A retrospective case study of one wymyn's experience of a life threatening/challenging illness: theme: soul work

Abstract

Soul work within the art of nursing has the potential to offer wisdom and insight to those with whom we walk the sacred path of personal inner healing. Soul work empowers and assists people who experience a life threatening/challenging illness, in their quest for the meaning and purpose of their existence. This retrospective case study of one wymyn's experience of cancer explores the theme of soul work within the theory, science and practice of humanistic nursing. Although the method of reporting the research is in the case study mode, it is in essence located in the transpersonal caring relationship theory of Watson (1993), and the humanistic science of Paterson and Zderad (1978). The aesthetic presence of photography in this work is, I believe. the essence of hermeneutics. Photography captures a portion of the whole picture: this portion is in itself a story within a story, and as it blends with the text, another picture is created, and another story unfolds; a metaphor for human life experiences. This case study offers nurses and others who choose to work in this field of nursing, the opportunity to share the experience of personal fulfilment through the therapeutic use of self in the nurse/client relationship.