Background. Recovery from mental illness has been described as a process involving personal growth and a search for meaning. Occupation is a primary medium for human development as well as the ...creation of life meaning, suggesting the exploration of recovery from an occupational perspective is warranted.
Purpose. To explore the experience and meaning of occupation for 13 people who self-identified as being in recovery from mental illness.
Methods. Recovery narratives were collected from participants in conversational interviews that were recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analysed using hermeneutic phenomenology.
Findings. A range of experiences were evident in the recovery narratives, from complete disengagement to full engagement in occupations. Insights into the experience and meaning of different states of occupation were revealed.
Implications. All forms of occupational engagement, including disengagement, can be meaningful in the recovery process. Increased understanding of different modes of occupational engagement will assist therapists to support recovery more effectively.
Background. Some authors are beginning to challenge current categorisations of occupation as self-care, productivity, and leisure in favour of categories that address meaning. However, the meaning of ...occupation receives relatively little attention in the literature. Purpose. To provide a synthesis of the contemporary literature that considers the meaning of occupation and to argue that phenomenological insights into the meaning of occupation might usefully inform occupational therapy research, theory, and practice. Key Issues. Meaning is a key aspect of occupation. Three phenomenological meanings of occupation uncovered by a study conducted in New Zealand—the call, Being-with and possibilities—provide a starting point for practice, research, and theory informed by understandings of the lived experience of occupation. Implications. Occupational therapy's theories would benefit from an evidence base that includes meaning, which in turn would lead to authentic occupational therapy practice.
Hermeneutic phenomenology, as a methodology, is not fixed. Inherent in its enactment are contested areas of practice such as how interview data are used and reported. Using philosophical notions ...drawn from hermeneutic phenomenological literature, we argue that working with crafted stories is congruent with the philosophical underpinnings of this methodology. We consider how the practical ontic undertaking of story crafting from verbatim transcripts is integral with the interpretive process. We show how verbatim transcripts can be crafted into stories through examples taken from interview data. Our aim is to open dialogue with other hermeneutic phenomenological researchers and offer alternate possibilities to conventional ways of work with qualitative data. We argue that crafted stories can provide glimpses of phenomena that other forms of data analysis and presentation may leave hidden. We contend that crafted stories are an acceptable and trustworthy methodological device.
Introduction: With migratory movements of people increasing worldwide cultural competence is becoming a key social work capability. One aspect of cultural competence includes an appreciative ...understanding of new migrants reasons for migration. The immigration of black African people to New Zealand is a relatively recent phenomenon because, historically, immigration policy favoured people of British origin. This article aims to explore the experiences and motivations of black African women who were recent migrants to New Zealand.
Method: The study used a purposive sample of 15 black African women migrants aged between 21 and 60 years. The women were all recent migrants from Africa having resided in New Zealand for a period of between one and five years. Data was collected using semistructured interviews and a narrative methodology based on Africentric philosophy.
Findings: For most of the women in the study migration was a positive choice made in order to secure educational and career opportunities for themselves and their children. For some there were also push factors in the form of political and economic instability in their countries of origin. Relationships with family and friends already living in New Zealand were also significant motivational factors.
Conclusion: Social workers in New Zealand need an appreciative understanding of the culture and history of new migrants, but also of their aspirations and motivations for setting out on an epic journey for them and their families. This article offers insights into the motivations and aspirations of a group of recent black African women migrants, and challenges some common assumptions.
This article seeks to shed light on the meanings healthcare practitioners attach to practicing interprofessionally and how interprofessional relationships play out in "everyday" practice. It draws on ...findings from a hermeneutic phenomenological study of health professionals' lived experience of practice, interpreted in relation to Martin Heidegger's concept of a path through the dense forest which leads to an open space where there is no predefined path to follow. Analysis of data from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 health professionals from medicine, midwifery, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and social work suggests that health practitioners come upon the clearing having walked their own track toward practicing interprofessionally. Our argument is that when: getting to know others; genuine dialogue; trust; and respect are in play, a spirit of interprofessional practice flourishes. The ontological view presented, sheds light on the nature of the relationships and the personal qualities that foster a spirit of interprofessional practice in these human-to-human interactions. It highlights how health practitioners need to be free to enact their humanity; to move beyond the "professional" pathway, which encourages them to leave "who they are" at home.
This study explored sport governance practice from the lived experience of one informant spanning a 30-year period in the governance of two sport organisations (basketball and cricket). Hermeneutic ...phenomenology, the methodological framework used for this study, seeks to grasp the everyday world, and draw insight and meaning from it. The method involves a series of in-depth interviews with one research participant, supplemented by document analysis. Interviews were analysed using an interpretative process which blended the world views of both the participant and researchers. The participant lived through an era of increasing professionalisation within sport. His narrative, which tapped into his governance expertise at state, national and international levels, provides insights into the transition from an amateur to a commercial culture, referred to in this paper as ‘two worlds colliding’. From this narrative, three related themes were identified and labelled, ‘volunteer and cultural encounters’; ‘structural encounters’; and ‘adversarial encounters’. In drawing on hermeneutic philosophy, and highlighting that which has been hidden from view, direction for future research and practice within the sport governance domain is offered. These directions invite scholars to think about future sport governance research as it relates to federated structures and how collaborative governance theory can sharpen the focus in this domain.
