Abstract
The purpose of this grounded theory study was to identify, describe, and provide a theoretical explanation of nurses' perceptions of their nutrition education role. Fifteen staff nurses from medical and paediatric wards of a large public hospital in New Zealand were interviewed, providing thirty-two hours of tape-recorded data. Through the process of constant comparative analysis the core category of shaping practice was identified.
Shaping practice, in the context of this study, means that although education is an integral function of nursing, nurses are continually creating, moulding, challenging and adapting their nutrition education practice. Shaping practice can only be understood when each of the intertwining, interdependent components that make it up are considered as a whole. These components are establishing a niche, dealing with the obstacles and being part of the team.
Shaping practice identifies the unique contribution that nurses can make to the nutrition education process, but also highlights the difficulties that are encountered along the way. Shaping practice has implications for the bureaucratic organizations in which nursing practice occurs; for the individual nurses themselves who provide the nursing care; and for the educational institutes that prepare nurses for their future role as health professionals.