Author ORCID Identifier
Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
PhD
College
School of Nursing
Department
Not Listed
Committee Chair
Roger Carpenter
Committee Co-Chair
Mary Jane Smith
Committee Member
Brad Phillips
Committee Member
Helen Farrar
Abstract
Abstract
Conservative Anabaptists description of delay in health seeking behaviors, comfort in connectedness, and ease in cultural tension when seeking and responding to healthcare
Background: Conservative Anabaptists are a large ethnic religious population that continues to grow in the United States. This includes groups of Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites, and Brethren populations residing in rural areas. These groups are known to experience adverse health related outcomes such as community acquired infections, advanced cancer diagnosis, and undiagnosed chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. Therefore, the concept transcending health values has been developed to better understand how conservative anabaptists describe seeking and responding to healthcare.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to (1) gather empirical evidence about the concept of transcending health values (2) use the evidence to contribute to the body of knowledge of nursing. The research question was, “How do Conservative Anabaptists describe the delay in health seeking behaviors, comfort in connectedness, and ease in cultural tension when seeking and responding to healthcare?”
Method: The study used qualitative directed content analysis guided by the core qualities of transcending health values: delay in health seeking behaviors, comfort in connectedness, and ease in cultural tension. Fourteen participants were recruited from a conservative Anabaptists Beachy Amish Mennonite congregation by flyers placed in church mailboxes. To obtain data, two focus groups of 7 individuals each were completed using a semi structured interview script The focus groups were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using directed content analysis by coding based on the three predetermined categories, specific descriptors identified, condensed to meaning unites, and lifted to themes.
Results: Ten themes were derived from predetermined categories. Delay in seeking healthcare is waiting to allow the body to heal itself, following a chain of natural remedies and over the counter medications, seeking guidance from within the community and obtaining medical care only when necessary. Comfort in connectedness is expecting the medical environment to be unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and cold, being unheard and treated like a number, yet desiring to be understood. It is also being open to personal perspectives and ways of thinking by providers and giving time and personal attention to one another. Ease in cultural tension is trusting those who are humble and open, and partnering to share care responsibilities.
Conclusions: Findings from the study were congruent with previous literature about delay in health seeking behaviors, comfort in connectedness, and ease in cultural tension. Findings were also coherent with theoretical and conceptual frameworks and grounded in the discipline of nursing. Implications for future research, practice, and policy include measures to support conservative Anabaptists in receiving culturally competent healthcare and to provide empirical evidence for those caring for this community. Additional studies are needed to further explore transcending health values in other settings and more diverse populations.
Recommended Citation
Hottle, Matthew Donald, "Conservative Anabaptists Descriptions of Delay, Comfort in Connectedness, and Ease in Cultural Tension when Seeking and Responding to Healthcare" (2023). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 12247.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/12247
Comments
Abstract and heading revisions..