Walking in Multiple Worlds: Stories of Aboriginal Nurses

• Author / Creator

  Desjarlais, Joyce

• Abstract

  Some Aboriginal nurses have had unique experiences in terms of both formal and informal education. The purpose of this study was to explore the stories of Aboriginal nurses to gain a greater understanding of their personal and professional experiences that have impacted their views of self, of the world around them and of nursing. Hall, Stevens and Meleis (1994) explain that the future of nursing depends on the ability of the discipline to work with diverse people and community.
  Narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) was used to guide this study. I engaged in conversations with three Aboriginal nurses. The stories which emerged from these conversations and the field notes became the field texts for the study. The field texts were analysed within the three dimensional narrative inquiry space of temporality, sociality and place. Reflecting on my experiences and those of some Aboriginal nurses, the resonant threads illuminated some of the human experience of the nurses. The intent was to understand where and how each of us is embedded within, and shaped by, our social, personal, cultural, and institutional stories.
  This research is represented in a traditional academic format and includes ten chapters. The first chapter introduces topics such as the “other” and uses an autobiographical story to help situate the research and the readers within narrative inquiry. The second chapter, the literature review, highlights elements such as Aboriginal and nursing education, the history of nursing and explores the concept of cultural competence. The third chapter describes the methods used in the narrative inquiry with nurse participants to inquire into and retell their lived and told stories of experience. Chapters four, six, and eight are the findings chapters where the stories are retold by the researcher. In chapters five, seven and nine the stories are analyzed. Chapter ten discusses and explores the common threads of our stories and some of the overarching impacts of the processes and stories of this research.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Aboriginal, nurses, stories

• Graduation date

  Fall 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R32H8P

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.