Patients',Relatives',and Nurses' Experience of Stroke in Northern Vietnam

Abstract

Transcriptions were made of interviews held in Vietnam with five nurses, five people affected by stroke (aged 28-60), and with one relative each. Their stories were analysed as texts by means of a phenomenological hermeneutic method. The role of the nurses in Vietnam appeared to differ from that usually ascribed to nurses in Western institutionalized care. In the former a relative was expected to carry out basic care during the acute stage and to assist socioeconomically thereafter. The interviewees spoke of family bonds in the past, present, and future tenses when narrating their experiences of stroke as nurses, patients, and relatives. This was interpreted as an indication of a consciousness of an essential relatedness. Nurses were aware of playing a temporary and secondary role mainly as assistants: firstly to the doctor by carrying out orders and reporting, secondly to the stroke patient and his or her family by carrying out advanced nursing procedures and giving support The advantages and disadvantages of involving the family in nursing care can be revealed by obtaining views from a different culture, which can provide a contrast against which constructive criticism of the Western nursing tradition can be made.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition.-Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Åström M. , Asplund K. , & Astrom T. (1992). Psychosocial function and life satisfaction after stroke. Stroke, 23, 527-531.

Åström, G. , Jansson, L. , Norberg, A. , & Hallberg I. R. (1993). Experienced nurses' narratives about being in ethically difficult care situations. The problem of acting in accordance with one's ethical reasoning and feeling. Cancer Nursing, 16, 179-187.

Bel Habib, H. (1991). The brain, the meaning of life and the health—towards a bioexsistential theory of health. (Swe.). Stockholm: Runa forlag AB:

Brody, S. J. , Poulschock, & W. , Maschiocchi, C. F. (1978). The family caring unit: A major consideration in the long-term support system. Gerontologist, 18, 556-561.

Brocklehurst, J. C. , Morris, P. Andrews, K. , Richards, B. , and Laycock, P. (1981). Social effects of stroke. Social Science Medicine, 15A, 35-39.

Biedermann, H. (1991). The dictionary of symbols. (Swe.). (German original 1989). Stockholm: Bokforlaget Forum.

Buber, M. (1970). I and Thou. New York: Charles Scribners's sons.

Demaine, H. (1992). Viet-Nam. In the Far East and Australia. Asia yearbook. Hongkong: Far Eastern Economic Review.

10.

Evans, R. L. , Grifith, J. ,& Haselkom, J. K. , Hendricks, R. D. , Baldwin, D. , Bishop, D. S. (1992). Poststroke family function; An evaluation of the family's role in rehabilitation. Rehabilitation Nursing, 15, 127-132.

11.

Gold, S. J. (1992). Mental Health and illness in Vietnamese refugees. Western Journal of Medicine, 157, 290-294.

12.

Hickey, G. C. (1964). Village in Vietnam. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press.

13.

Häggström, T. , Axelsson, K. , & Norberg, A. (1994). The experience of living with stroke sequelae illuminated by means of stories and metaphors. Qualitative Health Research, 4, (3) 321-337.

14.

Husserl, E. (1970/1990). Logical investigations (Vol. 1). (J.N. Finley, Trans.). N.Y.: Humantics Press (German original, 1900).

15.

Kaufman, J. , Sen, G. (1993). Population, health, and gender in Vietnam: Social policies under the economic reforms. In Ljungren, B. (ed). The challenge of reform in Indochina. Harvard: Harvard Institute for International Development.

16.

Lakoff, G. , & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

17.

Leininger, M. (1981). Caring: An essential human need. Proceedings of three National conferences. New Jersey: Charles B. Slack, Inc.

18.

Leininger, M. (1985). Qualitative research methods in nursing. Orlando: Grune & Stratton, Inc.

19.

Leininger, M. (1990). Ethnomethods: The philosophic and epistemic bases to explicate transcultural nursing knowledge. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, Vol. 1, (2), 40-51.

20.

Leininger, M. (1991). Cultural care diversity and universality: A theory of nursing. New York: National League for Nursing Press.

21.

Lopata, H. Z. (1975). Support systems of elderly urbanites. Chicago of the 1970's. Gerontologist, 15, 35-41.

22.

MacIntyre, A. (1985). After virtue. A study in moral theory. (2nd ed.) London: Duckworth.

23.

Mishler, E. G. (1986). Research interviewing. Context and narrative. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

24.

Polkinghorne, D. E. (1988). Narrative knowing and human sciences. New York: State University of New York Press.

25.

Ponten, U. , & Persson, L. (1990). Brain injury care needs a more efficient care chain. (Swe.). Likartidningen, 17, 1441-1447.

26.

Ricoeur, P. (1976). Interpretation theory; Discourse and surplus of meaning. Fort Worth: Christian University Press.

27.

Ricoeur, P. (1992). From text to action. An anthology about hermeneutics. (3rd ed.) (Swe.) Kemp, P. and Kristensson, B. editors. Stockholm/Stehag: Brutus Ostlings bokftrlag.

28.

Sarbin, T. R. (1986). Narrative psychology. The storied nature of human conduct. New York: Praeger.

29.

Tappan, M. B. (1989). Stories lived and stories told: The narrative structure of late adolescent moral development. Human Development, 32, 300-315.

30.

The Holy Bible (1981) New International version. New York: Zondervan Bible Publishers.

31.

Turbayne, C. M. (1991). Metaphors for the mind: The creative mind and its origins. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.

32.

Viney, L. L. , & Bousfield, L. (1991). Narrative analysis: a method of psychosocial research for AIDS-affected people. Social Science Medicine, 32, 757-765.

33.

Wentowski, G. J. (1981). Reciprocity and the coping strategies of older people: Cultural dimensions of network building. The Gerontologist, 21, 600-609.