Heideggerian Phenomenology Research Articles

Mothers’ efforts to overcome difficult twists and turns in living with children with cancer: a phenomenological study

BackgroundChild cancer impacts the entire family. However, those who identify as mothers may be most negatively affected due to the societal expectations placed upon them in primary caregiving. This study was conducted with the aim of exploring the lived experiences of mothers of children with cancer and their adaptation to their child’s illness.MethodsThis study employed a qualitative and hermeneutic approach using Heideggerian phenomenology as a philosophical framework. Our sampling strategy was purposive. Mothers (n = 14) of children diagnosed with cancer participated in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The seven-steps of critical hermeneutic analysis were used to summarize and interpret findings.ResultsAnalysis revealed that participants’ adaptation to their child’s illness occurs through comprehensive support and the utilization of empowering beliefs. The theme of comprehensive support included sub-themes of seeking informational support, seeking psychological support, and seeking social support. The theme of utilizing empowering beliefs encompassed sub-themes of resilience against cultural misconceptions and reliance on spiritual beliefs. Furthermore, one constitutive pattern ‘mothers’ efforts to overcome difficult twists and turns in living with children with cancer’ was identified.This related to participants’ striving to navigate the twists and turns of life’s hardships.ConclusionsRelationships and social context are vital and important features of this phenomena. Employing a team approach to provide comprehensive support to mothers of children with cancer involving physicians, nurses, and psychologists can be supportive in their adaptation to their child’s cancer. Additionally, reductions in cultural taboos surrounding cancer could facilitate improved adaptation to childhood cancer for these mothers.

Getting Insight to the Lived Emotional Experience of People with Alzheimer's Disease Shortly After Diagnosis: A Phenomenological Approach.

A diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a crucial moment in an individual's existence and represents a major life change that often results in psychological distress, diminish of perceived quality of life, and loss of independence. It is important to better understand the emotional experience of people with dementia to intervene according to their specific needs. The aim of the research was to get insight to the emotional experience of people with AD shortly after its discovery and the consequences thereof. A qualitative exploratory design was engaged, and in-depth interviews were conducted with ten French-speaking participants over 70 years recently diagnosed. Interviews were guided by Heideggerian phenomenology about movements in the worldview of individuals. The transcribed data was subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Following the diagnosis, participants experienced either shock or denial. Emotions felt were unpleasant and disturbing for most of them. Especially when participants were confronted with news concerning the illness, they experienced incomprehension. They engaged in an oscillatory motion of connection and disconnection to establish new meanings of their worldview. Thinking about the past seemed to diminish their worries, to reinforce the possibility to fulfil a significant place in their existence and to maintain their autonomy. When participants could express their emotional experience and their concerns, they regained a sense of control in their life that seemed du reduce their distress. With this insight, intervention could be adapted to the specific needs of people with AD to enhance their self-determination and quality of life.

The Coping Strategies and Cumulative Changes in Intensive Care Unit Nurses after Experiencing Professional Grief: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study

Background. Compared to nurses in other hospital departments, intensive care unit (ICU) nurses have more frequent exposure to patient deaths, potentially rendering them more susceptible to experiencing professional grief following patient fatalities. Objective. To explore the coping experiences of ICU nurses following their encounter with professional grief. Methods. This study utilized a qualitative research design based on Heideggerian phenomenology. A purposive sample of 18 ICU nurses was selected from six tertiary hospitals in Guangdong Province, China. Individual semistructured interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed texts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results. Two main themes emerged: (1) short-term dual coping with professional grief and (2) long-term cumulative changes from professional grief. These themes reflect the dynamic coping processes experienced by ICU nurses amidst frequent encounters with loss and grief during their clinical work. Conclusions. ICU nurses employ both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies to address professional grief, significantly impacting their personal and professional well-being. It is advisable to offer targeted education and organizational support systems for ICU nurses to promote positive cumulative growth when they repeatedly encounter patient deaths.

