Women's lived experience of conceptualizing the self: implications for health care practice

In this article we describe a unique qualitative research design in which we used our own lived experiences as the basis for understanding theories of the self. Our purpose in this study was to (a) broaden current understandings of self theory, (b) juxtapose theories of the self with lived experiences of selfhood, and (c) use these new understandings to inform health care practice. The participants were four Canadian middle-aged female academic and health care practitioners. We conducted unstructured, open-ended interviews. Through a collaborative, interpretive process, four recurring themes emerged from the women's narratives: struggling for authenticity, inner knowing, changing over time, and the contextual self. We address the need for practitioners to understand theories of the self--their own and their clients--and how these theories impact their clinical practice.