A Theoretical Discussion About the Clinical Value of Phenomenology for Nurses

The phenomenon of co-morbid physical and mental illness in acute medical care: the lived experience of Australian health professionals

Background

An estimated 30–50% of patients admitted to acute medical care settings experience co-morbid physical and mental illness. Research suggests that health professionals in these settings find managing this patient group challenging. A number of studies have investigated health professional’s attitudes and perceptions however there is limited research that investigates the lived experience in a current Australian healthcare context. The aim of this study was to explicate an in-depth description of the health professional’s experience when caring for patients experiencing co-morbid physical and mental illness in Australian acute medical care settings.

Methods

A phenomenological design was undertaken with six participants representing nursing and medical disciplines. In 2013–2014 one-on-one semi-structured interviews were used and the data collected underwent thematic analysis using an extended version of Colaizzi’s phenomenological inquiry.

Results

Six themes emerged including—challenging behaviours, environmental and organisational factors, lack of skills, knowledge and experience, hyper-vigilance and anxiety, duty of care and negative attitudes with an overarching theme of fear of the unknown.

Conclusions

Staff in acute medical care settings were unsure of patients with mental illness and described them as unpredictable, identifying that they lacked requisite mental health literacy. Regular training is advocated.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1264-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The extension of Colaizzi's method of phenomenological enquiry

AIM

Originating from unfunded research undertaken in 2007, this paper offers an overview of Colaizzi's method of phenomenological analysis and proposes an extension to the original seven step approach enhancing rigour and, expanding information sources to enhance in-depth descriptions of phenomena for study.

BACKGROUND

The focus on human experience emanates from the human sciences in which the everyday lived world of humans constitutes the ontological and epistemological focus of enquiry - understanding of human experiences. Since the emergence of phenomenology as a method of enquiry, advances in phenomenological thought and research methods have emerged.

METHOD

Colaizzi's phenomenological method of enquiry was used as the basis of enquiry in this study.

FINDINGS

The extension to Colaizzi's method of analysis emanated from recent research conducted by the authors to allow participants to express their experiences through everyday language. These 'expressions of life' included - art, music, poetry, metaphor as symbolic representations - as a vehicle for participants' to explicate their experiences.

CONCLUSION

The additional step proposed as an extension to Colaizzi's seven step analysis offers researchers using Colaizzi's method greater access to implicit and explicit meanings embedded in participant descriptions by utilising 'expressions of life' - art, music, poetry, metaphor as symbolic representations - as articulated by the participants in explicating their experience of the phenomenon.

Phenomenology as research method or substantive metaphysics? An overview of phenomenology's uses in nursing

In exploring phenomenological literature, it is evident that the term 'phenomenology' holds rather different meanings depending upon the context. Phenomenology has been described as both a philosophical movement and an approach to human science research. The phenomenology of Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, and Merleau-Ponty was philosophical in nature and not intended to provide rules or procedures for conducting research. The Canadian social scientist, van Manen, however, introduced specific guidelines for conducting human science research, which is rooted in hermeneutic phenomenology and this particular method has been employed in professional disciplines such as education, nursing, clinical psychology, and law. The purpose of this paper is to explore the difference between the phenomenological method as described by van Manen and that of other philosophers such as Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, and Merleau-Ponty. In so doing, the author aims to address the blurred boundaries of phenomenology as a research method and as a philosophical movement and highlight the influence of these blurred boundaries on nursing knowledge development.

Burnout in the caring nurse: learning resilient behaviours

This paper reviews current literature to offer a discussion related to burnout, an issue that affects the entire healthcare sector, including nurses and patients. Literature suggests a correlation between moral distress and burnout in nurses. These issues are considered to be current and affect recruitment and retention of nurses. The authors propose supporting nurses by using knowledge of resilient behaviours as a means of transcending burnout and workplace stress. The authors believe that this process can be achieved through existing hospital professional development processes, for example supervision, reflective practice, in-service education and other forms of professional development.