title: Exploring Transition to Self-Management Within the Culture of Sickle Cell Disease.
abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the meaning of transition to self-management in sickle cell disease.
  
  
  
  Twelve audio-recorded semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of 21- to 25-year-olds recruited from a comprehensive sickle cell center in the northeast region of the United States. Data were analyzed using an existential framework according to van Manen's phenomenological method.
  
  
  
  The meaning of transition to self-management was found in lived time, space, body, and human relationship. The emerging themes highlighted in this article include: Best Mother Ever, Growing up in the Hospital, I'm Not Trying that Again, Doing it on My Own, Living Day-by-Day, and Not a Kid any Longer. The themes reflected meaning and insight into this unique experience.
  
  
  
  Study results emphasize the culturally constructed meaning of transition to sickle cell disease self-management and need to integrate transcultural perspectives into nursing practice to support this emerging phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts Lowell, MA, USA nlabore@comcast.net.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Labore
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts Lowell, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mawn
authors.affiliation: Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Biree
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Andemariam
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D000069341:Transitional Care / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States
keywords: phenomenology; self-management; sickle cell disease; transition