Reviews the book, Les Collectifs Du CIRP: Vol. 1. The Redirection of Psychology: Essays in Honor of Amedeo P. Giorgi edited by Thomas F. Cloonan and Christian Thiboutot (2014). The Redirection of ...Psychology was composed in honor of Dr. Amedeo P. Giorgi, the leading developer of the descriptive phenomenological method for psychological research and a leading critic of mainstream psychology, and was presented to him on May 8, 2011 at the meeting of the Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists (ICNAP.) Also known as a festschrift, this collection of essays was written by Giorgi’s colleagues and students, spanning his 50-year career. This review provides an overview and sketch of this important tribute to Giorgi’s career and work in psychology, which created international ripple effects. I address key essays emphasizing aspects of Giorgi’s work that he highlighted in later years of his career and provide an overview of the remaining essays to show the breadth and diversity of issues and topics discussed by the authors. A limitation of this review is that not all of the essays in the work necessarily resonated with my sensibilities and interests. This review is also a commentary on how The Redirection of Psychology holds “something for everyone” in terms of subject matter and theoretical or philosophical commitments. The human sciences are diverse, and this contributed book demonstrates the diversity of our scholarly community. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
This research focuses on the dynamic mix of students at international schools, where native English speakers and English as an additional language (EAL) students study English together. The study ...aims to explore how teaching practices are currently applied to both groups of learners, assess learning attainment in English lessons, and propose future developments in instructional approaches. Using a phenomenological qualitative research approach, 23 primary and secondary teachers from an international school were selected through convenience sampling to participate in three focus groups. Discussions centered around current teaching methods, methods of measuring learning attainment, and strategies for further improvement. The study found that peer support and translation emerged as consistent and effective approaches for teaching both native and EAL students. Assessment was a prominent theme concerning student attainment, and suggestions for improvement included differentiation, addressing individual learning needs, and revising enrollment requirements to better accommodate diverse ability levels. This research contributes to understanding teachers’ perceptions regarding the integration and treatment of native and EAL students in English lessons and provides valuable insights for designing inclusive teaching practices and recommending policy developments.
The South African health care system was hard hit by the second wave of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which affected nurse managers as healthcare facilities became overwhelmed due to an increased ...workload emanating from the overflow of admissions. Therefore, this study sought to explore and describe the nurse managers' experiences during COVID-19 in order to identify gaps and lessons learnt. A descriptive phenomenological research approach was used to explore the experiences of ten nurse managers who were purposively selected from different units of a selected district hospital. Data was collected through telephonic unstructured individual interviews and analysed using Colaizzi's seven steps method. The study revealed that nurse managers experienced human resource related challenges during COVID-19, worsened by the fact that vacant posts were frozen. It also emerged that there was a shortage of material resources that affected patient care. Nurse managers also indicated that COVID-19 brought a lot of administrative duties plus an additional duty of patient care. Also, nurse managers who had previously contracted COVID-19 experienced stigma and discrimination. The government needs to address resource related challenges in rural public hospitals and provide continuous support to nurse managers, particularly during a pandemic like COVID-19.
In design for complex, uncertain, and ill-natured situations, it is not possible to apply known methods and solutions without having a deeper situational understanding. Such design situations are ...infected with wicked problems that are contradictory and complex. This paper answers the question of how the wickedness of designing Information Technologies (IT) for integration work can be understood, and what implications the design situation has for the design process. The paper employs a phenomenological account to perform interviews together with stakeholders and users known as integration workers. Based on a phenomenological analysis, four wicked problems are identified to represent the wicked design situation: Struggle of hopes and fears, Contradiction of contingency, Contradiction of social presence, and Uncertainty of reliance. The wicked problems are subsequently addressed as interrelated and have implications for the design process, which is enframed through four proposed design implications: IT for subtle decision makings, IT for cross-boundary interaction, IT for disclosing proximity and distance, and IT for increased empowerment. The implications incorporate a holistic design ontology, which also shows the viability of phenomenology for studying, describing, and understanding how to tackle situational wickedness in design-oriented Information Systems (IS) research.
