Perspectives on the Unitary Transformative Person-Environment-Health Process for the Knowledge Base of Nursing

Identifying Holistic Nursing Research Priorities for 2023-2026

The primary goal of holistic nursing research is to develop and expand the knowledge base of holism and healing for nursing praxis. This article provides an overview of the process used to identify the research priorities for holistic nursing research over the next 3 to 5 years. A mixed method design using Appreciative Inquiry and surveys revealed five research priorities and the holistic philosophical foundation for these priorities. Additionally, new challenges in the environment, person, health, and nursing will undoubtedly emerge, requiring nurses to discern the research needs beyond 2026. This work seeks to inspire holistic nurses to consider research related to the American Holistic Nurses Association's five key research priorities.

Revie ⊕: Impact of a resource-based life review intervention on patients with advanced cancer: A waitlist controlled trial

PURPOSE

Life review interventions aim to support individuals facing an incurable disease accompanied by existential concerns and health-related challenges. Based on encouraging feasibility results, this study assessed the effects of Revie ⊕ life review intervention on the self-esteem of patients with advanced cancer, and the effects on well-being, post-traumatic growth, life satisfaction, symptom burden and interaction with nurses.

METHOD

The study consisted of a two-arm parallel-group, waitlist-controlled trial (WCT) in the oncology division of a Swiss-French University Hospital. Revie ⊕ was composed of nurse-led meeting with the patient to address and document significant life events using a strengths-focused approach and targeting the life project.

RESULTS

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, adjustments were made regarding study duration and participant's allocation: Fifty-eight patients received Revie ⊕, 39 completed all the measurements. Self-esteem was high at baseline and maintained stability over time. The social well-being decreased in the intervention group before-after Revie ⊕ (-1.7 (3.9), p = 0.044) while emotional and functional well-being showed stability. The intensity of symptoms decreased in the intervention group before-after Revie ⊕: 4.9 (9.4), p = 0.020.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that patients living with an advanced cancer and who received Revie ⊕ intervention may have maintained their self-esteem high over time. Observed results are promising, particularly considering the influence of the pandemic. Nevertheless, these findings do not allow us to draw definitive conclusions regarding the efficacy of the intervention on self-esteem. WCT seems not to be the appropriate design to highlight the added value of Revie ⊕ for this particularly vulnerable population.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT04254926.

Keeping the Nurse in the Nurse Practitioner: Returning to Our Disciplinary Roots of Knowing in Nursing

Nurse practitioners are a vital and growing body of primary healthcare providers. The ever-changing advancements in science and technology and the increasing complexities in health care delivery are significant factors culminating in the expanding role of nurse practitioner-led care. Nurse educators are striving to develop nurse practitioner curricula to keep pace with the increasingly sophisticated knowledge and competencies nurse practitioners must possess to render safe quality care as independent primary health care providers. However, nursing theory is losing its place as a formative foundation in nurse practitioner curricula. Multiple factors such as content-laden, competency-based, medically focused education have caused a diminishing presence of nursing theory, shrinking the philosophical basis for nursing in nurse practitioner education. The loss of the central unifying focus of the discipline and discipline-specific knowledge (nursology) risks losing the very identity that forms the basis and relevance for nurse practitioner practice. Moreover, the loss of the nurse in the nurse practitioner unmoors nurse practitioner practice from its theoretical and scientific basis, losing discipline-specific attributes that lead to higher levels of patient satisfaction and improved patient outcomes. Keeping the nurse in the nurse practitioner is a moral imperative in nurses' ethical and social contract with society. This article discusses relevant literature and offers recommendations to keep the nurse in the nurse practitioner.