A Narrative Inquiry into the Experiences of Transitions into and out of Alberta Correctional Facilities for People Living with HIV

• Author / Creator

  Wadams, Morgan

• In this monograph-style thesis, experiences of transitions into and out of Alberta correctional facilities for people living with HIV were explored using narrative inquiry. The inquiry is informed by my experiences of working as a registered nurse within an Alberta correctional facility: the questions and insights guiding the study are grounded in my experiences, which are discussed in my narrative beginnings. Approaching the participants as living storied lives on storied landscapes (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), I negotiated relationships with them and came alongside them as they composed their ongoing identities and lives.
  The study took place in a Western Canadian city over a one-and-a-half-year period from 2021 to 2022. Over this period, I regularly met with Kyle and Bruce, spending time with them in their diverse social contexts and places. I inquired into both men’s experiences of transitions as we co-composed field and interim research texts. Their narrative accounts were situated within the three-dimensional narrative inquiry framework of sociality (internal disposition and external conditions of experience), temporality (past, present, and future), and place, which opened opportunities to imagine and retell their stories as otherwise (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Transitions were conceptualized narratively, calling attention to the complexity and individuality of lives. Narrative threads resonated across Bruce’s and Kyle’s accounts, emphasizing relational agency as a way to shape a life, and that going into and out of correctional facilities is part of an ordinary life. Throughout the inquiry, insights into the practices of health, social, and justice practitioners supporting and caring for people living with HIV and a history of incarceration are highlighted. By re-imagining the possibilities of creating trusting relationships and developing agency in individuals, the inquiry reminds practitioners, policymakers, and scholars to be purposeful when attending to the wholeness and individuality of a life transitioning into and out of correctional facilities.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Narrative Inquiry
  • HIV
  • Relational Ethics
  • Transitions
  • Nursing
  • Prisons

• Graduation date

  Spring 2023

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-57vt-1e20

• 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.