A hermeneutic approach in the study of transformation and being in healing and identity of health professionals serving: The Karen, the Hmong, the Akha
Author(s):
Fitzmaurice, Nancy Engberg
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ed.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : University of San Francisco, 2001.
Pages:
134
Language:
English
Abstract:
The aim of the participatory research project was to study the nature of healing as transformation in cultural modes of identity within the hermenuetic tradition. The meaning of healing was examined within the context of the following ethnic groups: the Karen in Burma, the Hmong in Thailand, and the Akha in Thailand. The data was collected from eleven health professionals who serve these populations. The participants were invited to volunteer in formal participatory conversations which were guided by issues of culture and how aspects of culture influence one's life and the lives of those they care for in a healing encounter, transformation and being in healing and the issues of language. Critical hermenuetic inquiry takes an ontological orientation towards the interpretation of human experience and the healing process. Interpretation of these stories were placed in language and the meaning is derived from the reflective process as the researcher involved her life into a dialectic with the participants. Aspects of healing revealed in stories that were significant included the communities of suffering and the metaphors of healing and transformation which provided an opening of understanding between the health-care provider and their patients. The narrative process provided an opportunity for health-care professionals to better understand themselves and the transformation of healing that occurs in the Karen, the Hmong, and the Akha as well as possibilities for other groups. Narrative creates new forms of human time and new forms of human community. The future holds possibilities which can be narrated. Health-care professionals incorporated historical ideas about culture into their current practice situations and applied differences to shape the futures they envision for themselves as well as the Karen, the Hmong, and the Akha.