NURSES VIEWS OF THE COPING OF PATIENTS

The findings of a study that explored the beliefs, assumptions and ide as nurses have about the coping of patients are presented. Interactive interviews with 26 nurses were used to elicit explanations of the mea ning of coping and stories from their practice that illustrated coping . Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed three themes in the f orm of idioms or particular and different ways of talking about coping . Each idiom represented a different perspective or view of coping. Th e first idiom represented a view of coping as a rational, cognitive pr oblem-solving response to illness. The nurses attributed, and thus val ued, this view to science. In the second idiom the nurses spoke of cop ing as permeated with values that contrasted with the prior view of co ping as a rational process. In the final idiom the nurses spoke of cop ing as courage-they told stories of patients who had faced existential situations with strength and will. The focus of this idiom was on iss ues of spirituality, struggle, personal meaning and acceptance. After each idiom is delineated and illustrated by data, the discussion is co ncentrated on the orientational and ontological metaphors that underli e them. Interpretation of the origin and construction of these differe nt ways of talking about coping, and their underlying metaphorical mea nings, is made in the context of cultural and subcultural influences.