Intertwining the Role of Partner and Caregiver: a Phenomenological Study of the Experiences of Four New Zealand Rural Women Who have Cared for Their Terminally Ill Partners

The stories of the women who live and work in rural settings in New Zealand have begun to reveal unique contributions that they have made to their families and community. Meeting with and listening to rural women's stories reveals insights into the character of these powerful women. This research study evolved from a trend the researcher observed as a district nurse providing community palliative care in rural New Zealand; that the majority of carers of those who are terminally in home-settings are in fact women. This qualitative study aimed to explore through guided conversational interviews the experiences of four New Zealand women who have cared for their terminally ill partners who have subsequently died. The study investigated if these women's experiences were comparable to that of other women in existing palliative care literature. This research project focused particularly on elucidating the women's experience of intertwining the role of partner and caregiver. Heidegger's hermeneutic philosophy informed the methodology because he focused on what it meant to 'be' rather than 'how we know what we know'. The project focused on the meanings the women made of this dual role in their lives. Women already in the role of partner were now faced with the added responsibility of caregiver to meet the complex needs of their loved one. Usually they had no training to prepare them for this experience. The study reveals ways in which the visiting palliative care nurse becomes very important to them. The women's own voices reveal the high level of respect for their partners and address the harsh realities, revealing poignant and striking concerns in their lives. These stories are shared with the intent of enriching nurses' and other health professionals' understanding of the women's experiences. The intention of the study is to highlight the need for closer attention by nurses to women's requirements when caring for their partner at home. Understanding these women's experience is not only a way of honouring these remarkable women but more widely it will inform and possibly transform practice through guideline and policy refinement

Does Mentoring Matter? On the Way to Collaborative School Culture

This study investigates beginning teachers’ relationships with their mentors as well as the collaboration between beginning teachers and their colleagues after five years of practice. One of the important roles of a mentor is to support the beginning teachers’ collaboration with other teachers. Authors investigated the sustainability of the collaborative aspect of the induction program in order to determine if collaboration between beginning teachers and their mentors continues after five years of work and whether this collaboration extends to the beginning teachers’ colleagues. Open-response questions were chosen for discovering aspects related with the continuity of mentoring. More than a half of the beginning teachers continue collaboration with their mentors throughout a five-year period. These beginning teachers, whose collaboration with their mentors continues during the five years, are found to be more cooperative with other colleagues at school. One-to-one mentoring creates quality examples for teacher collaboration that are treated as the first step towards creating a professional learning community within schools. The novelty of this research lies in the longitudinal nature of the teachers who participated in the national induction year program and whose progress has been monitored throughout five years of work