Digital Commons Network^™

A Suffering Odyssey: A Phenomenological-Interpretive Analysis, William M. Scott

Legacy ETDs

The purpose of this study is to explicate how suffering is experienced and interpreted by sufferers. Nursing and medical literature, until quite recently, has been visibly bereft on the topic of human suffering. The subject is made even more confusing because of a lack of a standardized definition: By its very essence, suffering is a relative experience, highly personalized and intimately interpreted. In the past, it has been related to mental anguish, injury, loss, stress, and pain.

Five individuals from contextually different regions of the world were asked to share their suffering stories. Two lived in the southern coastal area …