Dasein and the Question of the Heterogenous Film Viewer: A Commentary on Loht’s Heideggerian Phenomenology of Film

In response to Shawn Loht’s 2017 project delineating a Heideggerian phenomenology of film, Phenomenology of Film: A Heideggerian Account of the Film Experience, I examine how productive Loht’s Dasein-centric account of the film viewer might be for considering diverse film-viewer experiences. Starting from Loht’s premise that the film–viewer relation is the constitutive ground of filmic disclosure, I raise two concerns regarding Heidegger’s account of Dasein that might obscure an account of the diversity of film viewers and associated heterogeneity of filmic disclosure: Dasein’s lack of concreteness with respect to lived experience, and Heidegger’s neglect of embodiment and bodily difference. I firstly argue that Dasein’s lack of concreteness is productive for theorising the diversity of film viewers by discussing the concept of Dasein through formal indication, a Heideggerian notion that Loht draws upon in order to account for filmic disclosure. I then examine a key objection, that Heidegger’s neglect of embodiment limits the productivity of a Dasein-centric account of film viewers for theorising diversity. I refer to Katharina Lindner’s interpretation of Heidegger’s notion of being-in-the-world in a queer phenomenology of film, set out in “Questions of Embodied Difference: Film and Queer Phenomenology” (2012), to suggest a pathway for how Dasein’s being-in-the-world might offer an account of film viewing that takes into consideration the embodiment of diverse viewers.

Phenomenology of Perceived Resonant Lived Experiences of International Male Shut-Ins Featured in a YouTube Video Anthology on the Global Hikikomori

This study explored non-Japanese males’ hikikomori experiences shared via a YouTube anthology, suggesting their resonance with but distinction from Japanese hikikomori experiences. Resonant experiences are deeply personal, evoking emotional connections and shaping identities through pivotal events and transformative realizations (Smith, 2018; Jones & Brown, 2020; Adams, 2019; White, 2021). Themes emerging from the Heideggerian phenomenology of childhood lived experiences of global hikikomori highlight severe challenges like bullying and social isolation, impacting emotional development and fostering mistrust. Family dynamics, including single-parent upbringing, contribute to feelings of neglect. Academic struggles and traumatic school experiences solidify negative perceptions of society. Early onset of mental health issues like depression and anxiety hinder social engagement, while coping mechanisms such as immersion in fantasy worlds provide comfort. Attempts at integration often precede withdrawal phases, underscored by traumatic events exacerbating social withdrawal. These experiences collectively shape the non-Japanese hikikomori’s withdrawal as self-protection and emotional survival. Despite cultural variances, global hikikomori share similarities with Japanese counterparts in social withdrawal, mental health issues, family dynamics, and technology’s role. However, global hikikomori complexities arise from cultural diversity, varied family dynamics, educational pressures, healthcare access, coping mechanisms, and globalization impacts. Understanding these complexities is vital for developing effective support systems across diverse cultural contexts.

Phenomenology of Open Online Voluntary YouTube Confessionals: Exploring Data Mining for Understanding the Phenomenon of White Males without Friends in the Age of Social Media

This study explored YouTube confessionals of white males in their 30s who identified as friendless, aiming to understand the implications of these public declarations and the role of YouTube as a confessional platform. Conducted on June 15, 2024, the research employed a thematic analysis of four YouTube videos, examining the transcripts for themes of isolation and vulnerability within the framework of Heideggerian phenomenology. The confessionals revealed deep emotional struggles related to loneliness and social anxiety. Participants shared their challenges in forming meaningful friendships, often citing childhood trauma, relocation, and societal pressures as contributing factors. Despite professional success, they expressed feelings of rejection and difficulty in connecting with others. Common themes included the effects of introversion, the differing social needs in relationships, and the pursuit of genuine connections. Each narrative emphasized self-reliance, personal growth, and the importance of overcoming internal barriers to achieve happiness amidst persistent isolation.

