Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Western Journal of Nursing Research
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by McCurry, A. H.
Right arrow Articles by Thomas, S. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by McCurry, A. H.
Right arrow Articles by Thomas, S. P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Spouses’ Experiences in Heart Transplantation

Alice H. McCurry

Carson-Newman College, Division of Nursing

Sandra P. Thomas

Ph.D. Program in Nursing, University of Tennessee, College of Nursing

In this phenomenological study, in-depth interviews were used to obtain a description of spouses’ experiences in heart transplantation. Thematic analysis of the transcripts revealed four major, interrelated themes: death-life, vigilance, change, and gift. The experience was contextualized by the existential grounds of time and other people. Findings suggested that the changes inherent in the transplant experience have not been fully described in previous studies. The theme of death-life was dominant and pervasive in all interviews. As the threat of their husbands’ deaths became less prominent, wives reported difficulty letting go of their vigilance. Although the most outstanding gift was that of the donor organ, spouses also gratefully remembered the donor and donor family. Time was not perceived as a boundary separating periods of the transplant experience; all aspects of time seemed to be woven seamlessly from the past through the present and into the future. Spouses were adamant that health care personnel should recognize them as coparticipants in the critical life event of cardiac transplantation.

Western Journal of Nursing Research, Vol. 24, No. 2, 180-194 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/019394590202400207
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Evid. Based Nurs.Home page
OTHER ARTICLES NOTED (Nov 01 to 18 Oct 02)
Evid. Based Nurs., January 1, 2003; 6(1): e1 - 1.
[Full Text] [PDF]