This article describes a holistic revisioning of symptom theory for nursing practice. The Holistic Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms (HTOUS), informed by the Science of Unitary Human Beings, describes the complexity of symptom experience and how nursing actions can be associated with its transformation. Existing theories of unpleasant symptoms which broadly describe the antecedents, characteristics, and consequences of symptoms, have been reconceptualized from holistic and integral perspectives. Applying integral concepts such as human energy field and pattern manifestation expands understanding of both symptom experience and the nurse’s response to it. Spirituality is an addition to symptom theory, being seen as a characteristic of Human Energy Field pattern manifestations. The theory’s major concepts are symptom experience manifestations and wellbecoming manifestations. Concepts of the sustaining presence of the nurse and voluntary mutual patterning are explored. Pain, nausea, dyspnea, anxiety, despair, and other symptoms are discussed. Because HTOUS is acausal and nonlinear, it is widely applicable to creative, theory-directed nursing practice and research. Recommendations are made for practice, research, and further theory development.
Background:
Storytelling in nursing pedagogy is widely used and generally thought to be effective, but the mechanisms by which it is effective are unclear. This project explored whether watching a professional film affected students' knowledge, beliefs, or attitudes, and whether the extent of any change varied with the amount of narrative transportation (cognitive and emotional engagement in story) experienced.
Method:
Eighty-eight students watched the film
Wit
, took a knowledge pretest and posttest, and completed an instrument to measure narrative transportation. Analysis included
t
test, correlation, and regression.
Results:
Increases in pretest–posttest scores were significant, and a statistically significant, moderate, positive correlation between students' scores for narrative transportation and the amount of change in test scores. Narrative transportation explained significant variance in posttest scores and score change.
Conclusion:
Narrative transportation seems to enhance learning and might be a mechanism by which learning occurs.
[
J Nurs Educ
. 2020;59(8):470–474.]
Findings from this study suggest ways in which holistic nurse researchers can strengthen study designs and thus improve the quality of scientific evidence available for application into practice and improve health outcomes.
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