Page 617 - alligood 8th edition_Neat

598 UNIT V Middle Range Nursing Theories

TABLE 30-2 Uncertainty Abatement Work
Type of Activity Behavioral Manifestations

Pacing Resting or changing usual activities
Becoming “professional” patients Using terminology related to illness and treatment
Directing care
Balancing expertise with super-medicalization
Seeking reinforcing comparisons Comparing self with persons who are in worse condition to reassure self that it is
not as bad as it could be
Engaging in reviews Looking back to reinterpret emergent symptoms and interactions with others in the
organization
Setting goals Looking toward the future to achieve desired activities
Covering up Masking signs of illness or related emotions
Bucking up to avoid stigma or to protect others
Finding a safe place to let down Establishing a place where, or people with whom, true emotions and feelings could
be expressed in a supportive atmosphere
Choosing a supportive network Selective sharing with individuals deemed to be positive supporters
Taking charge Asserting the right to determine the course of treatment

initial disease treatment or for recurrence. Subjects in obtained at varied points in the course of chemo-
the study designated at least one family member who therapeutic treatment for cancer.
was willing to participate in the study. As the data for the larger study were analyzed, it
Although both quantitative and qualitative mea- became apparent to Dodd (principal investigator)
sures were used in data collection for the larger study, that the qualitative interview data held significant
this theory was derived through analysis of the quali- insights that could further inform the study. Wiener,
tative data. Interviews were structured around family a grounded theorist who collaborated with Strauss,
coping and were conducted at three points during one of the method’s founders, was subsequently re-
chemotherapeutic treatment. The patients and the cruited to conduct secondary analysis of interview
family members were asked to recall the previous data. It should be noted that grounded theory meth-
month and then discuss the most important problem ods typically involve a concurrent, reiterative pro-
or challenge with which they had to deal, the degree cess of data collection and analysis (Glaser, 1978;
of distress created by that problem within the family, Glaser & Strauss, 1965). As theoretical insights are
and their satisfaction with the management of that identified, sampling and subsequent data collection
concern. are theoretically driven to flesh out emergent con-
Meticulous attention was paid to consistency in cepts, dimensions, variations, and negative cases.
data collection: family members were consistent and However, in this project, the data had been col-
present for each interview, the interview guide was lected previously using a structured interview guide;
structured, and the same nurse-interviewer con- thus, this was a secondary analysis of an established
ducted each data collection point for a given family. data set.
Audiotaping the interview proceedings, verbatim Wiener’s expertise in grounded theory methods
transcription, and having a nurse-recorder present at permitted the adaptation of grounded theory methods
each interview to note key phrases as the interview for application to secondary data that proved success-
progressed further enhanced methodological rigor. ful. In essence, the principles undergirding analyses
The resultant data set consisted of 300 interviews (i.e., the coding paradigm) were applied to the preex-
(three interviews for each of 100 patient-family units) isting data set. The analytical inquiry proceeded