Archetypal imagery among hospice workers during encounters with death: A hermeneutic case study in Jungian psychology

The quality of care for the dying is dependent on the quality of the relationship with the dying person, but there are few studies exploring this theme. The purpose of this doctoral study has been to explore the experience of hospice workers who have repeated encounters with death, which may affect their own psyche. The primary assumption was that in hospice workers, encounters with death are associated with personal growth and accompanied by archetypal images. Methodologically, this was a case study in a single location and aggregating data from multiple participants. The study integrated psychobiographical methods and hermeneutic methods within the epistemology of Jungian psychology. The central argument for the selection of the case-study method was the limited information available on how inner life is influenced by death and dying. Narratives of 17 hospice workers were taken of their personal history, especially related to their past experiences of encounters with death and dying, and of working as a hospice worker. Elements supporting personal growth were operationally defined as a combination of turning inward and integrating the experiences into a larger reality and turned out to be present in the large majority of hospice workers in the sample. The themes that emerged in encounters with death and dying in these hospice workers were interconnectedness, suffering and sacrifice, and birth and rebirth. There are several major ways for the hospice workers to experience personal growth and, in some instances, a transcendent experience: (a) activation of an archetype of transformation for which the dying is a symbolic image, (b) increased understanding and a broadening of consciousness through interconnectedness, and (c) redemption through suffering. Caring for the dying becomes practice for one's own death and an indirect form of rebirth in the life of the hospice worker. Overall, the experience of hospice workers during encounters with death suggests an appeal to the growth-oriented dimension of personality. By being a vessel of transformation for the dying, the hospice workers become a vessel of transformation for themselves.