Phenomenological Interviews Research Articles

Rural and urban primary school heads’ perspectives on staff appraisal systems in Zimbabwe: A phenomenological approach

The study sought to explore rural and urban primary school heads’ perspectives on staff appraisal systems in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe and utilised a qualitative approach based on a phenomenological design. Five rural primary school heads and five urban primary school heads with at least 14 years of experience were purposely selected. In-depth, face-to-face phenomenological interviews were conducted to collect the lived experiences of participants in relation to performance appraisal systems for teachers. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Three major themes emerged: (a) implementation of performance appraisals; (b) feedback and professional development; and (c) challenges with regard to the implementation of performance appraisals. The economic crisis in Zimbabwe has had a negative impact on school performance appraisal systems. Both school locations had implemented such systems, but were faced with limited resources, time constraints and teachers’ lack of interest in being promoted. In looking at the differences between rural and urban school head participants, the focus was on observation and feedback processes. This study has important implications for staff appraisal systems in Zimbabwe.

Men's Positive and Negative Experiences Following Acute Myocardial Infarction.

(1) Objective: To describe men’s experiences as acute myocardial infarction sufferers from a social phenomenological perspective, a year after the event (2) Methods: The phenomenological interview was used to capture the participants’ discourse. The data were analyzed according to the theoretical methodological approach of social phenomenology. (3) Results: The discourse analysis of the content produced the following categories, set out according reasons “why”: personal biography, knowledge set, warning signs prior to the illness, experience at the intensive care unit, and rehabilitation process; and reasons “for”: expectations as regards the illness, health professionals, and future social life and work prospects. (4) Conclusions: Participants had not established a healthy condition one year after myocardial infarction, perceiving a very thin line between life and death. Personal biography influences the coping of the disease. They feel like the illness helped them to create new meanings and value of life. They envisage a future full of great restrictions and uncertainty. The results of this study have underlined the need to involve care at all stages of the illness: the physical and emotional dependence upon admittance at the intensive care unit, the need to be cured, the constant demand for information about the illness, the difficulties encountered upon returning home, uncertainty about the future, etc. All these moments indicate that proper nursing care adapted to the specific needs of each individual and their family members must be provided in order to help them to overcome all the stages involved in this process. It is necessary to individualize care because the sense of reality is common and universal, but the ways of expressing are subjective, and it depended on the totality of experiences accumulated throughout life.

Interview as Convergent Point *

This article explores how a combination of qualitative research and immersive performance has given Inga Gerner Nielsen insight into her audience’s aesthetic perception and imaginary realm in a performance installation. It begins by affirming that to ask an audience open questions about a performance only provides testimony of the after-rationalizations of their experience. The author introduces a phenomenological interview method which draws on sense-memory techniques directing the interviewee to produce thick descriptions, actualizing the lived experience in the interview. In response to Norman K. Denzin’s call for a performative dialogical social science, Nielsen examines why interview material should be conceptualized as performance and explores how working artistically with the interview setup can serve to highlight inherent power dynamics. The article ends with examples showing how the interview was turned into a central immersive element of Inga Gerner Nielsen’s artworks.

Continuity in intuition and insight: from real to naturalistic virtual environment

Intuition and insight can be deployed on the same continuum. Intuition is the unconscious ability to create links between information; insight is a process by which a sudden comprehension and resolution of a situation arises (i.e. euréka). In the present study, real and virtual environments were used to trigger intuition and insight. The study hypothesised that immersion in real primed environments would facilitate the emergence of intuition and insight in a virtual environment. Forty nine healthy participants were randomly assigned to two groups: “primed” and “non primed.” “Primed” participants were immersed in a real environment with olfactory and visual cues; “non primed” participants did not receive any cues. All participants were exposed to a 3D naturalistic virtual environment which represented a district in Paris via a Head Mounted Display (HMD). Locations presented in the virtual scene (i.e. café places) were related to both olfactory and visual primes (i.e. café) and were based on the continuity between real and virtual environments. Once immersed in the virtual environment, all participants were instructed to use their intuition to envision the selected locations during which Skin Conductance Responses (SCRs) and verbal declarations were recorded. When initiation (a) and immersion (b) phases in the virtual environment were considered, “primed” participants had higher SCRs during the immersion phase than the initiation phase in the virtual environment. They showed higher SRCs during the first part of the virtual immersion than “non primed” participants. During the phenomenological interview, “primed” participants reported a higher number of correct intuitive answers than “non primed” participants. Moreover, “primed” participants “with” insight had higher SCRs during real environment immersion than “primed” participants “without” insight. The findings are consistent with the idea that intuitive decisions in various tasks are based on the activation of pre-existing knowledge, which is unconsciously retrieved, but nevertheless can elicit an intuitive impression of coherence and can generate insight.

