Recognizing Korean Nursing Themes to Develop Korean Nursing Theories

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand and explore the nature and types of Korean nursing so the theoretical foundation for Korean nursing could be established. Methods: In-depth interviews with semi-structured questionnaire were given to twelve respondents: professors and students of nursing school and nurse practitioners, and the qualitative data were collected from September 15th to November 15th of 2012. The in-depth interviews were conducted with each participant for about 2 hours and 30 minutes, and the places like the participants' labs or quiet cafes. The interviews were recorded upon the participants' agreement. Content analysis of qualitative based on Hsieh & Shannon's method was done. Any meaningful words, sentences and paragraphs were carefully scrutinized repeatedly to find any sub-topics and finally narrowing them down to four distinct themes. And the final data were analyzed and validated by two professors who were experts in qualitative analysis. Results: There were four major themes and eight sub-themes observed form the analysis. The four main themes were nursing with mothers' love, nursing with filial piety and caring, patient-centered nursing, and nursing based on tradition. Conclusions: The four main themes and eight sub themes reflect cultural perspectives and perceptions of Korean people and it provides strong foundation for Korean nursing theory. Therefore, in order to develop Korea's own creative and progressive nursing theories, Korean history, culture and socio-economy need to be considered and reflected while carefully combining the elements of western theories.