Overcoming strangeness and communication barriers: a phenomenological study of becoming a foreign nurse.
BACKGROUND
This paper presents a study that explored the lived experience of foreign nurses working at hospitals in Iceland.


OBJECTIVE
The aim was to generate an understanding of this experience both for local and international purposes.


METHODS
The methodology that guided the study was the Vancouver school of doing phenomenology. Sampling was purposeful and consisted of 11 registered nurse from seven countries. The data were collected in dialogues; the analyses were thematic.


RESULTS
The findings are presented in five main themes that describe the essence of the experience with the overall theme of 'Growing through experiencing strangeness and communication barriers'. The first theme portrays how the nurses met and tackled the multiple initial challenges. One of the challenges, described in the second theme, was becoming outsiders and needing to be let in. The third theme explores the language barrier the nurses encountered and the fourth theme the different work culture. The fifth then illuminates how the nurses finally overcame these challenges and won through.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings and their international context suggest the importance of language for personal and professional well-being and how language and culture are inseparable entities.
Magnusdottir
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Office of Education, Research and Development, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland. hildurma@landspitali.is
D000069:Acculturation; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology*; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D003144:Communication Barriers; D005260:Female; D005551:Foreign Professional Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012649:Self Concept; D012660:Semantics; D012934:Social Isolation; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology