The experience of returning from a wilderness expedition
View File(s)
- Author(s)
- Details
-
Helen Mueller Wedin, PhD, MBA, MSN, BA, BSN, FNP-BC, Fulbright Scholar
- Sigma Affiliation
- Xi Sigma
Visitor Statistics
Visits vs Downloads
Visitors - World Map
Top Visiting Countries
Country | Visits |
---|
Top Visiting Cities
City | Visits |
---|
Visits (last 6 months)
Downloads (last 6 months)
Popular Works for Wedin, Helen Mueller by View
Title | Page Views |
---|
Popular Works for Wedin, Helen Mueller by Download
Title | Downloads |
---|
View Citations
Citations
The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore the experience of women returning from the Arctic territory of Nunavut. Such women transitioned from a secluded, communal, Canadian wilderness journey of approximately 7 weeks duration, to a Western lifestyle of advanced technology, high-paced, individualistic living. Preliminary inquiry of expedition returnees pointed to a significant number of participants detailing moderate or higher levels of anxiety, paralleling similar findings of cross-cultural sojourners who reported experiencing a kind of 'reverse culture shock' upon coming home. Psychological distress related to transition between foreign environments and home cultures, has been associated with potential health concerns. Qualitative research uncovering the experience of reentry following a wilderness expedition is severely limited, though necessary in this age of increased wilderness and cross-cultural travel. In this qualitative study, unsolicited journal entries of 11 female postexpedition participants currently aged 21-33 years constituted the basis of data combined with confirmatory e-mails further articulating the experience of returning to a home that is no longer home. All women completed at least a 45-day canoe expedition with Y.M.C.A. Camp Manito-wish located in northern Wisconsin during the years 1995-2003. Themes of connection, which served to both facilitate and hinder the return home, peppered the expedition; connection to the land, the journey and the people were universal among participants. Returning from the expedition was a difficult transition period for most participants as they reported wrestling with new self-concepts. Expedition traveling altered their very core selves through a concoction of physical healing, group process, respect for the land, loss and augmented sense of self. Home was newly realized from both environmental and social angles in that the supposed differences clashed so completely with the wilderness lifestyle left behind in the Arctic. Finally, women merged these new selves with the Western culture encircling them through an individual process of changing perspectives. These postexpedition voyagers transitioned through reentry, molding the lessons of trail life onto themselves to fit that culture in which they found themselves. Constantly reflecting, women returning home from wilderness expeditions never completely return, as parts of them remain intertwined in the North forever.
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3299642; ProQuest document ID: 304774460. The author still retains copyright.
This item has not gone through this repository's peer-review process, but has been accepted by the indicated university or college in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the specified degree.
Type | Dissertation |
Acquisition | Proxy-submission |
Review Type | None: Degree-based Submission |
Format | Text-based Document |
Evidence Level | Phenomenology |
Research Approach | Qualitative Research |
Keywords | Culture Shock; Wilderness Travel; Changing Perspectives; Psychological Distress; Women |
Grantor | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |
Advisor | Stevens, Patricia; Johnson, Teresa |
Level | PhD |
Year | 2007 |
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subjects.
-
A qualitative inquiry into travel study abroad: Experiences of baccalaureate nursing students
Dudas, Kimberly; Scardaville, Debra (2018-06-14)This research explored nursing students' perceptions of cultural awareness following short-term study abroad. A qualitative descriptive design integrated three data sources; purposive sampling identified participants. ... -
Effect of RCT testing on a CBPR-developed cessation intervention for culturally diverse, low socioeconomic women
Andrews, Jeannette; Mueller, Martina; Newman, Susan; Magwood, Gayenell S.; McDonnell, Karen Kane; Heath, Janie; Tingen, Martha S. (2017-06-14)Purpose: There are an estimated 4.8 million households living in US government subsidized housing, with the majority of these households led by single African American women. The smoking prevalence of African American ... -
Differences between Chinese and American women and their experience of stress urinary incontinence in pregnancy
Tyer-Viola, Lynda A.; Zhai, Jinguo Helen; Hagan, Joseph L. (2017-07-06)The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of severity of stress urinary incontinence during pregnancy, its prevalence and associated risk factors, acceptance of treatment options and its effect on quality of life. -
[Excerpt from] The innovation handbook: A nurse leader's guide to transforming nursing
Clipper, Bonnie (Sigma Theta Tau International, 2023-04)This item record pertains to an excerpt from The Innovation Handbook: A Nurse Leader's Guide to Transforming Nursing, which is provided free of charge by the publisher. About this book: The global healthcare ecosystem ... -
The effects of psychological nursing intervention program on psychological distress and quality of life in women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy
Kim, Yeon Hee; Choi, Kyung Sook (2014-11-17)Session presented on Friday, July 25, 2014: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a psychological nursing intervention program and evaluate the effect on psychological distress and quality of life for women ...