Abstract

This research addresses the author's experience with parental illness and how can that experience be explored and understood through a heuristic arts-based methodology. The integration of the use of artwork within the heuristic framework is addressed and the author's experience with this process outlined. Art-making was used as the primary means of exploration and analysis of the question, which lead to greater understanding, awareness and acceptance within the author. Theory and research related to parental illness is outlined and compared to the findings gleaned through the heuristic arts-based methodology used in the present study.