Geriatrician perspectives on perioperative care: a qualitative study

BackgroundPerioperative medicine services for older surgical patients are being developed across several countries. This qualitative study aims to explore geriatricians’ perspectives on challenges and opportunities for developing and delivering integrated geriatrics perioperative medicine services.MethodsA qualitative phenomenological semi-structured interview design. All geriatric medicine departments in acute public hospitals across Australia and New Zealand (n = 81) were approached. Interviews were conducted with 38 geriatricians. Data were analysed thematically using a framework approach.ResultsGeriatricians identified several system level barriers to developing geriatrics perioperative medicine services. These included lack of funding for staffing, encroaching on existing consultative services, and competing clinical priorities. The key barrier at the healthcare professional level was the current lack of clarity of roles within the perioperative care team. Key facilitators were perceived unmet patient needs, existing support for geriatrician involvement from surgical and anaesthetic colleagues, and the unique skills geriatricians can bring to perioperative care. Despite reporting barriers, geriatricians are contemplating and implementing integrated proactive perioperative medicine services. Geriatricians identified a need to support other specialties gain clinical experience in geriatric medicine and called for pragmatic research to inform service development.ConclusionsGeriatricians perceive several challenges at the system and healthcare professional levels that are impacting current development of geriatrics perioperative medicine services. Yet their strong belief that patient needs can be met with their specialty skills and their high regard for team-based care, has created opportunities to implement innovative multidisciplinary models of care for older surgical patients. The barriers and evidence gaps highlighted in this study may be addressed by qualitative and implementation science research. Future work in this area may include application of patient-reported measures and qualitative research with patients to inform patient-centred perioperative care.

Prejudices in the psychopathologist: Karl Jaspers' heritage.

Contributions of Karl Jaspers to the discipline of psychopathology are numerous. One of his most important insights deals with the method of interviewing in psychopathology. Specifically, how an interviewer (i.e. psychopathologist) approaches and explores mental phenomena that present themselves in the person being interviewed. By cultivating a phenomenological attitude, clinicians also acquire and renew self-criticism (Selbskritik), an essential aspect of a true psychopathologist. A fundamental part of the critical attitude in descriptive psychopathology is the re-examination of prejudices present in psychopathological interviewing. This review outlines and discusses six types of prejudices, as abstracted by Karl Jaspers, and illustrates them with clinical examples. (i) Philosophical prejudice deals with deductive and inductive reasoning; (ii) theoretical prejudice addresses the modeling of understanding of mental phenomena by analogy with natural sciences; (iii) somatic prejudice addresses biological reductionism in psychopathology; (iv) psychological prejudice focuses on approaches that consist of psychological interpretations that transgress the boundaries of psychological intelligibility; (v) pictorial prejudice deals with conceptualizations of psychic life as an analogy with certain visual depictions; (vi) medical prejudice is connected with strivings towards quantity, objectivity and diagnostic precision in psychopathology. To have the ability to represent the inner life of a person, we must dispense with prejudices in the clinical encounter with our patients. With the demands of modern-day life, and requests for quick clinical assessments, the idea of examining our prejudices and performing phenomenological interviews is more important than ever.

Family members' lived experiences of non-compliance to psychiatric medication given to female adults living with depression.

