Women's mid-life experience: an evolving consciousness of self and children.

This paper describes a hermeneutical and phenomenological research study of the mid-life spiritual experience of 10 women who are members of the United Church of Canada. Based on in-depth, face-to-face interviews, the paper describes the first of two simultaneous and interrelated experiences: an evolving consciousness of self and children. The five invariant themes that emerge point to a need for an expanded framework of human development that takes fuller account of women's experience and spirituality.