Numerous studies recommend vigilance as a way to prevent negative outcomes. In oncology, vigilance is presented as useful to decrease mortality, through early cancer detection and to decrease morbidity by being watchful for early signs and symptoms of treatment-related side effects. Despite the numerous recommendations for vigilance as an answer to problems, how individuals experience and are vigilant is not well understood. In the past vigilance was conceptualized as a physiological response to signals, and therefore has been investigated quantitatively as a measurement of individual's response times to signals. Few studies have qualitatively examined vigilance experiences of patients, their family members, or nurses. Although it is implied in the literature that vigilance occurs between persons, nowhere has vigilance been studied as a shared process. The phenomenological study proposed for my dissertation is a necessary first step in researching vigilance to understand how it is experienced by patients, families, and nurses. Future focus will be on vigilance as a multidimensional, interactive process as it occurs in the complex healthcare environment. Ultimately the goal is to develop interventions to encourage vigilance partnerships as a way to prevent negative outcomes.
Specific aims are to: 1) Describe the experiences of vigilance as perceived at the individual levels of patients receiving treatment for cancer, a family member of a patient with cancer, and a nurse providing care to patients experiencing cancer; 2) Evaluate commonalities in the lived experience of vigilance as described by patients receiving treatment for cancer, one of their family members, and a nurse caring for them. By examining themes for commonalities, any differences will also be likely to emerge. ? ? ?
