Research writing evokes feelings of anger and anxiety even among graduate students. Feelings are an inseparable part of the human lived experience and are important to learning and decision making. Research anxiety is powerful but not impossible to overcome. Various affective, cognitive, linguistic, and pedagogical mitigating strategies can be employed. By simply acknowledging its existence, we lead our students in the direction of doing just that... towards a transformational mindset to overcome research anxiety. Written qualitatively in the hermeneutic strand, this paper explores the lived experience and collective portrayals of the phenomenon of graduate research writing anxiety using prose poetry. The main forms of poetry qualitative researchers create vary from data poems or transcription poems, research poems, and autoethnographic poetry. Autoethnographic poetry is created by the author through self-reflection and writing to explore anecdotal and personal experiences and connect this autobiographical story to wider cultural, political, and social meanings and understandings. In this paper, the author writes from an emic perspective utilizing intertextual chaining to create an autoethnographic research prose poetry. The paper describes in rich detail, the dominant feelings about research writing anxiety and anger that surfaced from participants' narratives of their shared experience of research writing anxiety. Prose poetry is written in paragraphs rather than verse but contains the elements of poetry, such as poetic meter, language play, and a focus on images rather than narrative, plot, and character.

Separation issues have been rampant, and a significant rise in union dissolution cases in the Philippines has been observed. This certain occurrence should be given particular attention because it may alter the individual's way of living, particularly in perceiving and dealing with relationships. This study explores the lived experience of individuals who have undergone parental separation. The study utilized a Hermeneutic Phenomenological Design, which involved ten (10) respondents using a semi-structured key informant interview guide. The respondents were selected based on criteria as follows: (1) Have parents who have decided on the dissolution of marriage (annulled or informal) living separately; (2) 18 years of age and above; (3) Residents of Central Visayas; permanent or transient in Cebu City and; (4) Able to understand and express ideas in Cebuano dialect or English language. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis anchored on van Manen's six-step interpretive phenomenological approach with management and analysis done manually created a poem titled “Memoirs of Yesterday,” which incorporates three (3) major themes: (1) Into the Tunnel: Etiology of Separation, (2) The Darkness in the Tunnel: effects of the dissolution of marriage to children- emotional, psychological and academic status and (3) The Light After the Tunnel: attitude of the child and parent towards relationships and separation. The study implies that nurses should recognize the importance of assessing family concerns in rendering holistic and individualized client care. Thus, nurses should use assessed needs in advocating for the creation of more programs on awareness and counseling to families and, most especially, children.
Hermeneutics ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: To understand the meaning of the lived experience with Person under train (PUT) for train or subway operators. METHODS: The study was built on hermeneutic phenomenological themes from individual interviews of present-day train or subway operators in South Korea. Eight participants were selected to participate in the study. All qualitative data were analyzed using the heuristic guides of Van Manen. RESULTS: Four fundamental lifeworld themes and eight sub themes emerged in the findings. The first theme of spatiality had‘the place pressed by the darkness’ and ‘the train drags me there’. The second theme, corporeality had ‘a foreboding fear’, and ‘debris of death that gets stuck in the whole body’. The temporality theme had‘distorted time in chaos’, and ‘memory trapped in time’. Finally the last existential theme of relationality had ‘intrapersonal encounter’ and ‘resentment and guilt’. CONCLUSION: The four existential lifeworld themes provided a framework for in-depth investigation of the operator's “lived experience.” This leads to clear understanding of effects of PUT experience on related individuals. The findings imply that specific active nursing intervention strategies are necessary in order to treat affected train operators, and to prevent further issues in their work and private life.
Hermeneutics ; Heuristics ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing ; Psychological Trauma ; Qualitative Research ; Railroads

