Having courage: A lived experience of human becoming

Having courage is inextricably related to the way people make choices about what is important, what to do, and how to go on in life in ways they view as worthwhile. It is a universal lived experience that is important to quality of life. The purposes of this research were to identify the essences of the experience of having courage and to contribute to knowledge about human becoming the nursing theory guiding this study. Participants were ten persons 21 to 64 years of age who were living in the community with spinal cord injuries. They were willing to speak about having courage and to share a symbol, picture, piece of music, poem, or metaphor which was an expression of their lived experience of having courage. The Parse research method for data gathering and analysis a phenomenological-hermeneutic method was used to answer the research question: What is the structure of the lived experience of having courage? The Parse research method illuminates the structure of universal lived experiences of health through the processes of dialogical engagement, extraction-synthesis, and heuristic interpretation. The central finding of this study is the structure: The lived experience of having courage is a fortifying tenacity arising with triumph amid the burdensome, while guarded confidence emerges with the treasured. This structure is comprised of three core concepts fortifying tenacity, triumph amid the burdensome, and guarded confidence with the treasured that reflect the unitary experience of having courage for the participants in this study. Using examples from the participants' descriptions, the findings are discussed in relation to how they enhance understanding about human becoming and in relation to how they can inform future research and practice.