Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Composite First Person Narrative: Texture, Structure, And Meaning In Writing Phenomenological Descriptions, Marcia Stanley Wertz, Marcianna Nosek, Susan Mcniesh, Elizabeth Marlow

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

This paper illustrates the use of composite first person narrative interpretive methods, as described by Todres, across a range of phenomena. This methodology introduces texture into the presently understood structures of phenomena and thereby creates new understandings of the phenomenon, bringing about a form of understanding that is relationally alive that contributes to improved caring practices. The method is influenced by the work of Gendlin, Heidegger, van Manen, Gadamer, and Merleau-Ponty. The method’s applicability to different research topics is demonstrated through the composite narratives of nursing students learning nursing practice in an accelerated and condensed program, obese female adolescents attempting …