Concerned with meaning-making and uncovering what the experience is like, hermeneutic phenomenology offers a way to understand shared, interconnected and embodied human existence. Poetry and poetic ...inquiry provide a powerful way to present nuanced, rich understandings, allowing space for play and ambiguity, revealing fresh and surprising ways of thinking about phenomena. Hermeneutic phenomenology often turns to the poetic for a suitably evocative language capable of bringing forth the richness and nearness of lived experience. Poetic inquiry, in turn, draws its nourishment from the foundational roots of hermeneutic phenomenology; however, this is often less obvious to the neophyte researcher. The paper provides an introduction to phenomenology and hermeneutics, showing how these qualitative approaches lend themselves to each other, and makes explicit a philosophical foundation for poetic inquiry. Whilst methodological frameworks provide vital scaffolding for researchers, they can become rigid; poetry can help researchers flex outside and around more established ways of thinking and writing. Together, hermeneutic phenomenology and poetic inquiry unsettle and disrupt familiar ways of doing, being and seeing our world, allowing the unexpected to emerge and bringing forth new potential understandings.
Methodology, Meditation, and Mindfulness Singh, Sikh Balveer; Spence, Deb
International journal of qualitative methods,
12/2016, Volume:
15, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Understanding the nondualistic nature of mindfulness is a complex and challenging task particularly when most clinical psychology draws from Western methodologies and methods. In this article, we ...argue that the integration of philosophical hermeneutics with Eastern philosophy and practices may provide a methodology and methods to research mindfulness practice. Mindfulness hermeneutics brings together the nondualistically aligned Western philosophies of Heidegger and Gadamer and selected Eastern philosophies and practices in an effort to bridge the gap between these differing worldviews. Based on the following: (1) fusion of horizons, (2) being in a hermeneutic circle, (3) understanding as intrinsic to awareness, and (4) the ongoing practice of meditation, a mindfulness hermeneutic approach was used to illuminate deeper understandings of mindfulness practice in ways that are congruent with its underpinning philosophies.
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.
Reading Heidegger Smythe, Elizabeth; Spence, Deb
Nursing philosophy,
April 2020, 2020-Apr, 2020-04-00, 20200401, Volume:
21, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Heidegger’s philosophy is a significant contribution to understanding the meaning of lived experience. Recognizing this, nurses and other health professionals have taken on the research approach of ...Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology. This requires reading the writing of Heidegger. Philosophers themselves acknowledge this writing is dense, difficult to grasp, uses language for which there is no easy translation, and leaves the reader with more questions than answers. Drawing on commentary from philosophers who seek to read Heidegger and from a research study which interviewed doctoral students who were “reading Heidegger,” we seek to show the nature of the experience of pursuing such a challenging quest.
It is one thing to read about the methodology and methods of Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological research, the ontic description. It is quite another thing to be faced with an interview ...transcript. This article draws on a study that asked doctoral students about their experience of doing such research. How did they become “phenomenological/hermeneutic” in their thinking and writing? What helped them to find their way? We offer this article as a means of letting others learn from our own experiences. We support our insights with the writings of Heidegger and Gadamer to show the methodological congruence that is essential to Heideggerian phenomenological hermeneutic research.
Nurses are beginning to demand educational approaches that confront racism, rather than teach cultural diversity. One example of the latter approach is the introduction of kawa whakaruruhau, or ...cultural safety, in nursing and midwifery education in New Zealand. In the nursing and midwifery context of kawa whakaruruhau, nurses and midwives recognize, respect, and nurture the unique cultural identity of New Zealand's indigenous people, the tangata whenua, and safely meets their needs, expectations, and rights. In this article, I integrate literature pertaining to the implementation of cultural safety with the findings of a hermeneutic project that described the experience of nursing people from cultures other than one's own, and argue that the Gadamerian notions of "horizon," "prejudice," and "play" can be used to facilitate understanding of the tensions and contradictions inherent in cross-cultural practice. In addition, I recommend strategies that enable students to explore the prejudices, paradoxes, and possibilities experienced personally and professionally. As Gadamer noted, the art is in seeing what is questionable. There is also art in knowing how to question in a manner that makes new understanding possible.
