Mapping Our Nursing Essence: A Tattooed Imprint of the Struggle Between Desire and Reality

A plural research design, critical hermeneutic circle, and body mapping informed the qualitative study to understand the aesthetic visible tensions that imprint on the novice nurse. Specifically, of interest was the intersection between what a nurse desires to do and what they are able to do in their practice as the underlying tension. The life-sized body maps provided a view of the inner world of six body maps with themes including duality, powerlessness, embodiment, lifeforce, and identity. Caring discourse to create shared meaning-making occurred as a community to acquire new insights into influences on one’s practice. Caring sciences theory and language informed the research design, facilitated the development of the community, and provided novel knowledge to expand the nursing profession.