Commentary on “bloodroot: life stories of nurse practitioners in rural Appalachia

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Susan A. Letvak, Professor, Department Chair, & Undergraduate Programs Director (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Caldwell (2007) presents us with powerful narrative research, weaving the life stories of nurse practitioners in rural Appalachia with the culture of those who call these ancient mountains home. Moustakas? heuristic phenomenology is used to describe nurse practitioners? experiences of rural nursing in a small Appalachian community. Caldwell uses the metaphor of the bloodroot, a medicinal self-perpetuating wildflower native to Appalachia to symbolize the interconnection between culture and interrelationships of her participants. The participants? stories are illuminated through this metaphor by the process of incubation, which Moustakas calls “a process in which a seed has been planted; the seed undergoes silent nourishment, support, and care that produces a creative awareness of some dimension of a phenomenon or creative integra-tion of its parts or qualities” (Moustakas, 1990, p. 28).

Additional Information

Publication
Journal of Holistic Nursing, 25(2), 80
Language: English
Date: 2007
Keywords
Bloodroot, Nurse practitioners, Rural Appalachia, Life stories

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