Background: Surgical nursing within humanitarian contexts is complex, sporadically described in literature and little understood. Aim: To achieve a deeper understanding of the lived experience of New ...Zealand nurses providing humanitarian aid within surgical settings and war zones in developing countries. Method: In-depth conversational interviews were undertaken with four New Zealand nurses whose humanitarian experience lay in general surgical, military, and intensive care settings. A qualitative descriptive method as described by Sandelowski, informed by van Manen’s phenomenology in terms of analysis, was used. Results: Specialized knowledge and nursing expertise are recognized to be essential but not sufficient for humanitarian work. Understanding local cultures contributes to positive feelings about work effectiveness. Themes included feeling anxious and misunderstood, practicing differently, and adjusting to life back home. Discussion: This study highlights the need to better prepare nurses who volunteer for humanitarian work, with implications for recruiting organizations, educators, and clinicians.
Kairos time at the moment of birth Crowther, Susan; Smythe, Elizabeth; Spence, Deb
Midwifery,
April 2015, 2015-Apr, 2015-04-00, 20150401, Volume:
31, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
there is something extraordinary in the lived experience of being there at the time of birth. Yet the meaning and significance of this special time, named Kairos time in this paper, have received ...little attention.
to describe the lived-experience of Kairos time at birth and surface its meaning.
this is an interpretive hermeneutic phenomenology study informed by the writings of Heidegger and Gadamer. 14 in-depth interviews with mothers, birth partners, midwives and obstetricians were transcribed and stories from the data were hermeneutically analysed.
there is a time, like no other, at the moment of birth that is widely known and valued. This paper reveals and names this phenomenon Kairos time. This is a felt-time that is lineal, process and cyclic time and more. Kairos time describes an existential temporal experience that is rich in significant sacred meaning; a time of emergent insight rarely spoken about in practice yet touches everyone present. The notion of Kairos time in relation to the moment of birth is introduced as a reminder of something significant that matters.
Kairos time is revealed as a moment in and beyond time. It has a temporal enigmatic mystery involving spiritual connectedness. Kairos time is a time of knowing and remembrance of our shared natality. In this time life is disclosed as extraordinary and beyond everyday personal and professional concerns. It is all this and more.
Kairos time at birth is precious and powerful yet vulnerable. It needs to be safeguarded to ensure its presence continues to emerge. This means maternity care providers and others at birth need to shelter and protect Kairos time from the sometimes harsh realities of birth and the potentially insensitive ways of being there at the moments of birth. Those who find themselves at birth need to pause and allow the profundity of its meaning to surface and inspire their actions.
Background: Surgical nursing within humanitarian contexts is complex, sporadically described in literature and little understood. Aim: To achieve a deeper understanding of the lived experience of New ...Zealand nurses providing humanitarian aid within surgical settings and war zones in developing countries. Method: In-depth conversational interviews were undertaken with four New Zealand nurses whose humanitarian experience lay in general surgical, military, and intensive care settings. A qualitative descriptive method as described by Sandelowski, informed by van Manen’s phenomenology in terms of analysis, was used. Results: Specialized knowledge and nursing expertise are recognized to be essential but not sufficient for humanitarian work. Understanding local cultures contributes to positive feelings about work effectiveness. Themes included feeling anxious and misunderstood, practicing differently, and adjusting to life back home. Discussion: This study highlights the need to better prepare nurses who volunteer for humanitarian work, with implications for recruiting organizations, educators, and clinicians.
this literature review examines the experience of joy at birth and what that joy means. The premise is that the whole of the birthing experience has not been fully explicated in the literature and ...that something of significance remains unexplored and unspoken. It is argued that a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to reviewing literature provides unique insights and leads to deeper understandings about birth and the experience of joy that attunes at that moment.
the philosophical underpinnings informed by Heidegger and Gadamer are central to this review and therefore the process of reviewing literature hermeneutically is described. Heideggerian phenomenology is used as the method to ask the questions of the literature in order that concealed and hidden experiences of joy at birth are made visible where they are gleaned from the literature. A hermeneutic lens is used to uncover relationships within the phenomenon of joy at birth and meaning.
although a vast birth literature was reviewed joy at birth was often ignored, hidden or covered over. Reviewing the literature on relationships, professional presence, place of birth, birth satisfaction studies and birth as peak and spiritual experience provides glimpses of the phenomenon ‘joy at birth’.
it is argued that joy at birth remains largely neglected as a phenomenon worthy of consideration. Plausible interpretations are presented that suggest that joy at birth points to something significant and meaningful. Spiritual and sacred meaning is alluded to in the papers reviewed yet the majority of papers that investigate birth leave this meaning unspoken. The review highlights a need for further thinking and questioning about birth that would direct on-going investigation.
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