A Phenomenological Exploration of ‘Being -With’ in the Nursing Student -Teacher Relationship
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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: UNFOLDING THE BLANKET OF UNDERSTANDING IN THE LISTENING SPACE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF ‘BEING -WITH’ IN THE NURSING STUDENT -TEACHER RELATIONSHIP Mary T. Packard PhD 2004 Dissertation Directed By: Profe ssor Francine H. Hultgren Department of Education Policy and Leadership College of Education University of Maryland This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is called by the question, What is the lived experience of ‘being-with’ in the nursing student-teacher relationship? I engage with eight senior baccalaureate nursing students in teaching and learning together in a psychiatric -mental health nursing course. Text is gathered through their narrative work in reflective journals and taped classroom conversations, as well as through taped individual hermeneutic conversations. The exploration into the phenomenon of ‘being-with’ is philosophically grounded in the work of Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and David Levin. The framework of activities as id entified by Max van Manen (1990) brings the research to a practical possibility. As the students and I dwell together through listening, ‘being -with’ in the context of our pedagogical relationship is opened up for our understanding. Accounts of lived experiences are offered and become opportunities for deep interpretation. Through this hermeneutic work experiential structures of the phenomenon of ‘being - with’ are brought forward and named in the presence of listening. Students and teacher alike risk vulner ability, enter into silence, and engage in profound meaning making of being in teaching and learning together. ‘Being -with’ in the nursing student-teacher relationship unravels as the following dimensions: creating soul space, flowing and blending in community, soul- friendship, hand of comfort in the midst of anxiety, opening an inn-between, and holding eternal echoes. Transformation through the experience and language of ‘being-with’ offers up possibilities for being in pedagogy and curriculum. This herm eneutic phenomenological inquiry into the phenomenon of ‘being-with’ in the nursing student-teacher relationship unfolds as a blanket of understanding and necessarily leads toward a pedagogy of ‘being -with’ the world of nursing education. UNFO LDING THE BLANKET OF UNDERSTANDING IN THE LISTENING SPACE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF ‘BEING -WITH’ IN THE NURSING STUDENT -TEACHER RELATIONSHIP By Mary T. Packard Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the Univer sity of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2004 Advisory Committee: Professor Francine H. Hultgren, Dissertation Director and Advisor Associate Professor Linda Diaconis Ass istant Professor Barbara Fowler Assistant Professor Sharon Fries -Britt Associate Professor Susan Komives Associate Professor Roxanne Moran © Copyright by Mary T. Packard 2004 ii DEDICATION May a slow wind work these words of love around you, an invisible cloak to mind your life. –O’Donohue I dedicate these words of love to: Julia, my mother and Russel, my father; John, my husband; Colleen, Molly, and Aidan, our children; Francine, my teacher; And all nurs ing students and teachers everywhere . iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Live as if your life were a curriculum for others, and balance that principle by realizing that every life you meet could be a curriculum for you… –Schubert I am honored and privileged to acknowl edge the special persons who are a curriculum for me in my life —‘being -with’ me in the many ways of gathering and sending forth in this life’s project. I am grateful to my teacher, advisor, and chair of my dissertation advisory committee, Francine Hultgre n for our ‘being -with’ in teaching together throughout this doctoral journey. Our ‘being -with’ is a poetry of Anam Cara —soul friendship. Phenomenology calls persons together in friendship and calls them to phenomenological living. I treasure the many ways that such friendships are experienced and expressed through my dissertation advisory committee. I give thanks for Linda Diaconis who initially led me to phenomenology as a mode of research inquiry, to the Department of Education Policy and Leadership, and to Francine. I appreciate Linda’s generosity —offerings of books, ideas and hospitality. I give thanks for Roxanne Moran for her gentle way of being and for her time and care with me throughout this work. Thank you to Barbara Fowler with whom I share the primordial connection of alma mater —Georgetown! My work is enriched through her insight and laughter. Linda, Roxie, and Barbara, already a group at the time of our meeting welcomed me into their presence. I am most grateful for this precious gift in my life . iv I acknowledge Susan Komives who is serving as the Dean’s representative to my advisory committee. I am