BackgroundFamily members face the burden of adult females living with depression who do not comply with psychiatric medication. Discomfort, tension, anxiety, frustration, and related feelings of hopelessness and dysfunction were identified by family members. There have also been records of financial problems, physical ill-health, limitations on social and recreational opportunities and a general deterioration in their quality of life. There is a shortage of published literature and information on the reasons for non-compliance to psychiatric medications. The existing body of information needs to be strengthened and future approaches encouraged. The study aimed to improve compliance of adult females dealing with depression to psychiatric medical treatment and the effect it has on family members caring for adult females living with depression.ObjectivesTo describe family members’ lived experiences of non-compliance to psychiatric medication by adult females living with depression.MethodA qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual study design was used. A purposive sample of family members aged between 20 and 45 years was made. Data were collected by conducting eight in-depth, phenomenological interviews, and field notes were taken. The interviews focused on the central question: ‘Tell me your experiences of living with your wife, mother, sister and daughter living with depression and not taking their medication as ordered by the doctor?’ Tesch’s method for data analysis was used, and an independent coder analysed the data and met with the researcher for a consensus discussion of the results. Measures to ensure trustworthiness were applied and ethical principles were adhered to.ResultsThe three themes identified were: experienced psycho-social effects, experienced treatment refusal and experienced challenges in caring for adult females living with depression who are non-compliant to psychiatric medication. As a result, the absence of social help, disturbance of family working, shame, separation and troublesome conduct of the adult females who are non-compliant to psychiatric medication developed as principal subjects.ConclusionsThe results demonstrated that family members experienced debilitation because they needed information about their relatives living with depression who are non-compliant to psychiatric medication. More information about the management of non-compliance of psychiatric medication was needed; a comprehensive awareness of the ramifications of the findings, treatment and care are required from mental health care professionals and service providers.

Intentionality of women's actions in labor: a study in social phenomenology.

to understand the intentionality of women's autonomous actions in labor. a study in Alfred Schütz's social phenomenology, developed with 15 puerperal women admitted to a university hospital in southern Brazil. Data were collected through phenomenological interviews and analyzed according to the adopted framework and the comparison with scientific productions. the actions intended to receive physical and emotional support from their companions, from pregnancy, for a peaceful delivery with less pain, fast and without interventions. The intention was to do the right things for the child's well-being and, after delivery, to be painless and active to take care of their children. women's actions have intentionality arising from their knowledge, which is guided by the social relationships established in the world of life.

The experience of athletes with disabilities in mainstream sports: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Abstract Aim: Through reports of the athletes with disabilities interviewed, this study aimed to understand how the experiences lived in mainstream sports occur among people without disabilities. Methods: Husserl's classic phenomenology was the methodological framework adopted. The phenomenological interview was carried out with an intentional sample that included six athletes with some type of physical disability and later its recording was transcribed for the procedures of phenomenological reduction and intentional crossing to explain the meaning of what is experienced by these athletes in mainstream sport. Results: Five categories essentially describe how these experiences occur: operational body barred in the world; shaping the movement; the invisibility of disability; determination stimulus; and normalization of social relations in mainstream sports. These experiences correspond to a dynamic process in which each part does not necessarily follow the other. Conclusion: The experience in mainstream sports allowed the interviewees to improve their experience of capacity, self-efficacy, and recognition through the mutuality between self-perception and the expectation of acceptance by society.

Meaning of life as perceived by nurses at work in oncology palliative care: a phenomenological study.

To understand the meaning of life as perceived by nurses at work in oncology palliative care. This is a qualitative study, with a phenomenological approach, based on the theoretical-philosophical framework by Viktor Emil Frankl. It was developed with nurses in a unit specialized in oncology palliative care located in the city of Rio de Janeiro and used phenomenological interviews. Data were processed using the phenomenological method by Amedeo Giorgi. Thirty-four nurses participated in the study. The study conveys an existential message to nurses through selftranscendence. Through their work, they represent their own identity, which is directly impacted by the way they perceive freedom and responsibility in the face of actions taken. They build their reality and make work viable as a source of life. The care provided is no longer just a task to be qualified as a solidary, relational, existential, dynamic, and temporal issue. The experience in a scenario of life finitude allows these professionals to experience an authentic encounter with their self, the awakening of values giving meaning to their existence, and self-transcendence, deeply contributing to society through a more human, comprehensive, and quality assistance.

