ABSTRACT
Humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced the concept of self-actualization as the final stage of his theory on the hierarchy of needs. Maslow viewed self-actualization as a rite of passage that allows the individual to go beyond the single self into self-transcendence. Through primary, secondary, or vicarious trauma, women may experience adversity and suffer at some point in their lives, and nurses are well-situated to provide therapeutic support and guidance to others as they navigate the experience of trauma. The research then unfolds to move beyond the simple identification and definition of the posttraumatic growth phenomenon into the journey of each participant’s experience and how they moved from a place of the inherent resilience of merely bouncing back to life after trauma into the reality of personal transformation. It is significant in that it specifically addresses a gap in the abuse literature focusing on posttraumatic growth in women survivors of domestic violence in the United States.
