Discipline-specific inquiry: the hermeneutics of theory-guided nursing research.

Gadamer's insights into the hermeneutical process contribute a great deal to the understanding that may accompany scientific inquiry, if preexisting prejudices are respected for their contribution to discipline-specific knowledge. Heidegger said that language "speaks for us in what has been spoken." This means that the way nurses use language signifies who they are as a group of health professionals. Language is the vehicle that discloses nurses' values and beliefs. Parse's theory is one framework among many that provides nurse researchers with a coherent language of the human-health interrelationship for guiding inquiry. The prejudices of the theory are clearly specified and they circumscribe unique arenas for knowledge development. The language of the theory describes human becoming from a nursing perspective. It is complex, process oriented, and abstract, just like the human-health phenomena it represents. It is precisely the unique understanding and knowledge of nursing theories that may direct further discipline-specific inquiry and structure activities for an autonomous nursing practice. Ultimately, knowledge generated from discipline-specific inquiry will expand theories for guiding creative and meaningful practice with persons, families, and groups that seek professional engagements.