This study explores the facilitation of healing for First Nations people living
in the province of British Columbia. The purpose of the study is to develop a
reasonably comprehensive scheme of categories that will describe, from the
perspective of First Nations people, what facilitates healing.
The research method involved interviews with 50 adult First Nations
volunteers who were long-term residents of British Columbia and also in a
position to observe what facilitated their own healing for them .
The Critical
Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) was utilized to elicit 437 incidents from 50
participants. Fourteen categories emerged from an analysis of the incidents
reported. Several procedures were used to examine the soundness and
trustworthiness of the categories. The results indicate that healing can be
facilitated in the following ways: participation in ceremony, expression of
emotion, learning from a role model, establishing a connection with nature,
exercise, involvement in challenging activities, establishing a social connection,
gaining an understanding of the problem, establishing spiritual connection,
obtaining help/support from others, self care, setting goals, anchoring self in
tradition, and in helping others. A preliminary examination of the healing
outcomes of these facilitating events suggests that an effective healing program for
First Nations people would invoke empowerment, cleansing, balance, discipline,
and belonging.
Narrative accounts were analyzed for the purpose of revealing an
organization for the categories. Four divisions of categories emerged as a result
of this analysis: separating from an unhealthy life, obtaining social support and
resources, experiencing a healthy life and living a healthy life. Further analysis of
the narratives revealed five overall themes which serve to enhance the categories
and outcomes presented in this research. Those themes entail: A broad spectrum
of healing resources are available to First Nations people, First Nations people
have a different way of seeing the world which has to be understood before
effective counselling services can be provided, First Nations people expect that
whatever is healing should help them to attain and/or maintain balance, self
transcendence followed by connectedness is a common route to healing for First
Nations people, and First Nations people are seen to act as agents of their own
healing.
The findings of this study contribute to the field of counselling psychology
by providing a reasonably comprehensive scheme of categories and themes that
describe, from the perspective of First Nations people, what facilitates healing.
This study suggests promising developments in First Nations healing that have
implications for both research and practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8938 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | McCormick, Roderick Michael |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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