Research-as-if-practice: a study of family nursing partnership with couples experiencing severe breathing difficulties.

Living with the symptoms of lung disease is challenging. The impact difficult breathing has on individuals and their families is frequently underestimated, with health care limited to managing physical manifestations of the origins of difficult breathing. This study describes a distinct approach to family nursing practice named partnership, which is based on a participatory worldview. Five couples in which the wife had severe breathing difficulties participated in the study. The research process is described as as-if-practice. The partnership process was illustrated in the theme "finding coherence in life with symptoms and treatment regimens." The outcome of the process was illustrated in the interrelated themes of "living life fully and taking things as they come" and "efficient use of health care." The study shows how the meaning that unfolded in the process reveals the insights of all participants into the families' health predicaments and what can be done with that insight.