Theoretical frameworks consistent with the theme of Evolving Beyond plentiful. However, research supporting these theories is limited. Taylor (1993) found that over 50% of the 78 women with breast cancer interviewed in her study reappraised their lives and priorities. Smith (1999) asked specifically for ways in which here participants’ values, goals and priorities had changed. She interviewed 44 medical-surgical patients with illnesses ranging from myocardial infarctions to radical mastectomies, 31 psychiatric patients, and 11 alcoholic patients.
All participants were still hospitalized at the time of their 45-minutes structured interview. A “few” (an unspecified number) were interviewed a second time after hospital discharge. Sixty-sic percent of her medical-surgical patients answered quickly with feeling about change in values and priorities. This gain contradicts Jaffe’s belief that only special people experience renewal. Their most frequent area of desired change was similar to the participants of this study who expressed time with family.
Psychiatric and alcoholic patients also expressed changes in values and priorities, but their most common expression was a need to put more values on themselves. Smith is vague about how she collected and analyzed her data or how she chose her subjects. Her results do have similarities to the idea of Evolving Beyond. Since her participants were all in the hospital at the time of their interviews this would indicate that Evolving Beyond may start early in the healing process.
In later interviews, Amy and Erika indicated that some of the resolve to change had faded. Evolving Beyond is perhaps the most exciting of the Healing Themes as potential for growth is very appealing to this author and it appears to appeal to many theorists as well. None of the participants experienced a setback in level of functioning. Rogers (2001) would say setbacks are not possible since man is continually evolving to higher levels.
Aguilera and Messick (1996) recognize growth through crisis as desirable and possible but returning to pre-crisis levels is also possible, as is a reduction in functioning and well-being. Whether Evolving Beyond is inherent in the healing process is an important question. Can there be healing if one has returned to a presurgical level or regressed? One of the auditor’s comments suggested that the results section be introduced by the Healing Process theme rather than the substantive themes.
She was correct in wanting to define the importance of process in a lived experience such as healing but one must also consider that the specific subthemes discussed under process were not as important as the process incorporated in each substantive theme. The researcher agreed that the healing process is very important but undue emphasis would be placed on the process subthemes if the Healing Process were discussed before the substantive themes. This discussion will focus on process as it is addressed specifically by the data and process as it is woven into the fabric of the substantive themes.