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Thesis
Care that touched my spirit: An organic inquiry study of people’s stories of health and healing care that tended their spirits.
(2022)
  • Wendie Liebert, St. Catherine University
  • Catherine Meinecke, St. Catherine University
  • Hashim Habib Alsaeedi, St. Catherine University
  • Mai Choo Yang, St. Catherine University
Abstract
Spirituality is an important aspect of health and healing, yet healthcare professionals across disciplines within Western, technology-based systems do not consistently provide holistic care that tends the human spirit. Despite an abundance of studies that address various aspects of spiritual care, there is a gap in the literature. Little research addresses people’s stories of care that tends the spirit, care that nourishes them at a deep, spiritual level, in their own words. Through four focus group encounters, we gathered stories shared by eleven participants and four researchers in this organic inquiry study that provides an answer to the question: What are the stories of people’s experience of receiving health or healing care that touched their spirit? Data were analyzed using methods described in organic inquiry and incorporating thematic and narrative analysis techniques. The stories affirmed what was known through previous research about the primary importance of interconnection in spirituality and healing. Our results also illuminate the central role of “healing presence” and the previously undiscussed experience that we call “unlocking the transformative journey”. The stories themselves and the experience of sharing them in the group inspired personal and spiritual transformation among the researchers and co-researchers. All gained new perspectives on service as well. In concert with the goal of organic inquiry research and in the hope that this work will inform training and practice of care that tends the spirit in the future, we offer the stories and findings presented as a source of inspiration to all who engage in the constellation of interconnection that is health and healing care.
Publication Date
May, 2022
Advisor
Carol Geisler
Citation Information
Wendie Liebert, Catherine Meinecke, Hashim Habib Alsaeedi and Mai Choo Yang. "Care that touched my spirit: An organic inquiry study of people’s stories of health and healing care that tended their spirits." (2022)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/carol-geisler/70/