Older women's experience of spirituality Book

	Tables
	Illustrations
	Preface
	Acknowledgments
I	Introduction	3
II	Review of the Literature	13
	Literature Reviews in Qualitative Research	13
	The Notion of Spirituality	14
	Spirituality in Nursing Research	16
	Conceptualizations in the Nursing Literature	20
	Gaps and Discrepancies in the Nursing Literature	27
	Women and Spirituality	28
	Faith Development Theory	30
III	Methodological Considerations	37
	Research Questions	37
	Phenomenology	38
	Feminism	40
	Integration of Approaches	45
	Researcher's Perspective	46
	Setting	49
	Sampling Process	50
	Interview Process	51
	Ethical Considerations	54
	Data Preparation	56
	Data Analysis Process	57
	Feminist Perspective	62
	Standards of Rigor	62
IV	Essential Features of Spirituality	67
	The Essential Features	68
	Choosing Solitude	68
	Connecting with Community	72
	Dialoguing with Presence	79
	Re-creating the Self	84
	Encountering Spiritual Caring	93
V	Intelligible Structure of Spirituality: Crafting the Quilt	101
	Metaphor	101
	Craft of Quilting	103
	Women and Quilts	105
	Composing the Blocks	105
	Anna	107
	Barbara	110
	Carolyn	112
	Dorothy	114
	Ellen	116
	Frances	119
	Georgia	122
	Helen	125
	Crafting the Quilt	127
	Batting of Solitude	128
	Borders of Community	129
	Backing of Presence	130
	Blocks of Re-creation	131
	Stitching of Spiritual Caring	132
VI	Feminist Perspective	137
	Women's Experiences	137
	Group Participant Profile	138
	Age	138
	Education	140
	Marital History	144
	Children	146
	Religion	147
	Health	150
	Re-constituting a Life	152
	Gender Discussion	153
	Sexism in Church and Society	158
	Contributions to Women in the Study	159
	Contributions to Women in General	160
	Limitations of the Study	161
VII	Nursing Perspective	163
	Outcomes	164
	Nursing Knowledge	166
	Nursing Practice	167
	Nursing Education	172
	Feminism and Education	173
	Nursing Theory	174
	Nursing Research	175
	References	179
	Index	199