Although the term empowerment is frequently and broadly used across disciplines, the meaning of the term is often ambiguous. The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of individual members of Renters' Rights Group (RRG), a community development group focused on promoting safe and affordable housing, thereby creating a better understanding of the phenomenon of empowerment. The seven study participants, four males and three females, five of whom were Aboriginal, had been active members of RRG for two years or more. The theoretical framework for this study was Parse's Theory of Human Becoming. Four core concepts were identified as contributing to participants' sense of empowerment: connecting, struggling, contributing, and changing. The findings from this study can be used by nurses and other professionals who work with marginalized individuals or groups. Incorporation of Parse's Human Becoming Theory into practice, education, and research, may facilitate the reflection of caring upon which nursing is founded.

Although the term empowerment is frequently and broadly used across disciplines, the meaning of the term is often ambiguous. The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of individual members of Renters' Rights Group (RRG), a community development group focused on promoting safe and affordable housing, thereby creating a better understanding of the phenomenon of empowerment. The seven study participants, four males and three females, five of whom were Aboriginal, had been active members of RRG for two years or more. The theoretical framework for this study was Parse's Theory of Human Becoming. Four core concepts were identified as contributing to participants' sense of empowerment: connecting, struggling, contributing, and changing. The findings from this study can be used by nurses and other professionals who work with marginalized individuals or groups. Incorporation of Parse's Human Becoming Theory into practice, education, and research, may facilitate the reflection of caring upon which nursing is founded.

Hearing loss is a silent, often overlooked condition which deprives people of the most basic of human needs--the ability to communicate effectively. The notion that there is a dearth of understanding by health care professionals when caring for persons with hearing loss has been acknowledged. This research study aimed to describe the meaning of what it is like to live with a different sense of hearing for seven Canadian participants. The process of inquiry was guided by Parses human becoming theory for nursing (1981, 1987, 1992, 1998). The Giorgi (1970, 1971, 1975, 1985, 1989, 1992) modification of the phenomenological method was used for analysis-synthesis. Five women and two men employed and ranging between 25 and 70 years shared their lived experiences with the researcher via email correspondence. Confidentiality and anonymity were assured. Participants were asked to write about what it is like for them to live with a different sense of hearing. The central finding of this study was: Living with a different sense of hearing is experiencing the joy-sorrow of hearing-not hearing unfolding through discovering gained-lost communication surfacing all-at-once with diminished-enhanced feelings of self while choosing the rhythm of revealing-concealing amid potential regard-disregard of others. The findings of this research build on Parses (1981, 1998) theory of human becoming and may enhance nurses understanding of what it is like to live with hearing loss, which may in turn alter the way nurses structure practice with persons who live with a different sense of hearing, making a difference in their quality of life.

Background: Pain is one of the most common and feared symptoms in palliative care and may cause suffering and reduced quality of life of the dying person. The pain has several different dimensions and is a subjective experience of each individual. How the nurse meets the palliative patient's pain is essential to good health of the patient, which allows a good and worthy death. Aim: The aim was to highlight nurses' experiences in meeting total pain in palliative care. Method: The literature review is based on ten scientific studies of which seven studies with a qualitative approach, a study using quantitative methods and two studies with mixed method. The studies included in the literature review has been reviewed and approved by an ethics committee. Searches were made in the databases MEDLINE and CINAHL Complete full text. Results: The results showed that nurses experienced difficulties to meet patients who experienced total pain. The nurses felt that they had insufficient knowledge and experience in meeting patients with total pain. The nurse worked much with existential conversation. Discussion: Nurses experienced an uncertainty in the face of existential questions, which is a difficult but important part of the work. This is discussed and anchored in Rosemarie Rizzo Parse nursing theory Human becoming along with the concept of caring. / Bakgrund: Smärta är ett av de vanligaste och mest fruktade symtomen i den palliativa vården och kan medföra lidande och försämrad livskvalitet hos den döende människan. Smärtan har flera olika dimensioner och är en subjektiv upplevelse hos varje enskild individ. Hur sjuksköterskan möter den palliativa patientens smärta är avgörande för en god vård av patienten vilket ger möjlighet till en god och värdig död. Syfte: Syftet var att belysa sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att möta total smärta i palliativ vård. Metod: Litteraturöversikten baseras på tio vetenskapliga studier varav sju studier med kvalitativ metod, en studie med kvantitativ metod samt två studier med mixad metod. De studier som inkluderats i litteraturöversikten har granskats och godkänts av en etisk kommitté. Sökningar gjordes i databaserna Cinahl Complete och MEDLINE full text. Resultat: Resultatet visade att sjuksköterskor upplevde svårigheter att möta patienter som upplevde total smärta. Sjuksköterskorna upplevde sig ha bristande kunskap och erfarenhet av att möta patienter med total smärta. Sjuksköterskan arbetade mycket med existentiella samtal. Diskussion: Sjuksköterskor upplevde en osäkerhet i att möta existentiella frågor, vilket är en svår men viktig del i arbetet. Detta diskuteras och förankras i Rosmarie Rizzo Parses omvårdnadsteori Mänsklig tillblivelse tillsammans med begreppet vårdande.

