Feeling lonely is a phenomenon experienced by all humans. The purposes of this research study were to discover the structure of the experience of feeling lonely, to contribute to nursing knowledge, and to expand the knowledge of feeling lonely. The Parse research method was used to guide this study and answer the research question: What is the structure of the lived experience of feeling lonely? Participants were 10 children ages 7 to 10 years. The central finding of this study was the following structure: The lived experience of feeling lonely is distressing isolation amid contentedness arising with cherished engagements. New knowledge extended the theory of humanbecoming and enhanced understanding of the experience of feeling lonely.
Baumann, S.L. (1994). No place of their own: An exploratory study. Nursing Science Quarterly, 7, 162-169.
2.
Baumann, S.L. (1995). Two views of homeless children's art: Psychoanalysis and Parse's humanbecoming theory. Nursing Science Quarterly , 8, 65-70.
3.
Baumann, S.L. (1996a). Feeling uncomfortable: Children in families with no place of their own. NursingScience Quarterly, 9, 152-159.
4.
Baumann, S.L. (1996b). Parse's research methodology and the nurse researcher-child process. Nursing Science Quarterly, 9, 27-32.
5.
Baumann, S.L. (1999). Art as a path of inquiry. NursingScience Quarterly, 12, 106-110.
6.
Brage, M.E., Meredith, W., & Woodward, J. (1993). A causal model of adolescent depression. Journal of Psychology, 128, 455-468.
7.
Cody, W.K. (1995). The lived experience of grieving for families living with AIDS. In R. R. Parse (Ed.), Illuminations: The humanbecoming theory in practice and research (pp. 197-242). New York: National League for Nursing Press.
8.
Daly, J. (1995). The lived experience of suffering. In R. R. Parse (Ed.), Illuminations: The humanbecoming theory in practice and research (pp. 243-268). New York: National League for Nursing Press.
9.
Derluga, V.J., & Margulis, S.T. (1982). Why loneliness occurs: the interrelationship of social-psychological and privacy concepts. In L. A. Peplau & D. Perlman (Eds.), Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research, and therapy (pp. 152-165). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
10.
Frankl, V. (1963). Man's search for meaning (I. Lasch, Trans.). New York: Pocketbooks. (Original work published in 1946)
11.
Freud, S. (1930). Civilizations and its discontents. London: Hogarth Press.
12.
Hanlon, A.M. (2004). Feeling happy: A lived experience of humanbecoming. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Loyola University Chicago , Chicago, IL.
13.
Heidegger, M. (1972). On being and time (A. Hofstader, Trans.). New York: Harper & Row.
14.
Jonas-Simpson, C. (1997). The Parse research method through music. Nursing Science Quarterly, 11, 160-166.
15.
Karnick, P.M. (2005). Humanbecoming theory with children. Nursing Science Quarterly, 18, 221-226.
16.
Krishnamurti, J. (1981). On fear. San Francisco, CA : Harper.
17.
Kristensen, K. (1995). The lived experiences of childhood loneliness: A phenomenological study. Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 18, 125-137.
18.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1968). The visible and the invisible. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
19.
Mitchell, G.J., & Cody, W. (2002). Ambiguous opportunity: Toiling for truth of nursing art and science. Nursing Science Quarterly, 15, 71-79.
20.
Moustakas, C.E. (1961). Loneliness. New York: Prentice-Hall.
21.
Moustakas, C.E. (1972). Loneliness and love. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
22.
Parse, R.R. (1981). Man-living-health: A theory of nursing. New York: Wiley.
23.
Parse, R.R. (1987). Nursing science: Major paradigms, theories, and critiques. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders .
24.
Parse, R.R. (1992). Humanbecoming: Parse's theory of nursing. Nursing Science Quarterly, 5, 35-42.
25.
Parse, R.R. (1994). Quality of life: Sciencing and living the art of humanbecoming. Nursing Science Quarterly, 7, 16-21.
26.
Parse, R.R. (1995a). The humanbecoming theory in R. R. Parse (Ed.), Illuminations: The humanbecoming theory of practice and research (pp. 5-8). New York : National League for Nursing Press.
27.
Parse, R.R. (1995b). Research with the humanbecoming theory. In R. R. Parse (Ed.), Illuminations: The humanbecoming theory in practice and research (pp. 151-157. New York: National League for Nursing Press.
28.
Parse, R.R. (1996). Building knowledge through qualitative research: The road less traveled. NursingScience Quarterly, 9, 10-16.
29.
Parse, R.R. (1998). The humanbecoming school of thought: A perspective for nurses and other health care professionals. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
30.
Parse, R.R. (2001). Qualitative inquiry: The path of sciencing. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
31.
Parse, R.R. (2003, July). Parse research method. Paper presented at the Institute of humanbecoming, Pittsburgh, PA.
32.
Pilkington, F.B. (1993). The lived experience of grieving the loss of an important other. Nursing Science Quarterly, 6, 130-139.
33.
Rank, O. (1929). The trauma of birth. New York : Harcourt Brace.
34.
Sartre, J.P. (1957). Existentialism and human emotions. New York: Citadel Press.
35.
Tillich, P. (1952). The courage to be. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
36.
West, M. (1959). The devil's advocate. New York : William Morrow & Sons, Inc.
37.
Wolfe, T. (1941). Portable Thomas Wolfe. New York: Viking Press.