An exploration of women’s lived experiences of care and support following perinatal death in South-Western Nigeria: A hermeneutic phenomenological study

BackgroundPerinatal death results in long-lasting intense grief for bereaved mothers with a potential to negatively impact on their short- and long-term outcomes and quality of life if inadequately supported in coping with and managing their experience. AimThis study aimed at exploring the lived experience of women, of care and support following perinatal death in South-Western, Nigeria. MethodsA qualitative methodology using Heideggerian phenomenology was used. Fourteen women who had experienced perinatal death in South-Western Nigeria within the last (5) five years were interviewed, and Van Manen’s approach to hermeneutic phenomenology was used in data analysis. FindingsFour main themes were identified: “they did not tell me the baby died”, “response of health care professionals after the baby died”, “moving on from hospital”, and “support from family”. The physical health status of mothers determined how they were informed of perinatal death. Health care professionals were distant, rude, nonempathetic and did not offer emotional support, in some cases. Mothers were given opportunity to see and hold their babies. There was no routine follow-up support in the community, besides a postnatal check-up appointment offered to all mothers regardless of their birth outcome. Family provided emotional support for mothers on discharge. ConclusionThis study was the first to explore the lived experience of women of the care and support following perinatal death in South-Western, Nigeria. There is a need for healthcare systems to review bereavement care and support provisions for women who experience perinatal death.

Retaining Family Identity: Lived Experience of Caregiving in the Black Community

Aimed at exploring the lived experiences of family caregivers of care recipients in the Black community, this study uses Heideggerian phenomenology to elucidate the meaning of caregiving as defined from the lived experiences of the caregivers themselves. Using a nonprobability purposive design, 12 caregivers from the Black community were interviewed to examine their cultural and lived experiences of caring for family members with Alzheimer’s Disease or Related Dementia (ADRD). Six main themes related to the caregiving role and experience were identified. These themes coalesced to generate a major theme of Maintaining a Family Identity. While the experience of caregiving was expressed as emotionally difficult, family caregiver’s cultural backgrounds emphasized a responsibility to provide care. This led to an ambivalent perception of formal support. Utilization of formal support to address caregiving difficulties was considered acceptable when it was in line with caregivers’ need to retain a sense of familial responsibility and consistency of identity. Gaining further insight into cultural factors associated with the caregiving experience included the need for increased sensitivity in providing services that addressed the psychoemotional stress that can arise from Black caregivers’ dilemma in attempting to maintain familial identity. Attention to the familial relationship within the Black community will assist policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to develop services that caregivers in the Black community consider acceptable, accessible, and effective in enhancing their caregiving experiences.

Women's experiences of care after stillbirth and obstetric fistula: A phenomenological study in Kenya.

Stillbirth and (obstetric) fistula are traumatic life events, commonly experienced together following an obstructed labour in low- and middle-income countries with limited access to maternity care. Few studies have explored women's experiences of the combined trauma of stillbirth and fistula. To explore the lived experiences of women following stillbirth and fistula. Qualitative, guided by Heideggerian phenomenology. Twenty women who had experienced a stillbirth were interviewed while attending a specialist Hospital fistula service in urban Kenya. Data were analysed following Van Manen's reflexive approach. Three main themes summarised participants' experiences: 'Treated like an alien' reflected the isolation and stigma felt by women. The additive and multiplying impacts of stillbirth and fistula and the ways in which women coped with their situations were summarised in 'Shattered dreams'. The impact of beliefs and practices of women and those around them were encapsulated in 'It was not written on my forehead'. The distress women experienced following the death of a baby was intensified by the development of a fistula. Health professionals lacked an understanding of the pathophysiology and identification of fistula and its association with stillbirth. Women were isolated as they were stigmatised and blamed for both conditions. Difficulty accessing follow-up care meant that women suffered for long periods while living with a constant reminder of their baby's death. Cultural beliefs, faith and family support affected women's resilience, mental health and recovery. Specialist services, staff training and inclusive policies are needed to improve knowledge and awareness and enhance women's experiences. A Community Engagement and Involvement group of bereaved mothers with lived experience of stillbirth and neonatal death assisted with the review of the study protocol, participant-facing materials and confirmation of findings.

