Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Nursing

Advisor

Catherine Alicia Georges

Committee Members

Claudette Gordon

Elizabeth Cohn

Gillian Bayne

Terri Gibson

Subject Categories

Nursing

Keywords

faith community nurse(s), self-care, qualitative, phenomenology, lived experience, Covid-19

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore self-care as a lived experience of faith community nurse (FCN) who work as full-time or part-time compensated or uncompensated professionals in faith communities, organizations, and institutions in the United States. Faith community nurse research continues along the prevailing paradigm of focus on the benefits and outcomes of their professional practice toward healthcare consumers and community. According to available data, self-care of faith community nurses as a lived experience has not been examined. Recruitment was facilitated by using a purposive and snowballing sampling methods which resulted in thirteen faith community nurses participants. Individual interviews were conducted using semi-structured interview questions. Interpretation and description of the interview text resulted in five essential themes and three sub-themes. The themes contribute to an emic view of self-care as a complex human experience where the faith community nurses have a continual need to intentionally recognize self-care and include self-care in their personal and professional life.This study fills a gap in nursing knowledge related faith community nurses self-care as an integrated balance of internal and external self-care actions, recognition of self-care, tensions in their individualized practice and the presence of COVID-19 in their practice and lives.

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