Transition to peace: Building a concept for nursing

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• End-of-life care
• Qualitative concept development

Background:

• End-of-life decision-making for loved ones often evokes fear and uncertainty in family members.
• Understanding the experience of making difficult end-of-life decisions is crucial for patient and family well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a structured process for developing the concept of "transition to peace."
• To establish a foundation for future research on end-of-life decision-making and achieving peace.

Main Methods:

• A 10-phase concept development process was employed.
• Initiated with a practice story, followed by phenomenon identification, literature review, concept refinement, model construction, and mini-synthesis.
• Utilized a theoretical lens and reconstructed stories to support concept development.

Main Results:

• A concept, "transition to peace," was developed through a rigorous, phased approach.
• Core qualities and a conceptual model were defined to represent the phenomenon.
• A plan for future research was outlined.

Conclusions:

• The developed "transition to peace" concept provides a framework for understanding and researching family experiences with end-of-life decisions.
• This concept can guide future interventions aimed at fostering peace for families facing life-altering choices at the end of life.