The rapid ageing of Singapore’s population has led to the phenomenon of more elderly spending more total years in nursing homes. This study aimed to explore the meaning of Joy in Living to elderly ...residents of nursing homes in Singapore, the enabling and disenabling conditions to Joy in Living in nursing homes and how Person-centered Care can support Joy in Living in nursing homes. The concept of Joy in Living is used in this study as it is unique to an individual elderly’s experience; The study employed hermeneutical phenomenological research methodology to allow for the exploration of Joy in Living in lived experiences of elderly residents through in-depth sixteen semi-structured interviews with elderly residents and six participant observations of three nursing homes (pre and post interviews) between July 2021 and November 2021; Seven themes for Joy in Living experiences to flourish were identified, including “supportive nursing home environment and practices”, “connectedness through meaningful relationships”, “meaningful daily living”, “fulfil the need for spiritual care”, “personal control”, “desire to be free from worries”, and “adapting to changes”, each of which explains a facet of Joy in Living experiences of the elderly residing in nursing homes. These themes include the enabling and disenabling conditions to Joy in Living in nursing homes; Focusing efforts and resources on enabling the seven themes, including fulfilling the need for spiritual care will allow Joy in Living experiences of elderly to flourish in nursing homes. This in turn promotes better psychosocial well-being of the elderly and better living environments where nursing home residents may enjoy satisfactory accommodation while spending their remaining years in joy.
For those with feelings of social anxiety, university can present unique challenges. Socially anxious students can face functional impairments such as interpersonal and academic deficits, as well as ...social maladjustment due to a shift in their social networks. Despite this, there is surprisingly little research exploring their experiences at university using qualitative designs. The present study set out to explore how a small sample of undergraduate students experienced feeling socially anxious at university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight psychology undergraduates and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to explore their experiences and interpret deeper meaning. Five main themes emerged, two of which are presented in the present study: "persistent self-consciousness" and "avoiding reality." Findings are discussed in relation to Clark and Wells' (1995) cognitive model of social anxiety as well as existing literature. Areas requiring further exploration are discussed, as well as how universities may support socially anxious students.
Phenomenological research traditionally involves multiple focused interviews that rely on the participants’ memories and reflections to revisit experiences. There are many other interview formats ...that have the potential to support participants in this process by instead engaging with the phenomenon as it presents itself to their consciousness. In this paper, I present an example of how multiple interview formats, including think-aloud, stimulated recall, and semi-structured were used in a hermeneutic phenomenology study exploring expert teachers’ perceptions of teaching literacy within their content area to secondary students with learning disabilities. I provide example protocols in which I used multiple interview formats (i.e., think-aloud, stimulated recall, and semi-structured) to help participants engage with the phenomenon in ways that did not rely on memory and reflection alone. I describe how the data collected during different interview formats were analyzed using hermeneutic phenomenological methods. Finally, I highlight one participant’s findings, discussing how each interview contributed to the findings, and providing illustrative examples of how going beyond semi-structured formats helped this participant revisit experiences in ways that new meaning emerged and enhanced understanding of the phenomena.
The prevalence of dementia is increasing, especially in Asia. Caregivers of people with dementia are at greater risk of psychological morbidity; however, most studies on caregiving have been ...conducted in Western populations. As a caregiver’s experience can be influenced by cultural factors, this needs exploring further. This study explored the lived experience of caregivers of dementia patients in Singapore and the impact of caring on their sense of self. Six Chinese female spousal caregivers were interviewed and their experiences were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Four super-ordinate themes were identified: impact of caregiving, acceptance of destiny, taking control, and view of self. The findings reflected the influence of Confucian values. Clinical implications are discussed, including more culturally sensitive services.
Nursing faculty are challenged to incorporate use of low, moderate, and high-fidelity simulators into the curriculum and to evaluate student learning. This study compares students’ perceptions of ...learning across levels of simulation.
Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological method was used, with data collection at two times: (a) after a static lab using low-fidelity task trainers and (b) after a simulation lab incorporating high-fidelity manikins. Students were asked to describe their learning after each lab. Written comments were analyzed, and themes from each time were compared. Findings were taken back to participants for validation.
Students’ comments indicated a progression of learning from the what, when, how, and why of psychomotor skills in the static lab to more complex concepts such as assessing, prioritizing, relating information, and formulating therapeutic interventions in the high-fidelity simulation lab.
Study results confirm that students are able to recognize progression in learning, from performing psychomotor skills to making clinical judgments, as they engage in strategically planned lab experiences.
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