The methodological framework for this study was
Gadamerian hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the “art
or technique of understanding and interpretation . . . ”
(Gadamer, 2006, p. 175). This was the selected methodology
because the purpose of this research and the
hermeneutic task are congruent—both seek to gain
understanding through interpretation of language to
recover lost, obscure meanings, and to get clear, or
interpret, what is meant when something is said and
not to establish causation and facts (Gadamer). According
to Gadamer, language is produced socially and
historically—who we are, our being in the world, is
produced through language. A feminist perspective using
Gilligan’s (1993) theoretical argument that the fusion
of identity and intimacy formation is defined through
relationships, guided understanding and interpretation
of the significance of the meaning of NP autonomy. This
perspective was used because (a) NP autonomy concerns