title: Hope promoting strategies of Registered Nurses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper describes self-reported hope-promoting strategies used by Registered Nurses whilst providing care for older patients in acute and long-term care settings.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The literature is replete with claims that Registered Nurses engage in hope facilitation with their patients. However, these claims are largely conjecture, with few studies empirically identifying the extent to which Registered Nurses use hope interventions with their patients. Further, some authors have questioned whether nurses have the necessary skills to undertake this vital aspect of care.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this Gadamerian hermeneutic phenomenological study, undertaken in 2003 in Australia, we used in-depth audiotaped interviews to collect data with 14 Registered Nurses. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using the Turner method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Whilst participants clearly reported that they engaged in hope facilitation with older patients, there were differences between the reported strategies used by Registered Nurses in acute and long-term care settings. Further, the strategies reported were not unique to hope promotion and have been variously described in the literature on caring, presencing, holistic nursing and therapeutic nursing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is clear that participants considered hope promotion to be a vital aspect of their care. However, the strategies that they reported were limited and not inclusive of many and varied suggestions emerging from published studies on hope promotion. Therefore, we recommend that nursing curricula, professional development and in-service education programmes place hope facilitation on their agenda and foster a culture in which promoting hope is seen as a vital aspect of nursing care.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia. desales.turner@deakin.edu.au
authors.forename: de Sales
authors.initials: de S
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stokes
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D004645:Empathy; D036262:Empirical Research; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research