France Paquet

France Paquet has been working at the McGill University Health Center in Montreal for the past 6 years as the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Nurse Clinician for the adult population. She is very active in the CF community. She is the nurse consultant for the Provincial Committee of Adults living with Cystic Fibrosis (CPAFK), (Quebec, CANADA) from which she has been awarded a distinction award in 2003.  She is also the secretary of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Nurses Interest Group. 

Adults with CF are living longer and longer as treatments are improving.  A certain number of studies have looked at the reality lived by this particular population.  Nurse researchers have looked at the quality of life in cystic fibrosis, it's psychosocial impact, the adjustment to the illness, the concept of independence related to health, adherence to treatment and reproductive behaviors.  Other themes have also been the subject of research in chronic disease such as the notions of courage or optimism, and the concepts of menace and uncertainty.
The experience of the nurse researcher says that there is a concept that has not been studied thoroughly in CF: that is, the meaning of the mean age of survival. 

The mean age of survival is a statistic usually calculated over a period of five years.  It represents the mean value associated with the deaths of individuals with cystic fibrosis.  This is mainly why this value is not representative of the reality lived by adults living with cystic fibrosis who are alive.  It is also important to underline the fact that year after year, this value keeps increasing.  As a matter of fact, in Canada, in 1960, the mean age of survival was of 4 years of age and in 2002, it had increased to 35.9 years (Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation).
Even though this statistic value does not allow one to estimate the longevity of an individual living with cystic fibrosis, this number is widely distributed in the CF community, whether to raise funding or as a way to reinforce the importance of adherence to therapy.  It seems that a certain number of adults living with cystic fibrosis interpret this value as an expiration date (Leroux, 2004). 

Two recent studies have described the experience of living with cystic fibrosis for an adult (Tracy 1997, Gjengedal, Rustoen, Whal & Hanestad, 2003). Both results have touched upon this concept of having a predicted age of death.  To better understand the meaning of the mean age of survival for adults with CF, the nurse researcher proposes to ask the following question:  What is the meaning of the mean age of survival for adults living with cystic fibrosis.  The conceptual model of Human Caring of Jean Watson will be used to guide this phenomenological study. The study will be conducted in a well-known CF center in the region of Giens, France.  As a goal, this study will explore, understand and describe the meaning of the mean age of survival for adults living with cystic fibrosis.