Abstract

Review of breast cancer incidence and mortality rates for Native Hawaiian women reveal a distressing picture of disproportionate representation when compared to other minority groups in Hawaii. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to gain insight into the lived experience of Native Hawaiian women who have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer through analysis of the narrative stories that participants shared with the principal investigator. An additional aim was to explore the cultural themes that emerged from this analysis, investigating whether such themes may have affected decisions about treatment. Three "contexts" emerged from the analysis process, predicated on the Native Hawaiian concept of pono or balance: the Context of Discovery—the unbalancing of the old life and loss of pono; the Context of Transformation: physical, emotional, and spiritual; and the Context of Life Realignment: regaining pono. Subthemes assembled under these three contexts, coupled with appropriate quotes from the participants, comprised the array of exemplars that helped describe the phenomena under study. A composite "paradigm case", reflective of the major themes uncovered in the analysis, was developed to reconstitute the themes in a narrative format, bringing the process of analysis back full circle from participants' narratives to a recounting of a paradigmatic story.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9967651; ProQuest document ID: 304671422. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Phyllis JoAnne Eide, PhD, MN, MPH, BSN

Sigma Membership

Delta Chi at-Large

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Phenomenology

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Native Hawaiian Women, Breast Cancer, Lived Experiences

Advisor

Nancy Wood

Second Advisor

Marlaine Smith

Third Advisor

Fancelyn Reeder

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

University of Colorado

Degree Year

2000

Rights Holder

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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2021-11-29

Full Text of Presentation

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