Transcending options: Creating a milieu for practicing high‐level wellness

Strengthening capacity to limit intrusion: theorizing family health promotion in the aftermath of woman abuse

Children's health is a key factor in women's decisions to leave abusive partners, yet how these families promote their health after leaving is poorly understood. In this feminist grounded theory study, the authors conducted repeat interviews with 40 single-parent families that had left abusive partners/fathers and analyzed the data using constant comparative methods. Findings reveal the central problem faced by families is intrusion, unwanted interference in everyday life that stems from abuse and its fallout. Over time, families promote their health through the basic social process of strengthening capacity to limit intrusion via four subprocesses: providing, regenerating family, renewing self, and rebuilding security. Depending on the degree of intrusion, the focus strengthening capacity shifts between practical goals of surviving and more proactive efforts directed toward positioning for the future. This theory adds to our knowledge of the long-term consequences of IPV for families and provides direction for practice and policy.

Adolescent mothers: resilience, family health work and health-promoting practices

AIMS

This paper reports a study examining the relationships among mother's resilience, family health promotion (i.e. health work) and mother's health-promoting lifestyle practices in single-parent families led by adolescent mothers by testing hypotheses derived from the Developmental Model of Health and Nursing.

BACKGROUND

Research on families led by adolescent mothers has focussed primarily on negative maternal and child outcomes while ignoring the capacities of these families, including their efforts to promote the health and well-being of both mothers and children.

METHODS

This replication study was conducted with convenience sample of 41 adolescent mothers recruited using a variety of strategies. Mothers were asked to provide verbal responses to items on three study instruments: The Resilience Scale, a measure of mother's resilience, the Health Options Scale, a measure of family health work and the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile a measure of mother's health promoting lifestyle practices, as well as a demographic questionnaire.

RESULTS

Consistent with the theory, moderate positive relationships were observed between mothers' resilience and both family health work (r = 0.34, P = 0.01) and mothers' health-promoting lifestyle practices (r = 0.42, P < 0.001). As predicted, moderate correlations were also observed between health work and mother's health promoting lifestyle practices (r = 0.62, P < 0.001). With the effects of employment status and professional support held constant, mother's resilience and health work explained 30.2% of the variance in mother's health-promoting lifestyle practices.

CONCLUSIONS

The study validates theoretical relationships among concepts in the developmental model of health and nursing and contributes to better understanding health promotion in families led by adolescent mothers.

Women's reflections on divorce-- 10 years later

Ten years after divorce 95 women who participated in an earlier study of divorce were asked to reflect on their lives since their divorce. They were mailed a questionnaire to describe demographic data, self-esteem, control, life assessment, and their lives since divorce. Fewer than half remarried and of those who did, 10 divorced a second time. Slightly more women partnered than married. Their overall assessment of their lives was reported positively. However, 25% felt the same or worse than they had 10 years earlier. Income was the only demographic variable correlated with self-esteem, control, and life assessment. Women used a variety of self-care actions to improve their lives and only six women went to professional therapy. Their lives and some of the actions taken are described.

Dispelling myths and creating opportunity: a comparison of the strengths of single-parent and two-parent families

Although single-parent family life has become mainstream in many ways, knowledge about these families has been focused predominantly on the chronic problems they experience. This study describes the strengths of single-parent families, compares these strengths to those of two-parent families, and describes families' explanations of the effect of self-identified strengths on health. Although single-parent and two-parent families are different structurally, the nature and pattern of strengths are found to be more similar than different between these two groups. These findings challenge stereotypical views of single-parent families that emphasize problems and vulnerability and exclude a consideration of their strengths.

Personal goals of recently divorced women

This paper is a report of the synthesis of feminism and science in a study of the personal goals of recently divorced women with children. The divorce records of three counties were used to identify the participants; eight categories described the primary goals identified by 250 women. Independence, followed by employment and education were the most frequently cited categories. Analysis of variance was computed to analyze the relationships among the primary goal categories, the personal characteristics of the women and their feminist attitudes. Age was the only variable related to selection of a primary goal. Older women chose employment and environmental goals more often than they did mental health goals.

The process of providing support to recently divorced single mothers

Social support is a combination of a person's perceptions of support, the belief that the support is personally satisfying, and the actual provision of services. Although the literature is replete with the work of researchers who have addressed the components of support, there is a notable limitation--the perspective of the providers of support. This perspective is important for clinicians who work with a person's natural support system to enhance its effectiveness. In this descriptive study, 252 people identified by recently divorced women with children as providing their most significant support were interviewed. The authors' purpose in conducting the study was to identify the underlying processes involved in social support based on interviews with the women's significant support people. In the qualitative portion of the study the data analysis yielded eleven processes: deliberating, withdrawing, continuing, understanding, availing, anchoring, distancing, protecting, nurturing, valuing, and intruding. Each of these processes is described in this paper.

Health promotion in the family: current findings and directives for nursing research

This paper reviews the current nursing research findings on health promotion within the family and provides directives for future research. The concept of health promotion-the overall enhancement of well being--is contrasted with primary or disease prevention, the specific protection from a health threat. The conceptual parameters of health promotion were used to search the nursing research journals for studies of health promotion in the family. The four major nursing research journals were reviewed and yielded five articles in 105 issues which addressed this phenomenon. The findings from these studies as well as other research literature are used to develop future directives. The directives are presented for both the internal environment of the family and its external environment. Areas for study related to the internal environment include definitions of health and health promotion, descriptions of current health promotion behaviours and those practised over time, decision making, fathering, and methods of intervention. Research of the external environment includes the societal norms, societal interventions, and the effects of societal institutions. This discussion of health promotion in the family describes an agenda for nursing research which is necessary to support nursing practice with families if 'health for all' is to be reached by the year 2000.

Primary prevention behaviors: the female-headed, one-parent family

The purpose of this study was to describe the primary prevention behaviors of 59 female-headed, one-parent families and the barriers which deter their practice. Two interviews, a health diary, and a card sort were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyze the qualitative data. Nutrition was the behavior the families felt was most important for maintaining health. Time was the major barrier to primary prevention practices. A relationship was found between the family's ability to change and grow and their practice of primary prevention behaviors. Families that consciously risked lifestyle changes also were willing to try to incorporate primary prevention behaviors. On the contrary, families with stagnant lifestyles expressed the desire to change their primary prevention behaviors but made no visible attempt to do so.