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Coming into her own: the successful mid-life transition for women

University of British Columbia

Six women between the ages of 49 and 68 participated in a study investigating the meaning of mid-life changes for women now satisfied with their lives. The research question was: How do Women Make a Successful Mid-life Transition! The purpose was to learn more about how women come through the process of mid-life changes feeling good about themselves. Participants were chosen who were articulate and who identified themselves as having gone through significant changes in mid-life and who now felt satisfied with their lives. The methodology involved phenomenological interviews that generated narrative accounts. A narrative methodology was chosen in order to investigate a process that evolved over time, because the flow of change and temporal patterns lent themselves to storied accounts. Phenomenological interviews allowed participants to articulate their experience and meaning of the mid-life transition in their own voices. The study produced six unique and detailed accounts of what mid-life change was like and what factors were helpful in making the transition meaningful for these women. A comparison of individual accounts produced a common pattern of transition that indicated a progression from an initial triggering event that launches a woman into a state of confusion reflecting a growing dissatisfaction with the course of her life. Within this pattern five themes emerged: Sense of Chaos, Profound Sense of Loss, Letting Go, Making Sense of the Past and The Reorganisation of the Self.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-05-25

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8121

Counselling Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace