| abstract |
This research is an autoethnographic dissertation written with a phenomenological standpoint that represents a personal account of complexities that exist in communal healing through the use of poetry intervention. I conducted these poetry-healing groups as a volunteer over the course of approximately two years in a post-acute rehabilitation center for senior citizens. These thematic meetings promote a sense of belonging, critical thinking, and allow participants to maintain their autonomy. Elective poetry groups exist in a multitude of communities, and these findings can be applied outside of this specific population. Though I understand the culture would vary in different settings, insights gained may be transferred to other contexts such as addiction facilities, educational settings, or other targeted age groups. Transferability is a key quality criterium that has been met. Using this research study as an instructional guide will allow others to develop and implement poetry interventions in similar settings. We can use these groups to sort through personal chaos and heal ourselves in community using poetry as a vehicle.
The autoethnography is written in first person, which draws readers into my vantage point, contextualized in today's socio-political context of a post-acute rehabilitation center for senior citizens. As an investigator, the phenomenological attitude allows me to reflect from an emic perspective, gaining a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of participants. I position myself as the primary researcher in the social setting of poetry-healing groups, which I created. The emerging themes of the intervention group form a quartet: care, acts of service, facilitation and wonderment. I have organized, monitored, documented, and analyzed these interventions through the use of conversations, notes, and personal experiences. I draw on reflective experiences to help me gain greater insight as a group facilitator and aim to ultimately bring narrative medicine in the form of community connectedness. I combine academic research and heartfelt vignettes to evoke a vicarious experience, and to write in a space of wonder, exploring how the self relates to social challenges and contributes to healing communities.
|
