The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experience of suffering through the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The experiences of 13 individuals who lived suffering through the 2010 earthquake in Haiti were elicited. Heideggerian hermeneutical phenomenology served as both the guiding philosophy and methodology for this research study, while Eriksson’s (1981) theory of caritative caring provided the caring science lens. Diekelmann, Allen, and Tanner’s (1989) seven-stage method of hermeneutical analysis provided the structure for data analysis. The relational themes that were interpreted were: Experiencing the Unimaginable, Awakening to a Changed Reality, Agonizing for Others, Compounding Losses, Finding a Way Forward, and Being Transformed. These six relational themes are illuminated and aesthetically re-presented in six watercolor paintings. The constitutive pattern Suffering With and For Others expressed the meaning of suffering for participants through the 2010 earthquake in Haiti as a lived experience. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is an electronic medical device that was invented by Dr. Michael Mirowski and his team in 1980. The purpose of the ICD, which is implanted in a person's chest, is to sense and shock the heart when detecting a lethal cardiac arrhythmia into a rhythm that can sustain life. While the ICD saves lives, it also has the potential to deliver painful shocks when it is activated. The ICD was initially inserted in people who had survived a sudden cardiac arrest; the device is now being implanted in older adults with heart failure and no known history of cardiac arrhythmias. When talking with patients and personal family members who had an ICD, it was unclear what influenced their decision to have an ICD implanted. Understanding the experience of decision-making for older adults who had an ICD has added to nursing knowledge, practice, and education when working with people who had an ICD inserted. To understand the lived experience, the researcher conducted a phenomenological research study, guided by the theoretical lens of Paterson and Zderad's (1976/1988) humanistic nursing and analyzed the data as outlined by Giorgi (2009). The results of the study indicated the participants' lived experience of decision-making for older adults who had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator inserted was influenced by the following : trust in their physician's decision; accepting the device was necessary; the decision was easy to make; and hope and desire to live longer. / by Louise A. Lucas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.