Quality Performance of Teachers: Work Environment, Work Attitude, and Principal Supervision: Qualitative Investigation

One of the most important factors in the face of the educational system is the quality of teachers' performance. The goal of this study is to ascertain whether the teachers' high-quality performance is actually impacted by the work environment, work attitude, and principal supervision. In this qualitative investigation, the Heideggerian Phenomenology design was employed. This study seeks to comprehend the phenomenon from the participant's point of view and through their experiences. In this study, the purposive method was employed, and participants were chosen to expound on their experiences as general education teachers at PAU Excellencia Global Academy Foundation, Inc., teaching in an inclusion classroom. It has been discovered that the key to creating a positive learning environment in the classroom is workgroup encouragement, especially having good relationships with the principal. How frequently teachers must deal with unruly and aggressive students have largely defined teaching obstacles. A teacher's perception of the supportive environment at school improved as he or she gained experience.

Implication of Individual Plan for Professional Development (IPPD) on Teachers’ Professional Development and Career Advancement

The research was conducted to determine the needs of teachers for their continuous professional development and to create an individual professional development plan for this aim. This study utilized qualitative investigation; the Heideggerian Phenomenology design was employed. This study seeks to comprehend the phenomenon from the participant's point of view and through their experiences. In total, twenty teachers from Philippine schools were interviewed. The interviews were verbatim captured on tape and then transcribed. Three main themes emerged from the analysis of the data: (a) IPPD gives greater insights and improves performance; (b) IPPD allows putting into practice the appropriate trainings and seminars attended; and (c) IPPD impacts students’ learning and behaviour. Based on the findings, professional development can encourage teachers' creativity and help break up the monotony of daily work. Offering regular professional development can also assist individuals in acquiring fresh knowledge and viewpoints that may influence how they approach their work. Furthermore, it is critical to give financial support for teachers' professional growth, as seen by the difficulties they face.

Dirty Windows and Troublesome Things: The Problem of Object-Orientation in Alain Robbe-Grillet’s La Jalousie

This article investigates the representation of objects in La Jalousie (1957), a novel in the nouveau roman tradition written by French novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet. If the ‘new novel’ sought to render the material world with objective clarity, and positioned itself against traditional fiction, with its reliance on metaphor, allegory, and other ‘projections,’ this article argues that such an aesthetic program is undercut by its own assumptions about the power of description and the primacy of the visual. In an analysis which hybridizes three separate strands of criticism—object-oriented ontology, Heideggerian phenomenology, and the models of ‘resonation’ proposed by Brian Massumi—I will argue that such a treatment of objects, with its exclusive reliance on visual description, measurement, and enumeration, ends up depriving objects of the vitality and dynamism that would justify such a fictional project in the first place. However, traces of this dynamism do survive the flattening sweep of Robbe-Grillet’s narration, and indeed offer from the cracks and fissures of the novel’s otherwise smoothly controlled style the possibility of an alternate ‘object-orientation’—one, I will argue, which suspends its cool optical detachment to allow, however briefly, the eruption of a messy, entangling register of touch.

The Importance of the Authentic Virtuous Employee in the Search for Meaningfulness in Work

The article focuses on the ‘meaningfulness in work’ concept and addresses three theoretical gaps by investigating ‘meaningfulness in work’ from the perspective of Heidegger’s ‘authenticity’ and ‘Dasein’ constructs as well as virtue ethics. First, it adapts Heideggerian phenomenology and argues that meaningfulness in work may be revealed to an ‘authentic’ employee, while they performs everyday activities by ‘existing’ in their world and discovers their Dasein. Second, it emphasizes the normative, as opposed to instrumental implications of meaningfulness and invokes virtue ethics towards this end. Third, it integrates the Heideggerian approach with virtue ethics to describe how an ‘authentic’ and ‘virtuous’ employee may achieve meaningfulness in work (conceptualized as ‘eudaimonia’). An ‘authentic virtuous employee’ ‘exists in their world’ and discovers what is truly meaningful in work to them. They also displays temperance and courage in terms of closing the gaps between current and desired levels of meaningfulness in work, and continually contemplates it. We describe a ‘professional’ as an example of an ‘authentic virtuous employee’.

