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Western Journal of Nursing Research
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Focused Life Stories of Women with Cardiac Pacemakers

Theresa A. Beery

College of Nursing and Health, University of Cincinnati

Marilyn Sawyer Sommers

College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati

Joanne Hall

College of Nursing University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Kathryn M. King, R.N., Ph.D.

Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Biotechnical devices such as cardiac pacemakers are implanted into people to manage a range of disorders, yet comparatively little is known about the emotional impact of this experience. Women may have a unique response to implanted devices due to cultural messages about the masculinity of technology. In this qualitative study using Hall’s focused life stories design, 11 women from teenagers to elders with permanent cardiac pacemakers were asked to describe their experiences using semistructured interviews. The themes that emerged are relinquishing care, owning the device, experiencing fears and/or resistance, imaging the body, normalizing, positioning as caretaker, finding resilience, and sensing omnipotence. Understanding what it means for women to live with an implanted biotechnical device may facilitate planning interventions to support their psychological and physiological health. Effective pacemaker function may depend, in part, on recipients’ successful emotional attachment to the device.

Western Journal of Nursing Research, Vol. 24, No. 1, 7-27 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/01939450222045680
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