Conventional approaches to cancer treatment typically do not address the personal experiences of the women with breast cancer. The aim of this study was to develop a structural description of the lived experience of women with breast cancer who create art, specifically through painting, sketching or drawing. A phenomenological approach was employed to explore the meaning of creating art for four women with a diagnosis of breast cancer. The philosophical underpinnings for this study were based on the phenomenological method of bracketing which allows the researcher and subjects to focus on lived experience. This qualitative methodology provided a means to examine the phenomenon of interest in depth from the participants' subjective perspective. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and follow up telephone conversations. Giorgi's method for analyzing phenomenological data was used to elicit an invariant description of the meaning that creating art had for the participants. Three predominate themes emerged from the analysis. Contextual constituents of the phenomenon were identified as that of giving back and time to create. Dynamic components consisted of creative space and creative expression. Enduring factors consisted of the creative experience and sense of self. Nurses are in a unique position to facilitate the creative art process which holds the potential for self-healing and self-responsibility for their patients. Included are limitations of the study and recommendations for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-5301 |
| Date | 01 January 2010 |
| Creators | Stark, Laurie |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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