IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/clnure/v7y1998i1p6-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cardiac Spoues' Help-Seeking Experiences

Author

Listed:
  • Suzanne Steffan Dickerson

    (State University of New York at Buffalo, sdickers@acsu.buffalo.edu)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of help seeking by spouses of cardiac rehabilitation patients by eliciting their verbal description of the experience. A phenomenological approach was used to collect data that consisted of individual interviews and focus group interviews. The exhaustive description of the phenomenon of help seeking described how the spouses' views of the illness affected initiation of help seeking. Spouses' stories revealed three time periods when spouses needed help: diagnosis, a time of uncertainty and loss of control, hospitalization, a time of information seeking and vigilance; and homecoming, a time of active help seeking because control is regained. To manage the uncertainty, spouses sought meaningful information to contend with difficulties. Spouses told of the individuals who assisted most, of barriers to seeking help, and availability of resources for support. This study increases health care providers' understanding of spouses' experiences, which may facilitate design of interventions that maximize supports for spouses. Assisting spouses will subsequently improve patients' recovery and facilitate lifestyle changes.

Suggested Citation

  • Suzanne Steffan Dickerson, 1998. "Cardiac Spoues' Help-Seeking Experiences," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 7(1), pages 6-24, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:clnure:v:7:y:1998:i:1:p:6-24
    DOI: 10.1177/105477389800700102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/105477389800700102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/105477389800700102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben-Sira, Zeev & Eliezer, Ronit, 1990. "The structure of readjustment after heart attack," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 523-536, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Patricia Bohachick & Melissa V. Taylor & Susan Sereika & Sara Reeder & Bonnie B. Anton, 2002. "Social Support, Personal Control, and Psychosocial Recovery Following Heart Transplantation," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 11(1), pages 34-51, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:clnure:v:7:y:1998:i:1:p:6-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.