The space of symbiosis : Hei watea taupuhipuhi: a conceptual framework for nursing practice

Abstract

Te watea taupuhipuhi, the space of symbiosis is a framework for nursing practice. It examines the notion of the nursing presence as holding continuity and multiplicity of viewpoint in a space of symbiosis. I develop a teaching-learning situation as an introduction of key ideas in my work where the Maori word ako becomes the catalyst of a particular pedagogy that outlines the central notions of symbiosis. Thus, my work realizes that symbiosis occurs not only in the clinical arena of nursing but in the teaching-learning environment as well, my own space of symbiosis. Four rites of passage coalesce a totality of experience within the space of symbiosis, revealing that the central role of the nursing presence is to surface meaning and sense for all of experiences which can be fearful, mysterious, paradoxical and chaotic. These four rites of passage are described as the interpretive, integrative, transformative and transcendent. The twelve dynamics of nursing form the axle around which a praxis of nursing revolves. An analysis of those twelve dynamics in rite of passage is situated within narratives taken from my nursing practice. I also draw extensively from Maori ontology and autobiography in positioning my exposition within this local context