Bloodroot: life stories of nurse practitioners in rural Appalachia

This nursing research study was designed to reveal the life stories of nurse practitioners in rural Appalachia using storytelling and ballad elements of the culture. The researcher was born in a rural Appalachian community in Virginia and was summoned to return to the place of her birth, feeling an invisible kinship to land, blood ties to family, and a longing to honor rural nursing. Seven nurse practitioners from the same community shared their life stories. Using the heuristic phenomenological research method of Moustakas, the researcher became storyteller. The metaphor of bloodroot emerged as the unity of meaning for the life stories. The theme essences were revealed as interconnection: intricate patterns of rural Appalachian culture, intertwining relationships, interrelationships, and inner journey. "Brand New Home," an Appalachian bluegrass ballad, along with pictures of Appalachia, underpins and culminates this study as a creative synthesis. Implications for nursing practice, education, and research are included.