Aims and objectives. To describe clinical nurses' experience of participating in a Research and Development (R&D) programme and its influence on their research interest and ability to conduct and apply nursing research. Background. To stimulate nurses' research interest and to overcome barriers for building research capacity in nursing, there is a need for sustainable research programmes. A two-year programme was designed for nurses, to take part in both an academic education for master and research seminars and workshops to conduct a research project from idea to publication. Design. A qualitative approach using using focus group interviews. Methods. Registered nurses (n = 12) with a bachelor's degree in nursing, participated. Data were collected in focus group interviews, after one year and when the programme ended. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. Results. The findings consist of two themes: being a traveller in the world of nursing research, which included three categories, and experiencing professional growth as a result of nursing research training, in both cases focusing on the experience of students involved in a cohesive programme which included four categories: discovering new dimensions of clinical nursing practice; selected and confirmed; supported by professional others; development of professional self-concept. Conclusions. To support early career researchers, there is a need for strong leadership, an organisational and supportive infrastructure underpinning research capability building in nurses. In this context, research strategies, programmes and collaboration between leaders of academia and clinical institutions appear to be essential. Relevance to clinical practice. The R&D programme illustrates an effective way of stimulating nurses' lifelong learning by building the capacity to conduct and apply nursing research in clinical practice. The structure of the programme can be used as a model in other contexts.

This article explores the meaning to women with breast cancer of "not giving in". Giorgi's phenomenological method was applied, and data were collected through open interviews. Ten women with breast cancer participated. The analysis resulted in a general structure of the phenomenon studied, including six key constituents: accepting the challenge to go on living, working actively on the healing process, finding something important to live for, gaining insights about life itself, experiencing awareness and avoidance, and introducing radical change in life. The results are consistent with literature about strategies in facing death and development as human conditions. Understanding the phenomenon of "not giving in" seems to be crucial for nurses in helping women with breast cancer to mobilize the inner power to survive and develop as human beings.

The purpose of this article is to describe essential characteristics of an excellent nurse as perceived by women with breast cancer. A descriptive-exploratory research design was used, and 10 Danish women who had breast cancer surgery and treatment more than one year previously and who were still in secondary treatment but not hospitalized participated in semi-structured interviews. Four main concepts were identified: The excellent nurse was perceived as competent, compassionate, courageous, and concordant. Concordance was more important to the subjects than expected and was described as directly related to their perception of an excellent nurse and excellence in nursing.

People who have a special gift for gardening are sometimes described as having a green thumb. Likewise, some nurses have a green thumb for nursing. The aims of this study were to identify and describe the characteristics of green-thumb nurses and of caring situations. A descriptive-exploratory design was used, and 16 nurses, recruited by their superiors, participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that the green-thumb nurse is competent, compassionate, and courageous. The essence of the caring moment was identified as the green-thumb nurse's ability to act on the spur of the moment, using her competence, compassion, and courage.

This article explores the meaning to nurses of being touched deeply inside in a nurse-patient encounter. The manuscript reflects the caring perspectives of Pellegrino, Watson, Gadow, Carper, and Eriksson. Caring is viewed from a lifeworld perspective according to the phenomenological philosophy of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method was applied and data were collected through open interviews with five excellent nurses. The analysis resulted in a general structure of the phenomenon sbtudied including four key constituents: witnessing patient exposed to suffering and unfairness; sensing closeness, understanding, and involvement in patient/person; experiencing extreme difficulties as a challenge to act accordingly; and growing professionally. The results are consistent with literature about moral sensing, and caring values and attitudes. Being touched deeply inside appeared to be crucial in fostering professional growth and excellence in nursing.