Interprofessional practice: beyond competence Flood, Brenda; Smythe, Liz; Hocking, Clare ...
Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice,
08/2019, Volume:
24, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Interprofessional practice is commonly discussed in the literature in terms of competencies. In this study we move away from the theoretical notions of criteria, concepts and guidelines to adopt an ...ontological approach which seeks to stay as close to the lived experience as possible. Our research asked 12 participants from a variety of health disciplines to tell their stories of working interprofessionally. We sought to glean meaning from the lived experience. Our phenomenological hermeneutic approach and interpretation were informed by Heidegger and Gadamer. Rather than offering a thematic overview, in this article we share three stories from the research that were congruent with other stories. The first, told by a doctor, is of a resuscitation in an emergency department. It shows how the effective working together of the interprofessional team was more than each member following a resuscitation protocol. There was ‘something’ about how they worked together that made this story stand out, even though the patient died. The second story showcases how ‘who’ the person is makes a difference. This nurse makes an effort to get to know other staff as people, to find common interests. In such a way interprofessional practice comes to flourish. The third story shows how a physiotherapist and a psychologist joined in conversation to seek innovative possibilities for a challenging situation. In such a way each built on the others expertise and were excited at the success they achieved for the patient. From these ontological accounts we have come to see that interprofessional practice flourishes when practitioners are their authentic, caring selves. Who the person is matters.
Interprofessional practice is recognized as essential to providing patient-centered, collaborative and high quality care, contributing to optimal health outcomes. Understandings of how best to ...cultivate practitioners able to 'be' and 'become' interprofessional remain problematic. To advance that understanding, this hermeneutic phenomenological study addressed the question: 'What are health professionals' experiences of working with people from other disciplines?' In-depth, semi structured interviews with 12 health professionals from nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, medicine, social work, and midwifery were undertaken using a conversation style. Three unifying themes revealed things which appear to be at the 'heart' of interprofessional practice; the call to interprofessional practice, working in a spirit of interprofessional practice and safeguarding and preserving interprofessional practice. This paper focuses on the first two themes. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of interprofessional practice as a way of being that extends beyond known and measureable skills and knowledge, to dispositions and qualities. Dispositional qualities come from within a person and what they care about, and from experiences that shape their understandings. This study points toward interprofessional practice as being about a spirit. Who people are, what they bring and how they act is what matters.
Unsettling moods in rural midwifery practice Crowther, Susan; Smythe, Liz; Spence, Deb
Women and birth : journal of the Australian College of Midwives,
February 2018, 2018-Feb, 2018-02-00, 20180201, Volume:
31, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Rural midwifery and maternity care is vulnerable due to geographical isolation, staffing recruitment and retention. Highlighting the concerns within rural midwifery is important for safe sustainable ...service delivery.
Hermeneutic phenomenological study undertaken in New Zealand (NZ). 13 participants were recruited in rural regions through snowball technique and interviewed. Transcribed interview data was interpretively analysed. Findings are discussed through the use of philosophical notions and related published literature.
Unsettling mood of anxiety was revealed in two themes (a) ‘Moments of rural practice’ as panicky moments; an emergency moment; the unexpected moment and (b) ‘Feelings of being judged’ as fearing criticism; fear of the unexpected happening to ‘me’ fear of losing my reputation; fear of feeling blamed; fear of being identified.
Although the reality of rural maternity can be more challenging due to geographic location than urban areas this need not be a reason to further isolate these communities through negative judgement and decontextualized policy. Fear of what was happening now and something possibly happening in the future were part of the midwives’ reality. The joy and delight of working rurally can become overshadowed by a tide of unsettling and disempowering fears.
Positive images of rural midwifery need dissemination. It is essential that rural midwives and their communities are heard at all levels if their vulnerability is to be lessened and sustainable safe rural communities strengthened.
Mood and birth experience Crowther, Susan; Smythe, Liz; Spence, Deb
Women and birth : journal of the Australian College of Midwives,
03/2014, Volume:
27, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Those at the birth of a baby sometimes speak of the experience as significant and meaningful; an experience in which there is an atmosphere or mood that surrounds the occasion. This paper explores ...this mood, its recognition, disclosure and how we attune or not to it. The paper is philosophically underpinned by hermeneutic phenomenology. The Heideggerian notion of “attunement to mood” is used to interpret this phenomenon. This paper describes how such a mood becomes visible.
Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, 14 tape-recorded transcribed interviews, each about an hour long, were conducted over 8 months from mothers, birth partners, midwives and obstetricians. The stories crafted from these transcripts have been interpreted alongside my own preunderstandings and related literature. Appropriate ethical approval was gained.
Analysis suggests that there is a positively construed mood of joy at birth that can be concealed when disrupted. Disturbing this mood has the effect of exposing the world of birth and its inherent activities and feelings revealing possible meanings inherent in the lived birth experiences. Disturbances at birth provide distinctions and tensions in which a concealed constitutive mood at birth can be seen. This paper provides insight towards a deeper appreciation into how the sacred joy of birth may be protected.
The way in which we attune to birth may have consequences to birth outcomes and to the experience of childbirth. The consequences of these findings for those in the world of birth are discussed.
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