… A Grain of Salt … : a Contemplative Study of Natural form in Nursing. Developed in Collaboration with People in Life-Threatening and Life-Challenging Situations to Reveal Untold Stories of Healing

Abstract

This thesis is a contemplative study in which a New Zealand nurse presents a narrative of the development of her own nursing practice in response to two of the questions asked by clients in life-challenging and life-threatening situations: what is cancer and what is love? The text of the thesis is a composite of the evolving dialogues around these questions with clients and families in the practitioner's community. It is highlighted with excerpts from performance texts which explore with colleagues how we hear narratives of health and healing, illness and disease which are composed and conveyed while under life threat. Reflection, consideration and contemplation are the distinctive hallmarks of the practice. The main narrative in the thesis is the practitioners response to the question: what is the essence of my practice? The text weaves personal and local stories with universal myths and cosmology stories. It is a record of the collaborative process of practice development and represents 'life explored as story and journey' with people and their families, using writing and photography as methods of inquiry. The thesis contributes to the international contemporary development of the nursing story of being ill, particularly with cancer and seeking to survive through the therapeutic and healing work that is potentially the natural form conveyed in nursing.