grateful for her care -full reading of my work, challenging and sensitively rendered questions, and offers of thoughtfulness. I met Sharon Fries -Britt during a presentation of my research at a Graduate Research Conference. She offered profound connecting words that showed me the possibilities for meaningful conversations around research inquiry in a public forum. I appreciate her presence and contributi ons to my work. My life with students over the years led me to this dissertation research. I give special thanks to the students at the York College of Pennsylvania who engaged with me as pilgrim companions along this research journey: Marc, Lynne, Jennif er, Megan, Renee, Heather, Colleen, and Jackie. I express my thanks also to the entire nursing faculty at York College for their support and encouragement during proposal development and the research semester. Special thanks go to Joan Davenport, friend an d colleague for her limitless encouragement, time, and humor. Thanks to Jackie Harrington, chair of the nursing department for her permission to engage in this project during the spring 2003 semester, to Deborah Barton for her assistance and enthusiasm in helping me with the technical set up for classroom taping and Listening Space signage, and to JoAnn Heim for her careful transcription of the hermeneutic conversations. I express heartfelt thanks to my friends and classmates at the University of Maryland. I appreciate the support and encouragement in the “doing” of phenomenology provided by the warmth, caring, and intellectual stimulation of the Hermescircle group. Thanks to Steven Selden for opening me up to some of the v “great books” of literature that offered openings in my exploration of the phenomenon of ‘being-with.’ At my new place of teaching, Villa Julie College, I wish to acknowledge the faculty who are seeing me through the final phases of the research project. A special thank you to Judith Feustle, chair of the nursing division for her support and offerings of writing-days -away -from -campus. Special friends bless my life in deep and meaningful ways, influencing who I am, and as such have a significant hand in this act of research. From my heart ’s core I express gratitude for these dear friends who happen also to be nursing colleagues — for their forever presence in my life. I am grateful for Donna Swope who is by my side with her love, wisdom, insight, tenderness, and daily words of encouragement that come at just the right time. Ann Kennedy teaches the meaning of faithfulness and ways of risking self in the care with others in every moment of being together. She is always being -there. Colleen Scanlon and I knew each other before we were nurses. Fr om adolescent ‘being -with’ to now, her presence blesses my life and my work. I acknowledge my parents, who even through their deaths influence my life and work. My mother enjoyed the beginning of this project —connecting profoundly the notions of Being and time. My dad’s unwavering, deliberate, and quiet presence teaches me always of the transformative power of ‘being-with.’ I am grateful for my sisters, Joanne Simmons and Jeanne Florence, and all of our family who share memories and imaginings. I acknowled ge my mother -in -law, Dorothy Helie, a nurse and lover of books who lived from the ground of her soul. Thank you, also, to Pepère, vi my father -in -law Robert Helie who never lets a Sunday morning phone call go by without asking about the dissertation. My dee pest thanks to my husband, John Helie with whom I have shared every wondering and pondering from the depths of my being. Our frequent “readings” at the kitchen table gave me the phenomenological nod to continue unfolding the many dimensions of ‘being-with.’ John is truly a hand of comfort and soul friend. Colleen, Molly, and Aidan deserve serious acknowledgement as they have grown with me from toddlerhood and pre -school in the context of mommy as a doctoral student. Each one in their own way has helped me to keep open the precious place between “world and toy.” I cherish this in -between place as a place of pure beginning. **************************** As safe -keepers of poetry through which deep understandings are opened I thank the publishers who grant me permission to reprint the following: John O’Donohue’s Blessing on pages 160-161, in Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. Copyright 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. Oriah Mountain Dreamer’s poem, “The Invitation” in The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Copyright 1999 by HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. Oriah Mountain Dreamer’s poem, “The Dance” in The Dance: Moving to the Rhythms of your True Self. Copyright 2001 by HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. Rumi’s poem, “Listening” in The Glance, Coleman Barks’ translation. Copyright 1999 by Penguin Compass. Reprinted by per mission of Penguin Compass, New York, NY. Rumi’s poem, “Begin” in Rumi the Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing, Coleman Barks’ translation.