ABSTRACT
The adoption of constructivism, postmodern and post-structural paradigms, complexity and quantum theories in research go beyond the bounds and strictures of more traditional research paradigms, challenging accepted knowledge. A departure from long-held ontological and epistemological beliefs, through the adoption of newer, creative methodologies such as autoethnography, has created a "hairline fracture in the academic foundation". The concept of coherence is central to the work of Antonovsky, who posits that human beings function within a world that is increasingly complex. The stories in this chapter illustrates a pressing need to understand the complexity of caring work more than ever before and practitioners, engaging in autoethnography. Qualitative researchers generally use a variety of empirical sources in their research such as journals, artefacts, observations, letters, personal experiences, memory boxes, and autobiographical writing. Similarly autoethnographic narratives can be drawn from such materials but, in the main, they are memoried events or experiences.
