TERMINAL ILLNESS EXPERIENCE IN OLDER JAPANESE AMERICANS

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DESCRIPTION: The candidate's research plan includes development of skills in interpretive phenomenology study of the lived experience of terminal illness in older Japanese Americans. Because culture influences the concerns and practices of the person who is experiencing terminal illness, it is important to understand these concerns and practices in order to provide culturally appropriate care. The specific aims of this study are to: 1) describe the central concerns and common practices of older Japanese Americans facing terminal illness, and 2) describe how these concerns and practices are different between the Issei (first generation) and the Nisei (second generation). Interpretive phenomenology was selected as an appropriate method for two reasons: 1) its assumptions about human experiences, and about shared concerns and everyday practices are compatible with the aims of this study; and, 2) it is essential to study Japanese American elders in their own terms, keeping everyday language, temporal sequence, and significance of events intact. In this proposed study, 10 to 15 terminally ill Japanese American elders will be purposefully sampled from various sites--homes, a long-term care (LTC) facility that serves Japanese Americans, and other LTC facilities that are not culturally-specific. Data will be gathered using four semi-structured interviews and close observation. The overall goal of this proposed study is to lay the groundwork for the development of the knowledge needed to provide sensitive and responsive nursing care that is culturally appropriate to terminally ill older Japanese Americans, creating the foundation for further research with the aim of directly improving nursing practice to this population.