Alligood, Martha RaileBeasley, Cherry M.2010-06-242011-05-172010-06-242011-05-172009http://hdl.handle.net/10342/2700The purpose of this interpretive study was to understand the experiences of Lumbee women breast cancer survivors from the text of their oral stories about their life events related to surviving breast cancer. Lumbees, the largest American Indian tribe east of the Mississippi and the largest tribe never to have been confined to a reservation, are a unique people and are yet to be addressed in the nursing literature. As an oral people, Lumbees use their stories to recall past struggles and to instruct others who are encountering difficulties. Their stories revealed the meaning for them of surviving breast cancer as well as the foundations for their health care decisions. The research method delineated by Alligood and Fawcett within Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics was used in this study because it allowed the researcher, a Lumbee nurse, to interpreter the stories, leading to an understanding of these women's experiences. As a result of this study, the interpreter's understanding of breast cancer survival of Lumbee women changed to now include: a) the reciprocity of the experiences in the personal and communal worlds, b) the phases of change are a critical part of survival, c) the realization that the personal and communal worlds undergo the same three phases but have different patterns that are used to assist in survival, and d) survival is a transformative process for the woman and her community.  155 p.dissertations, academicen-USHealth Sciences, NursingNative American studiesBreast Neoplasms--nursingIndians, North American--North CarolinaNursing CareDoctoral Dissertation