The substantive themes do not have clear boundaries. This overlap is important as an attempt has been made to retain the integrity of the data as a whole. If a phenomenon is unitary, its parts will have independent characteristics and some overlap. For example, Evolving beyond and Achieving Balance both imply participation on the part of the person healing and therefore relate to the Active Participation theme. The participants recognized the dynamic nature of healing and attempted to describe what they had experienced related to the process.
Healing is a complex process that is often referred to as if it was understood, yet little has been done to explore its properties. This foundational research was conducted to provide a basis on which to build further research about healing. Although the results of this study are not generalizable, they do provide direction for healing research. The results have also demonstrated some linkages between bodies of existing research that have not been clearly connected to healing before this study. The ideas found in the literature are often theoretical or clinical, and thus need further research to strengthen their credibility.
The results of this study help to achieve this end. These results combined with theoretical ideas can also lead to clearer research questions and stronger hypotheses for future empirical study. A Model of Healing The themes generated by this study can be viewed more abstractedly in proposing a model of healing. The model includes three substantive themes: Active Participation; Achieving Balance; and Evolving Beyond. Theses themes connect with one another in a very fluid way. The diagram from page 90 has been reproduced here to facilitate discussion (see Figure 2).
In conceptualizing the relationships among these themes, each one can be described as simultaneously integrated, yet distinct. The broken lines on the diagram represent the integration. This connection among themes is important since an attempt was made to retain the integrity of the whole experience of healing, yet to have enough defining characteristics to begin to understand the concept. The Healing Process component of the model has a different quality than the three substantive themes. It is very much an integral part of all the themes and even more difficult to discuss as separate than each of the other themes.
The substantive themes define healing while the Healing process addresses movement and change. Process components are found in each of the substantive themes but are not the identifying characteristics of these themes. When a concept is explored using phenomenology, an attempt is made to retain the integrity of the whole, describe complex relationships with one another. None have clear boundaries and they all relate to one another as a whole process of healing yet each can be defined separately. There is movement and change in all four themes.
Active involvement is included in all four themes. Active involvement is included in all four themes. Both Achieving Balance and Active Participation are evolving experiences. Achieving Balance and restoring a sense of wholeness is one aim of Active Participation and Evolving Beyond. The Healing Process ss Ac Ac Healing Process . Model of Healing relationships among the healing themes have been described in a way to illustrate their complexity and retain the sense of wholeness. The process theme helps
integrate the whole and helps account for change and movement. It was not asked whether healing exists or whether the participants’ perceptions of healing were correct. In phenomenology, the focus is on perceptions, so participants are not asked to justify the accuracy of these perceptions. Colaizzi (1998) suggests that a researcher should expect blind sports and obscurities that no participant will be able to articulate. Some areas about healing may never be understood but many can be addressed by defining areas for further research to expand and clarify the model.