Search results
- Title
- The lived experience of sensing the presence of the deceased
- Contributors
- Barbara Lynn McLean (author), Martha MacLeod (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- A common experience among mourners is thinking they have seen, heard, or experienced the presence of the deceased. In counselling literature these experiences are characterized as hallucinations that occur as a symptom of grief. Mourners often believe they are in contact with another reality and as a result feel that mental health professionals misunderstand them, leading to a silencing of the phenomena. In order to be more helpful to these prospective clients, counsellors need a deeper understanding of the experiences from the perspectives of those having them. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological thesis is to portray the lived experience of perceiving the presence of the deceased as described by seven participants having had the experience. The interview data were transcribed and analyzed for common themes through a process adapted from Colaizzi (1978). Although much was discovered, the most fundamental findings were that the experiences were best described as spiritual and had positive effects on the participants. Other findings included the inability of participants to find words that could describe their experiences, the limited willingness to share their experiences with others, the inability of the participants to control their experiences, and the discovery that participants were not always grieving when the experiences occurred. These findings raise important questions concerning counsellors' approaches to clients. Knowing how to encourage disclosure of the experience, or how cultural differences affect the experiences, or the extent of effects that these experiences have on peoples' lives could be particularly beneficial to counsellors.
- Discipline
- Education-Counselling
- Date added
- 2017-04-10T22:15:03.611Z
- Title
- What constitutes a good death?: implications for family nurse practitioners in rural British Columbia
- Contributors
- Cindy Allison Fehr (author), Martha MacLeod (Thesis advisor), Khaldoun Aldiabat (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- Death in an inevitable part of each individual's life. It is how that final event occurs and the time prior to and during one's last phase of life that greatly influence the dying experience for everyone involved. This project aimed to methodically and critically review research evidence to identify key elements necessary for a good death from patients' perspectives. The final number of articles totaled 35, with a dimensional analysis technique used to review and theme data. A key message following data analysis was that there is a diversity of perspectives and subjective characterizations of what constitutes a good death within and across sociocultural groups. Contributions to a good death involved four overarching domains: 1) preparation for death, 2) sources of support, 3) communication, 4) quality of life issues. The rural family nurse practitioner (FNP) role in supporting a good death needs to be based on working to full scope engaging in end-of-life (EOL) care planning and anticipating life expectancy providing holistic and consistent care engaging in multidisciplinary collaboration and effective communication providing caregiver support and education engaging in continuing competence and providing leadership to ensure the best EOL care is available for all patients wishing to remain in their rural home community to die. --Leaf ii.
- Discipline
- Nursing-Family Nurse Practitioner
- Date added
- 2017-04-10T22:08:45.114Z