赫爾曼．梅爾維爾(Herman Melville)的小說《白鯨記》(Moby-Dick, 1851)以其極富深度的思維吸引著讀者，並將捕鯨船上的生活百態萌發為哲學領域的思考。《白鯨記》富有多重意義的特徵使之不乏多面向的解讀，其中若以「海上旅行」作為分析的視角切入，《白鯨記》的成就將益加彰顯。《白鯨記》體現了旅行者如何因心態的不同影響其感知，在伊息默爾(Ishmael)所重述的故事中，以「遇見他者」(encounter the other)的論點觀之，能夠促進存在於伊息默爾與亞哈船長(Captain Ahab)之間相異處的瞭解。自兩者身為彼此殊異的旅行者的對比中，探討旅行者是否真實地「遇見他者」與經歷轉變的過程，本論文將伊息默爾視為能夠真實「遇見他者」的旅行者，亞哈則因其狹隘的復仇心態導致他無法獲得「遇見他者」的機會。 　　緊接著檢視不同旅行者的探討後，對於旅行者更深層的審視將以德勒茲(Gilles Deleuze)與葛塔力(Félix Guattari)的「游牧理論」(nomadology)進行推論，從游牧推衍的概念如：「戰爭機器」(war-machine)與「國家機器」(the State apparatus)，適以處理由伊息默爾、亞哈船長與莫比．迪克(Moby Dick)所構築的關係維度。以啟迪於游牧學的反抗思維進行分析，使得亞哈的捕鯨之旅不再僅是被動地受對莫比．迪克的仇恨牽引，更是蘊藏著亞哈本身具備的能動性。游牧理論能夠開展無法以偏執狂(monomaniac)化約亞哈的特質，讓對亞哈追逐莫比．迪克的解析更形豐富，亞哈不僅具備「國家機器」的控制作為，也擁有「戰爭機器」的抵抗能力。此外，本論文更援引德勒茲與葛塔力的「變成動物」(becoming-animal)理論藉以瞭解亞哈與莫比．迪克之間可能的（變成）關係，「變成」(becoming)理論的應用並非強調外在型體上的相似，而是闡述亞哈身處與莫比．迪克居中關係內所經歷的非形體轉變，亞哈透過「逃逸線」(lines of flight)的模式，使之身處「變成莫比迪克」(becoming-Moby Dick)的進程，藉以顯示其強烈欲望的能量流動。 　　總體上，本論文旨在將「游牧」與「變成」理論的特質帶入《白鯨記》的文本中，產生進一步的對話空間，能使讀者從僅視《白鯨記》為單純冒險式的捕鯨敘事中進入「游牧思想」體現的思辨過程。 / Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851) captivates readers with its exuberance and renders the experiences of shipboard life into a source of philosophy. Moby-Dick bears manifold characteristics worthy of exploration. Among the multiple entries into the literary research, Moby-Dick’s achievement becomes evident when being analyzed from the perspective of sea journey. Moby-Dick manifests how a traveler’s mind-set influences her/his perception along the way on the sea journey. In light of encounters with the other, Ishmael’s recounted narrative assists in the understanding of the distinction between him and Captain Ahab as different travelers. The contrast between Ishmael and Ahab concerns whether they really encounter the other and undergo transformation. This thesis considers Ishmael as a traveler who really encounters the other while Ahab keeps his one-track mind-set on his revenge, which halts the chance for his encounter with the other. Following the examination of different travelers, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s nomadology would be applied to further the reading of travelers. The triangular dimension among Ishmael, Ahab and Moby Dick is interpreted with the concepts derived from nomadology such as a war-machine and the State apparatus. Mainly focused on the power of resistance highlighted from nomadology, Ahab’s whale hunt deserves more attention to mobility rather than to the passiveness channeled by his revenge upon Moby Dick. More than what the monomaniac can show, the theory of nomadology would potentially enrich the analysis of Ahab’s pursuit of Moby Dick. Ahab plays both a role of the controlling force like the State apparatus and a role of the resisting power like the war-machine. Besides nomadology, Deleuze and Guattari also employ becoming-animal to suggest the possible inspirational resonance between Ahab and Moby Dick. Instead of an emphasis on the physical resemblance, “becoming” sheds light on the incorporeal transformation which Ahab undergoes within the in-between relationship with Moby Dick. Through his “lines of flight,” Ahab has been involved in becoming-Moby Dick to assert his energy flow out of the intense desire. Overall, this thesis aims at generating more dialogue by bringing nomadology and becoming in the context of Moby-Dick. This incorporation would allow readers to consider Moby-Dick as the manifestation of Deleuze and Guattari’s “nomad thought” rather than as a mere whale-hunting story of adventure.