Child/adolescent caring for the disabled sibling in the family world

ABSTRACT Objective: To understand the meaning for the child/adolescent of participating in the care of the disabled sibling. Method: Research in the light of the Heideggerian phenomenological approach, carried out in the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil. Twenty children/adolescents who lived with their disabled sibling participated. The information was collected through phenomenological interviews, interpreted in the light of hermeneutics from Paul Ricoeur. Results: The child/adolescent helps the family in caring for the disabled sibling, in feeding, bathing, dressing, among other activities, at sometimes there is excessive responsibility of the child/adolescent for the care of the sibling. Final considerations: The inclusion of the child/adolescent who lives with a disabled sibling and their families in the planning and implementation of health care activities is essential. It stands out as a research contribution to the qualification of the practice of health professionals, especially the nurse in the scope of care for the child/adolescent who experience this phenomenon.

Therapeutic itinerary of families of children with chronic diseases

Abstract Objective: to understand the Therapeutic Itineraries of families of children with chronic diseases. Method: phenomenological study conducted at a university hospital, with ten families of children with chronic diseases who participated in a phenomenological interview with the guiding question - 'Tell me about the path you (and your family) traveled in search of health care for your child before arriving at this hospital'. Results: four thematic categories emerged: Walking in search of health care for their child - the beginning of the saga; Perceiving themselves as vulnerable in front of the Unified Health System; From the difficulty to get access to health care to unexpected help and Arriving at the reference service - from the relief of care to the perception of the existence of new problems. Discussion: some families were referred by bonds of friendship, transfer through zero vacancy and spontaneous demand in other health services. After the diagnosis and beginning of treatment, the family showed hope for a cure, reporting a sense of relief when they saw the child being cared for. Conclusion: it was evidenced that children with chronic diseases and their families experience a long process of seeking access to health care, mainly due to the need for referral to referral hospitals.

“I have been rejected so many times” experiences of female adolescents living with HIV in rural Manzini, Eswatini: A case study

The prevalence of HIV among adolescents is increasing in Eswatini with the burden of infection being disproportionately on female adolescents. There has been limited published research on the experiences of female adolescents living with HIV. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of female adolescents living with HIV in rural Manzini region of Eswatini. The study was conducted in rural Manzini region, in the Mliba and Mafutseni areas of the country. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and contextual design within a phenomenological approach was used. A purposive sample of case studies of six female adolescents living with HIV aged 18 to 21 years were recruited from clinics in the rural Manzini Region. In-depth individual phenomenological interviews were conducted with female adolescents to explore experiences of living with HIV. Interviews commenced with the central question: “How is it for you to live with HIV?” Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically following Giorgi’s coding method. Three themes were identified from the data: (1) experienced the quest to survive, (2) experienced support system and (3) experienced psychological effects. Female adolescents experienced hardships associated with poverty involving the lack of food and financial support for daily provision. Negative psychological effects included unresolved grief, fear of stigma and discrimination, rejection, isolation, loneliness and suicidal ideation. The disrupted social systems for female adolescents living with HIV have implications for the development of programs that provide psychosocial support to female adolescents as they navigate the adolescence stage whilst living with HIV.

Student perspectives on camera usage to engage and connect in foundational education classes: It's time to turn your cameras on

As universities create policies governing online classes post COVID-19, research-based practices should guide the decisions. While existing research about online education exists, the perspectives of camera usage are limited. Cameras provide opportunities for students to connect with peers and course content. This qualitative research study provides insight on students’ perceptions of camera usage in synchronous hybrid classes, specifically how it impacts engagement and connectedness with peers and course content. Fifteen preservice teachers enrolled in introductory education classes participated in individual phenomenological interviews. The participants highlighted the topics of engagement, accountability, connectedness, and community. Creating and exploring camera usage policies in synchronous hybrid classrooms will provide effective engagement with course content and increased connectedness among students in foundational education classes.As universities create policies governing online classes post COVID-19, research-based practices should guide the decisions. While existing research about online education exists, the perspectives of camera usage or non-usage are limited. Cameras provide the opportunity for students to create connections with peers and course content. This qualitative research study provides insight on students’ perceptions of camera usage in synchronous hybrid classes, specifically how it impacts engagement and connectedness with peers and course content. Fifteen preservice teachers enrolled in introductory education classes participated in individual phenomenological interviews. The participants highlighted the topics of engagement, accountability, connectedness, and community and the impact of camera usage on each. Student engagement and connectedness affects preservice teachers’ experiences throughout their educational careers. Creating and exploring camera usage policies in synchronous hybrid classrooms will provide effective engagement with course content and increased connectedness among students in foundational education classes at the university level.