Chronic limb-threatening ischaemia and confronting amputation: A Heideggerian derived understanding of Being-with and discourse.

To explore the notion of Being-with and authentic discourse for people making decisions about major amputation. Chronic limb-threatening ischaemia is a devastating disease with a high burden of pain and complex wounds. Patients may deteriorate suddenly after multiple revascularisation procedures and, amputation is offered when further reperfusion is considered futile. Delayed decisions about amputation have negative consequences for patients, families and health systems, yet little attention is given to training clinicians for the sophisticated communication required. Clinicians need to engage in authentic discourse about amputation to create shared meaning and facilitate decision-making. Qualitative study using hermeneutic Heideggerian phenomenology. Twelve patients offered major amputation, and 13 family participants from three vascular units in Australia engaged in 42 semi-structured interviews, representing 19 cases of chronic limb-threatening ischaemia. Hermeneutic phenomenology using the Heideggerian tenet of Being-with as an analytic framework, a philosophically based understanding of Being-with and Discourse related to treatment discussions and decisions was derived. The research was reported in accordance with the COREQ checklist. Effective discourse between the person and family was hampered by changed circumstances of Being-with, characterised by guilt, and a retreat from discourse through deficient discourse and filtering information. Clinician Being-with was hampered by discourse that was deficient, poorly delivered, discordant and disconnected through a lack of empathetic listening. There were also examples of enhanced clinician Being-with that made room for more constructive discourse and more timely decisions about amputation. Heidegger's construct of Being-with provides a useful framework to reveal the role of authentic discourse in improving patient and family experience and decisions about treatment. This study did not engage consumers other than as patient and carer participants. Decisions about amputation are often difficult for patients or family members who may be substitute decision-makers. A better understanding of the experience may assist clinicians in their interactions with patients and families.

Spatio Temporality and Subjectivity in James Joyce's ‘Araby’

This paper looks briefly at the configuration of spatio-temporality and subjectivity in James Joyce’s short story ‘Araby’ from the thematic perspective of courtly love and chivalric romance and through Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope and elements of Heideggerian phenomenology and Lacanian psychoanalysis.

Phenomenological and Hermeneutic Contributions to the Understanding of the Human Condition

The human condition has been affected in a polarized way since the iluminist project consolidated ruptures between common sense and faith, establishing science and cognitive rationality as guiding parameters of binary conceptions of the subject and of clinical interventions in mental health contexts. Currently, the internet and Information and Communication Technologies increase the holistic distancing of the human condition, by establishing virtual social networks as a means of subject ideals. One lives with the theses of “death of the subject”, the emphasis on the parameter of the image, the difficulty in dealing with difference, refusal to dialogue and affirmation of intolerance. Thus, we consider it essential to resume the debate on the contributions of Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology as references for rethinking our human condition and contribute to health professionals rediscovering the world of life as a starting point to build, in the different contexts and institutions of mental health care, clinical practices based on experience and not on representation.

Into That Darkness: A Heideggerian Phenomenology of Pain and Suffering

Abstract When I say ‘pain’, it is clearly a singular phenomenon. Yet if I ask for an example, you can provide many varying instances that confound the idea of its singularity. How can a pinprick be of the same thing as depression or grief? This study maintains the singularity of pain by exploring the process and structure of its experience to account for its variance and its subjectivity. Heidegger’s Being and Time provides the pathway to achieving this, where we comprehend how pain’s myriad manifestations, and their inherent subjectivity, relate to our way of Being – the meaningful horizon through which we encounter pain. The study comes to tie the process of encountering pain with a structure that suffering provides, which explains both the variance and the subjectivity of the pain experience. This can then be mapped onto individual experiences of a singular phenomenon to understand how they arose and what has conditioned them.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Related Lived Experiences of Individuals With a Spinal Cord Injury/Disease.

