TITLE:
Hermeneutics in Nursing Studies: An Integrative Review
AUTHORS:
Fidaa S. Abu Ali, Lubna Abushaikha
KEYWORDS:
Hermeneutic Phenomenology, Nursing, Experience, Practice, Education, Administration, Evidence
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.9 No.2,
February
18,
2019
ABSTRACT: Aim: To review nursing studies using hermeneutics as a methodology in different dimensions including practice, education, and administration. Background: Hermeneutics is a qualitative research methodology that focuses on interpreting the meanings of experiences in individual’s life. It is a major philosophy and research method in the humanities, human sciences and arts disciplines with a central goal of describing people’s experiences. Data sources: A review of relevant literature using electronics databases including EBSCO, SCOPUS, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PUBMED. Review methods: Using an integrative method, peer-reviewed research and discussion papers published between 2013 and 2018 and listed in the CINAHL, SCOPUS, Science Direct, PubMed and Google Scholar databases were reviewed. Findings: A final review of 13 studies that used hermeneutic phenomenology as a philosophical background and research methods was done. Conclusions: Hermeneutic phenomenology has been used as a qualitative method in numerous nursing studies with different domain including practice, education and administration. The ability of the nurses to make decisions related to implementing evidence in education, practice, research, and admiration is reliant on the clinical expertise of the nurse. The review of the literature identified that the capability to correlate research findings to these three categories in nursing and the willingness and inclination to improve current practice were crucial factors for knowledge translation.