Stories of hope: conversations with aboriginal women who have experienced incarceration

• Main Author: Radtke, Janis Leigh
• Other Authors: Rutherford, Gayle
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Graduate Studies 2012
• Subjects: Nursing; Hope; Aboriginal; Women; Incarceration; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11023/124; https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/27883

The purpose of this research study was to explore the meaning of hope for Aboriginal women who have experienced incarceration and to offer an opportunity for their voices to emerge. Conversations with six Aboriginal women provided descriptions of how hope influenced their lives before, during, and after incarceration. van Manen’s (1990) phenomenological research design guided this study together with a feminist perspective. The colonization and assimilation of First Nations people by Canada’s early settlers changed the fabric of their lives and created an inherent burden that is distressingly evident to this day. Aboriginal women, once respected and valued, struggle daily to meet the demands of a society that has oppressed them for decades. Yet, somehow, these brave women have found the strength, resilience, and survival skills to meet another day. This thesis presents their stories and discusses the underlying themes as well as the implications for nursing and future research.