How Consumers’ Skepticism is Derived from Deceptive Advertisements

This paper aims to explore how consumer behavior is derived by deceptive advertising and their effect that is consumers’ skepticism. The advertisement has a significant influence on every single person’s life and shapes the consumer’s perception. In this study, phenomenological interviews were conducted with three mature females and three males consumers by asking predetermined open-ended questions. The questions had been made to determine the thoughts and feeling about the unlawful, untrue, and mendacious advertisements. The current research shows these symbolic metaphors and highlights the essential meanings that each informant ascribed her consumer encounters. All relevant themes are identified after conducting interviews from participants through data analysis and are further discussed in the results and findings. All findings are interlinked also supported and consistent with earlier studies that are related in this context. The qualitative study ends with some recommendations to companies that think about their consumers and also follow ethical advertising practices.

Corporal Punishment Act in Public Schools: A Phenomenological Analysis of Perceptions of Practitioners

Corporal punishment (CP) is a conspicuous and serious matter of Pakistani schools. In response to this prevalent social problem the government of Pakistan like other countries has legislated against corporal punishments through Corporal Punishment Act, 2010 which restricts CP of every type in all educational institutes of the country. The said policy was promulgated to secure the child rights in the country but the flip side of the policy presents a different picture. This paper aims at investigating challenges faced by of the elementary public-school teachers as policy practitioners about the ban on corporal punishment by the government. This paper is based on qualitative social research methodology and used phenomenological research approach. Phenomenological interviews were used to collect the data until data reached at saturation. The data was analyzed by following the overall process guided by Creswell. Major derived themes from data were Perceptions of teachers regarding ban on Corporal Punishment, Post Corporal Punishment Legislation Challenges and Opinion of teachers regarding Government policy on CP followed by several sub-themes. It was concluded that the state vision to promote child welfare is hardly seen through its policies as at the end the welfare of the target group must be assured not doubted.

Negative emotions and consumers’ preventive health behavior: a multi-method exploratory study

PurposeAs the emotional/experiential aspect is still marginalized in the literature, this paper aims to explore the role of negative emotions associated with past experiences (PEs) in explaining the preventive health behavior (PHB) of the consumers with a chronic disease.Design/methodology/approachFrom the perspective of experiential marketing, a multi-method exploratory study was conducted among consumers with type 2 diabetes. The investigation process applied phenomenological interviews, visual projections and consumer diaries to adequately capture the emotional responses related to consumer experience of healthy diet behavior.FindingsThe results of a methodological triangulation show that the generation of negative emotions associated with PE with the PHB stimulates adopting healthy eating behavior rather than restraining it.Research limitations/implicationsThe multi-method protocol chosen for this experiential study is a response to the methodological requirements for a broader conception of consumer experience in the context of chronic diseases. This protocol can be used for further empirical investigation of emotional reactions experienced in consumer behavior in the broad sense.Practical implicationsManagerial implications are provided for health-care professionals on how to implement marketing strategies and practices based on the identified consumer profiles.Originality/valueThis study highlights the significant role of experienced emotional responses in explaining the adoption of the PHB and underlines that not all decisions are rational. It also contributes to the literature by specifying a mixed-method approach of data collection for deeper investigation of the consumer’s emotional responses to the health behavior experience.

