<p> The purpose of the qualitative phenomenological study was to describe the phenomenon of being a student-parent by identifying the lived experiences of nursing students that are parents, specifically their perceptions of their experiences of how they balance their family life with their academic life successfully. Two participants were involved in the pilot test and 21 main study participants were included in the sample. The data obtained through semi-structured one-on-one interviews were analyzed using Giorgi’s method of phenomenological research. The findings of this study identified eight themes resulting from descriptions provided by the student-parents while in undergraduate nursing school and included: (1) <i>All challenges are subjective to the personal circumstance</i> reflecting the unique home situation, (2) <i>Unmet personal expectations occur while in nursing school</i> through role conflict and guilt, (3) <i>Post-secondary education has particular demands</i> through financial and academic obligations, (4) <i>Support is essential to nursing school success</i>, (5) <i> Processes enabling student-parent success</i> contain compromises and strategizing balance with flexibility, (6) <i>Interactions and outcome from negative spillover</i> imbalance family and academic obligations, (7) <i>Organization culture of campus attributes to the student-parent perspective</i>, and (8) <i>Participant recommendations to stakeholders </i>. The essence of the student-parent experience influenced a formation of a comprehensive model, titled PARENTS to inform campus leaders of strategies to enhance the student-parent experience and accommodate family influences brought to campus. Future qualitative research suggestions include exploring support systems of student-parents, children experiences of student-parents, and campus stakeholder perspectives of breastfeeding and parent planning and family-centred accommodation on campus.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3583320 |
| Date | 12 August 2014 |
| Creators | Fehr, Florriann |
| Publisher | University of Phoenix |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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