LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD
On the wall of a battered women's shelter I saw a prominent poster that said "Don't look back, you are not going that way!!" The words brought a smile to the faces of the 2 of us visiting that day, and we continued to talk about the meaning of the message as we left the shelter and reflected on the focus group we had just completed. The purpose of our group discussion had been exploring what the women found most helpful in making their transitions to a new life, and, indeed, the challenges that they each experienced as they attempted to move forward were horrendous. They knew their past mistakes, and were overwhelmed by personal and social barriers that seemed insurmountable. It was all too tempting for them to dwell in their past with all the regrets, guilt, anger, and sadness that it held for them. At the same time, they knew that if they focused their gaze on the past, they would surely trip over new challenges and barriers that they missed seeing. They understood the value of understanding their past, and of finding ways to change old patterns that had contributed to their pain and suffering. They had come to appreciate strengths that they brought with them from their past, and that they needed to learn to build on. They had come to the point of realizing that they must move forward for their own health and well-being, and the well-being of their children.
This personal experience of moving forward from a challenging past is in ways not unlike the evolution involved in developing nursing knowledge. It has been an ANS tradition to regularly feature this issue topic: Critique and Replication. We have asked authors to draw on works previously published in this journal, but to build on and develop new insights, methods, or advances in substance and form. Each of these issues has provided some of the most provocative and important works that we have published over the 29 years of the journal's history. It seemed timely to once again call for this type of manuscript as we move forward into our 30th year of publication.
In this issue of the authors have turned to several topics that have represented nursing's most difficult challenges in the past: medicalization, cultural safety, social justice, nursing ethics, quality of life, and adolescent health. Each of the articles included in this issue demonstrates the importance of taking a careful look at what has been accomplished in the past, learning from the relative distance of the present, and bringing forward new insights and understandings in order to move forward. Beverly Hall's response to the article that focuses on her prior work is included in this issue. I invite any reader to also respond to the articles published here, and to extend our discussion in letters for publication in future issues of Advances in Nursing Science. I look forward to hearing from you!!
Peggy L. Chinn, PhD, RN, FAAN
Editor