Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Determining The Needs, Priorities, And Desired Rehabilitation Outcomes Of Young Adults Who Have Had A Stroke, Maggie Lawrence, Sue Kinn

Dr. Maggie Lawrence

Background: Guidelines state that young adults’ rehabilitation needs and priorities following stroke are different from older adults’. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding young adults’ perspectives of their needs and priorities.

Aims: To gain an understanding of young adults’ experience of stroke and associated rehabilitation needs, priorities and desired outcomes.

Methods: Longitudinal data were gathered using unstructured interviews and analysed using phenomenological reduction.

Results: Ten young adults took part in up to four interviews over two years. An overarching theme, Embodied Disorientation, and three sub-themes: Mortal Body, Situated Body, and Embodied Perception of Difference, described the young adults’ …

“An Existential Place Of Pain:” The Essence Of Despair In Women, Nancy Scroggs, Mona Shattell, W. Richard Cowling

Mona Shattell

While there is a substantive body of knowledge on depression, little is known about the experience of despair. This phenomenological study explored women’s experience of despair through qualitative interviews with 14 women ages 28 to 55 (M= 45) who self-identified as experiencing despair. Three themes emerged: “crippling and debilitating,” “there’s nothing you can do”, and “it’ll never end.” The findings suggest that women desire to have their experiences recognized and validated while simultaneously receiving acknowledgement of their ability to overcome the past and to shape their own destinies.

Merleau-Ponty And James Agee: Guides To The Novice Phenomenologist, Sandra Thomas

Sandra Thomas

No abstract provided.

“Take My Hand, Help Me Out:” Mental Health Service Recipients’ Experience Of The Therapeutic Relationship, Mona Shattell, Sharon Starr, Sandra Thomas

Mona Shattell

Statement of Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe mental health service recipients’ experience of the therapeutic relationship.

Research Question: The research question was “what is therapeutic about the therapeutic relationship?”

Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with persons with mental illness as part of a study of the experience of being understood. This secondary analysis used data from 20 interviews with community-dwelling adults with mental illness, who were asked to talk about the experience of being understood by a health care provider. Data were analyzed using an existential phenomenological approach.

Findings: Individuals …

"Take My Hand, Help Me Out:" Mental Health Recipients' Experience Of The Therapeutic Relationship, M.M. Shattell, S.S. Starr, Sandra Thomas

Sandra Thomas

The purpose of this study was to describe mental health service recipients' experience of the therapeutic relationship. The research question was ‘what is therapeutic about the therapeutic relationship?’ This study was a secondary analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with persons with mental illness as part of a study of the experience of being understood. This secondary analysis used data from 20 interviews with community-dwelling adults with mental illness, who were asked to talk about the experience of being understood by a health-care provider. Data were analysed using an existential phenomenological approach. Individuals experienced therapeutic relationships against a backdrop of challenges, …

Nurses' Narratives Of Unforgettable Patient Care Events, M.E. Gunther, Sandra Thomas

Sandra Thomas

Purpose: To explore the experience of registered nurses (RNs) caring for patients in contemporary hospitals.

Design: The descriptive phenomenological study was based in the philosophical perspectives of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty.

Methods: A purposive sample of 46 RNs employed in acute care hospitals in the southeastern United States (US) were recruited by network sampling. Data from unstructured interviews were analyzed in an interpretive group and themes were identified.

Findings: Four themes were identified: (a) extraordinary caregiving events, (b) incomprehensibility, (c) questioning whether anything else could have been done, and (d) “alone or together,” indicating the isolation nurses often experience while giving …

An Exploration Of Problematic Interviewee Behaviors In Qualitative Research, M. Collins, M. Shattell, Sandra Thomas

Sandra Thomas

The interview is a staple of many qualitative approaches. Although textbooks offer extensive guidance to researchers about conducting interviews, less guidance is available about problematic interviewee behaviors, such as flattery or statements indicative of social desirability response bias. In this study, a secondary analysis of 22 phenomenological interview transcripts, we sought to examine problematic interviewee behaviors. More than 300 pages of typed text were subjected to line-by-line scrutiny, yielding only six potential instances of the phenomenon. Each could be interpreted several ways. What appeared to be flattery could also be perceived as simple gratitude or appreciation. We concluded that problematic …

What's Therapeutic About The Therapeutic Milieu?, Sandra Thomas, M. Shattell, T. Martin

Sandra Thomas

While the milieu of an inpatient facility is considered a treatment modality, extant literature focuses on the staff's role in creating the milieu rather than the patient's perception of it. Not since Goffman's Asylums (1961) has there been an in-depth examination of the phenomenal world of the hospitalized psychiatric patient. In this study, eight inpatients (ages 23 to 58) on the acute psychiatric unit of a metropolitan general hospital participated in phenomenological interviews about their experience of the environment. The essential meaning of the hospital was refuge from self-destructiveness. Prominent aspects of patients' experience within the place of refuge were …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Experience Of The Spouse Of A Heart Transplant Recipient, A.H. Mccurry, Sandra Thomas

Sandra Thomas

In this phenomenological study, in-depth interviews were used to obtain a description of spouses’ experiences in heart transplantation. Thematic analysis of the transcripts revealed four major, interrelated themes: death-life, vigilance, change, and gift. The experience was contextualized by the existential grounds of time and other people. Findings suggested that the changes inherent in the transplant experience have not been fully described in previous studies. The theme of death-life was dominant and pervasive in all interviews. As the threat of their husbands’ deaths became less prominent, wives reported difficulty letting go of their vigilance. Although the most outstanding gift was that …