IntroductionCOVID-19 related restrictions and recommendations have impacted everyone. Those living with a disability, such as individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI), may have had pandemic related changes made yet more challenging by societal failures to accommodate their mobility, physical abilities, and health care needs. To better understand participants experiences we drew upon Heidegger's phenomenology and the mobilities paradigm. The objective of this study was to explore COVID-19 pandemic related lived-experiences of individuals with an SCI.Materials and MethodsThis study used an interpretive phenomenological methodology. Semi-structured interviews were the primary means of data collection. These were conducting in May and June of 2020, roughly 2–3 months into the pandemic. Transcript data were analyzed using a phenomenological methodology.ResultsWe interviewed 22 participants with SCI, the mean age was 54 years, and nine were females. We identified three themes: (1) Experiencing changes to mobility and daily life described how new rules had impacted everyday life and usual routines, particularly in regard to mobility. (2) Struggling with new challenges explored some of the negative experiences of the pandemic. (3) Being resilient in the face of a new normal conveyed the resilience participants exhibited despite challenges.ConclusionAlthough our findings indicate some positive changes and highlight the strengths that many individuals with SCI have, they also accentuate issues with ableism within the medical system. Certain changes were made primarily because people without disabilities needed them, and several COVID-19 changes were made without consulting individuals with disabilities. With physical movement restricted, our findings emphasize the importance of the movement of information and a need for increased dialogue with people in the SCI community about their ongoing pandemic related needs.

‘There is trauma all round’: A qualitative study of health workers’ experiences of caring for parents after stillbirth in Kenya and Uganda

BackgroundStillbirth is a traumatic life-event for parents. Compassionate care from health workers supports grief and adjustment, alleviating psychological distress and minimising serious adverse health and social consequences. Bereavement support in facilities in LMICs, including in sub-Saharan Africa, often fails to meet parents’ needs. However, very few studies have explored health worker’s experiences in these settings. AimTo explore the lived experiences of midwives, doctors and others, caring for women after stillbirth in Kenya and Uganda. MethodsQualitative, guided by Heideggerian phenomenology. Sixty-one health workers, including nurse-midwives (N = 37), midwives (N = 12) and doctors (N = 10), working in five facilities in Kenya and Uganda, were interviewed. Data were analysed following Van Manen’s reflexive approach. ResultsThree main themes summarised participants’ experiences: ‘In the mud and you learn to swim in it’ reflected a perceived of lack of preparation; skills were gained through experience and often without adequate support. The emotional and psychological impacts including sadness, frustration, guilt and shame were summarised in ‘It’s bad, it’s a sad experience’. Deficiencies in organisational culture and support, which entrenched blame, fear and negative behaviours were encapsulated in Nobody asks ‘how are you doing?’. ConclusionHealth workers in Kenya and Uganda were deeply sensitive to the impacts of stillbirth for women and families, and often profoundly and personally affected. Care and psychological support were acknowledged as often inadequate. Interventions to support improved bereavement care in sub-Saharan Africa need to target increasing health worker knowledge and awareness and also embed supportive organisational cultures and processes.

Death of children by domestic accidents: unveiling the maternal experience.

to unveil the meanings of mothers whose children died as a result of domestic accidents in childhood. a qualitative research, in the light of Heideggerian phenomenology, with ten mothers whose children died from domestic accidents. It was carried out in a municipality of the Northeast Region of Brazil through phenomenological interviews between May and June 2017. The existential analytic was constituted by the comprehensive moments of the Heideggerian method. the meanings unveiled pointed out that, to understand the sudden death of her child, the mother oscillates between feeling guilty, pointing and denying guilt. She reports emptiness, permanent pain, non-acceptance of her child's death, and the desire to keep him in her life. In this journey, the fear that brings limitations to her life and that of her other children is revealed. Final Considerations: it was revealed that the death of the child in infancy compromises the integrality of being a mother, indicating the need for systematic and continuous care for the adequate management of the emotional and social effects.