A qualitative study was conducted to investigate the lived experiences of registered nurses in recovery for chemical dependency and labeled “impaired” by the profession of nursing. A purposive sample of 14 nurses participated in the study. Phenomenologic methodology was used, with subjects being interviewed for emergence of common themes. The data were analyzed using Van Manen's six-step method. Five major themes emerged from the data analysis. Identification of these themes provided a meaningful way to capture the essence of being a nurse in recovery from chemical dependency and labeled as “impaired.” The five themes common to the responses of each study participant were (1) living with a negative label, (2) denial of employment because of being labeled impaired, (3) recovery as a way-of-life, (4) recovering as an identity, and (5) willingness to share one's recovery with professional peers.
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Brewer et al. (1998) studied this question.
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