Voices of Care- Thesis Abstract
This research builds on previous scholarship (Barker, 2018; Cole & Knowles, 2018; Harris and Sinclair, 2014) that demonstrates how playwriting can serve both as a method of analysis and as a means of presenting and disseminating research findings. Here, the playwriting process seeks to engage research participants compassionately, resulting in storytelling that presents women critical care nurses’ lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic placed immense strain on nurses, intensifying challenges to their mental health and wellbeing (Anzaldua & Halpern, 2021; Pappa et al., 2020). While existing studies address the general impact on healthcare workers, the distinct experiences of women ICU nurses remain underexplored and under-represented. This research recognises the importance of understanding how gender-specific and systemic factors influence nurses' professional identities, particularly in crisis contexts.
Through the playscript Critical Care, the emotional, relational, and psychological impact of the pandemic on nurses’ identity and wellbeing is explored and shared. A compassionate playwriting approach was undertaken and developed over a three year period that integrates social science and arts-based methods to inform and develop the playscript as a form of research and means of sharing the nurses’ stories.
Semi-structured interviews with eight ICU nurses provided a contextual understanding. The interviews were followed by three creative writing workshops inviting five nurses to share sensory and imaginative responses to their experiences to directly guide and inform the script development.
The interviews and workshops provided an in-depth understanding of the lived experience and centred the nurses’ voices, grounding the creation of the Critical Care playscript. The playscript was developed further through collaboration with five nurses, four actors, a director, and a composer, using improvisation, movement, and performance work over a two week intensive development period. The script was then further tested and shaped to ensure emotional authenticity through feedback from a wider nursing audience collected at an online (30 people) and in person (60 people) event hosted by the British Association of Critical Care Nurses and a rehearsed reading to a public audience of 90 people at Nonsuch Studios in Nottingham.
At the heart of this research is the development of the CARE Framework (Compassionate Arts Research of the lived Experience), which has been developed through practice and provides an approach to playwriting about difficult lived experiences that creates a space of compassion, where storytelling serves as both expression and reflection. Feedback from participants and audiences highlights the therapeutic potential of this approach, with nurses expressing feelings of validation and connection through their contributions to the playwriting process and seeing their experiences authentically represented.
This research makes three key contributions: (1) a model illustrating ICU nurses’ experiences and effect to professional identity during the pandemic, (2) the Critical Care playscript as a means of documenting and sharing their stories with a wider audience, and (3) the CARE Framework, offering a structured approach to compassionate playwriting for research.
By amplifying the narratives of women ICU nurses, this research demonstrates the potential of playwriting as a powerful tool that fosters empathy and understanding. It illustrates how, through compassionate playwriting, the playwright can engage deeply with participants, explore complex human experiences, and share them in ways that resonate with participants and informs and generates understanding amongst wider audiences.
If you would like to read or discuss this thesis- please contact Stacey: staceymariemoon@hotmail.co.uk/ 07903954474