Diverse Needs of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Qualitative Research in Malawi, South Korea, and the United States

Despite custodial grandparents’ significant contributions to their grandchildren’s healthy development, unique needs of older adults often remain unmet with a limited cultural understanding of intergenerational caregiving. Using a phenomenological approach, interviews and focus groups were conducted with 75 custodial grandparents in Malawi (n=29), South Korea (n=23), and the U.S. (n=23). Malawian grandparents presented financial and physical hardships; however, they experienced strong support from community. Korean grandparents reported similar needs as Malawian grandparents while additionally experiencing cultural biases toward grandparent-headed families (maternal grandparenting and adult child’s divorce). The U.S. grandparents disclosed increased needs for social support as well as family trauma with intergenerational impacts. The increase in custodial grandparent population across the world and findings from this comparative transnational research highlight the need for development of a model for culturally responsive practice with grandparent-headed families in a global context. Part of a symposium sponsored by the Grandparents as Caregivers Interest Group.

Family members’ lived experiences of non-compliance to psychiatric medication given to female adults living with depression

Background: Family members face the burden of adult females living with depression who do not comply with psychiatric medication. Discomfort, tension, anxiety, frustration, and related feelings of hopelessness and dysfunction were identified by family members. There have also been records of financial problems, physical ill-health, limitations on social and recreational opportunities and a general deterioration in their quality of life. There is a shortage of published literature and information on the reasons for non-compliance to psychiatric medications. The existing body of information needs to be strengthened and future approaches encouraged. The study aimed to improve compliance of adult females dealing with depression to psychiatric medical treatment and the effect it has on family members caring for adult females living with depression. Objectives: To describe family members’ lived experiences of non-compliance to psychiatric medication by adult females living with depression. Method: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual study design was used. A purposive sample of family members aged between 20 and 45 years was made. Data were collected by conducting eight in-depth, phenomenological interviews, and field notes were taken. The interviews focused on the central question: ‘Tell me your experiences of living with your wife, mother, sister and daughter living with depression and not taking their medication as ordered by the doctor?’ Tesch’s method for data analysis was used, and an independent coder analysed the data and met with the researcher for a consensus discussion of the results. Measures to ensure trustworthiness were applied and ethical principles were adhered to. Results: The three themes identified were: experienced psycho-social effects, experienced treatment refusal and experienced challenges in caring for adult females living with depression who are non-compliant to psychiatric medication. As a result, the absence of social help, disturbance of family working, shame, separation and troublesome conduct of the adult females who are non-compliant to psychiatric medication developed as principal subjects. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that family members experienced debilitation because they needed information about their relatives living with depression who are non-compliant to psychiatric medication. More information about the management of non-compliance of psychiatric medication was needed; a comprehensive awareness of the ramifications of the findings, treatment and care are required from mental health care professionals and service providers.

Reimagining the Convoluted Plights of Refugee, Immigrant and Undocumented Immigrant Women: Implications for the Reauthorizations of the Violence Against Women's Act of 1994 in the United States

Background: Violence against women exists, is entrenched and shares commonalities among all cultures and societies, regardless of their level of civilization or the lack thereof. This act, which in some societies has now been recognized, therefore currently perceived, defined and interrogated as socially problematic is committed mostly by men, especially intimate partners and significant others, regardless of demography. Violence Against Women as an aberrant type of relationship interaction exists as a phenomenon that has largely been socially constructed, perpetrated, sustained and reproduced mostly by men. Although, and as a gender discourse, all women are recipients or potential recipients of violence perpetrated predominantly by men, however, new immigrant and refugee women remain at the apex as recipients of all sorts of violence, especially Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Method: This study applied phenomenological interviews to explore how violence, particularly IPV against refugee women, including how the risk and propensities are further heightened and complicated by subjectivity labels. These labels include gender, race, socioeconomic, including undocumented immigrant status and language in host countries and continents, such as the United States, Canada and Europe. Results: The study found that IPV has serious ramifications for the physical and mental health of all affected women and their children, but presents a specially complicated problem for refugee and undocumented immigrant women as they strive to adapt to their host countries and environments. The study further evaluated new and existing policies, including the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and its various reauthorizations, as well as evidence-based modalities that attempt to interrogate and attenuate this aberrant interactional process. Conclusion/Recommendations: It also explored policy recommendations that can be engaged in the sustainable protection of women, already victims of violence and those at high risk, but especially new immigrant, refugee and undocumented immigrant women, who have been socially, economically, culturally and linguistically deracinated by migration and refugee creating events.