic perspective rather than the perspectives offered in Hall's article. In contrast to Hall's claims about theory and about developmental theory in particular, theory is discussed as integral to holistic nursing practice.

Bedside Musical Care: Applications in Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Neonatal Care

Although music therapy in health care settings is not new, bringing live music to the bedside is a new way of extending the caring tradition of nursing practice. Bedside musical care is consistent with a philosophy of holistic nursing practice and can be used during pregnancy, childbirth, and in neonatal care. It is defined as live music at the bedside, which is part of a treatment plan to foster integrity, well-being, and health for varied populations across the life span.

Toward a holistic view of genetic technology as a way of knowing.

Technology changes the face of science and, ultimately, nature. How do we as nurses come to know technology? Nurses' ways of knowing, as described by Carper, help nurses better understand technology as a way of knowing; that is, using empirical, ethical, personal, and esthetic ways of knowing provides a means to incorporate technology into holistic nursing practice. Knowledge of technology also requires considering clients' and families' multiple facets of knowing. The article summarizes the nature of technology, nurses' ways of knowing in the context of genetic technology, and the rationale for understanding clients' and families' ways of knowing.

Understanding the process.

The overall goal of the editors of the Journal of Holistic Nursing was to enhance the link between the professional literature and holistic nursing practice. To accomplish this goal, strategies were developed/refined that would increase the journal's acceptance into the clinical/academic marketplace. The purpose of this article is to produce a concise document that describes the publication process. The following topics are addressed: (a) the rationale for writing, (b) the publication requirements, (c) selecting a journal, (d) the peer review/evaluation process, and (e) the essential components of an article. The purpose of this editorial effort was to assist manuscript writers to become published authors. Hopefully, the activities of the editors and the contents of this article will facilitate the efforts of many aspiring authors.

The meaning of diabetes. Significance for holistic nursing practice.

Recent research has raised questions about the validity and relevance of health practitioners' perspectives of diabetes and diabetes care. This article describes a qualitative research study that was undertaken to illuminate an insider's perspective of how Type I diabetes is meaningfully experienced. The results of this study reveal that although people with diabetes share a common disease, the meaning of that disease in people's lives is unique and varied. To provide holistic care, nurses must assist people in discovering and articulating the meaning of diabetes in their lives as well as acknowledging and attending to the significant elements within their experiences.

Growing up with chronic illness: the experience of growing up with cystic fibrosis.

The article describes the experience of growing up with a chronic illness. A hermeneutic-phenomenologic design based on van Manen's technique and set in Watson's theory of human caring was used to explore the meaning of the experience for 10 adults with cystic fibrosis. Themes that emerged included being different, "dont't call me terminal," and will power and faith. Implications for holistic nursing practice are included.

Spirituality and hope: nursing implications for people with HIV disease.

The article describes the historical influence of holistic nursing theorists on the integration of spirituality into nursing care. Assessment and interventions for spiritual distress are suggested based on the conceptual model for holistic nursing practice of Dossey and colleagues. Research concerning the influence of hope, a dimension of spirituality, on men with human immunodeficiency virus disease is reported. Practice implications for increasing hope and facilitating spirituality are discussed.

Exploration of the relationship between caring and cost.

Cost and caring are both dimensions of holistic nursing practice. Each is a term that is complex and ambiguous yet assumed to be simple and well understood. Nurses need to examine the specific embedded assumptions of cost and caring; measure each; and demonstrate their inter-relationship and effects on patient outcomes. Integral to caring is "professional vigilance," which cannot be delegated; attempts to do so may incur future hidden costs. Nurses are urged to be alert to cost-shifting that affects caring and quality. Advocacy for cost-effective caring practices is urged through participation in governance structures.

Guided Imagery. A psychoneuroimmunological intervention in holistic nursing practice.

Guided imagery is an independent nursing intervention that uses psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) principles to assist an individual in the management of distressing symptoms. The purpose of this article is to discuss the use of guided imagery in holistic nursing practice. The concepts of PNI are described and the basic steps of guided imagery are presented. PNI research and nursing research on guided imagery as an intervention are reviewed. The principles of guided imagery and PNI are applied to holistic nursing practice. Suggestions for future research methodologies, including psychological, neuroendocrine, and immunological measurements to evaluate the effectiveness of guided imagery, are offered. Rationale for using human immunodeficiency virus infection as a disease model to study the effectiveness of guided imagery is provided.

Rx:RN From Hospital to Holistic Nursing Practice

Rx:RN From Hospital to Holistic Nursing Practice