PURPOSE: This hermeneutical inquiry was aimed at understanding the experience of women with advanced uterine cancer and providing sociocultural data on hospice nursing for these Korean women. We adopted hermeneutic phenomenological approach of van Manen. The research question was "What do women with advanced uterine cancer experience in their life?". METHOD: The data for this paper came from interviews with 11 participants between February, 2000 and May, 2001 and reviews of secondary text of essay and drama, poet, memorandum. Each informant was interviewed three or more times for 30 min.-2 hours. In the process of analysis we did reflective thinking and used line-by-line and highlighting analysis techniques. RESULT: The substantial themes of illness experience of women in advanced uterine cancer were 'Endless suffering', 'In the midst of chaos and darkness,' 'on the wish of new possibility', 'finding new transformed self. CONCLUSION: Women with Advanced uterine cancer suffer with complex problems and wonder in the midst of chaos and darkness, but they find a new transformed self by the wish of new possibility and experience human becoming.
Darkness ; Drama ; Female ; Hermeneutics ; Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing ; Humans ; Methods ; Thinking ; Uterine Neoplasms*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of the experience of mothers caring for children with epilepsy. METHODS: Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews and observation from 12 mothers of children with epilepsy. Data were collected from December, 2014 to February, 2015 and analyzed using van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological methodology to identify essential themes of their experience. RESULTS: The essential themes that fit into the context of the 4-existential grounds of time, body, other people, and space were: Lived time-ongoing influence of the past, living in insecure present, fearful future with no answer; Lived body-bonded body, burned out state; Lived other-burden but also support, shrunken down; Lived space-narrowed range of activity, widened horizon. CONCLUSION: The findings in this study show in-depth understanding of the hardships of mothers who are caring for children with epilepsy. The beauty and greatness of these mothers are revealed through the analysis of various phenomenological materials such as literary and artistic work reflecting socio-cultural context, as well as vivid care experiences of mothers of children with epilepsy. This will be helpful in increasing understanding of the nature of caregivers' experience for medical professionals dealing with patients and caregivers. Also it helps to improve the understanding of the disease among the general public, followed by a more warming and caring attitude towards patients and family members. Finally, it will enhance psychological well-being and overall quality of life of the epileptic children and their families.
Beauty ; Burns ; Caregivers ; Child* ; Epilepsy* ; Hermeneutics* ; Humans ; Mothers* ; Qualitative Research ; Quality of Life

PURPOSE: This study aimed to understand the meaning and essence of the life experiences of uninfected women living with HIV-infected husbands. METHODS: This qualitative study adopted van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological method. Study participants were 8 females whose husband had been diagnosed with HIV for longer than 6 months, who had known about their husband's infection for more than 6 months, who were in a legal or common-law marriage and were living with their husbands at the time of interview for this study, and whose HIV antibody test results were negative. Data were collected from in-depth individual interviews with the participants from May to August 2016, and from related idiomatic expressions, literature, artwork, and phenomenological references. RESULTS: The following essential themes were identified regarding the life experiences of uninfected women living with HIV-infected husbands: ‘experiencing an abrupt change that came out of the blue and caused confusion’, ‘accepting one's fate and making desperate efforts to maintain one's family’, ‘dealing with a heavy burden alone’, ‘experiencing the harsh reality and fearful future’, and ‘finding consolation in the ordeal’. CONCLUSION: This study provided a holistic and in-depth understanding of the meaning and essence of the life experiences of uninfected women living with HIV-infected husbands. Thus, this study recognizes these unnoticed women as new nursing subjects. Further, the present findings can be used as important basic data for the development of nursing interventions and national policy guidelines for uninfected women living with HIV-infected husbands.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; Female ; Hermeneutics ; HIV ; Humans ; Life Change Events* ; Marriage ; Methods ; Nursing ; Qualitative Research ; Spouses*

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to understand and describe nurses' experiences of caring for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in chemotherapy wards. METHODS: Data were collected during 2015 by individual in-depth interviews with 10 nurses working in a chemotherapy ward. Transcribed data were analyzed using the hermeneutic phenomenological method by van Manen. RESULTS: Six essential themes emerged from the analysis. ‘Struggle for safe administration of anticancer drugs,' represents the double effort for patients' safety while receiving anti-cancer drugs. ‘Compassion toward patients suffering from chemotherapy,' describes sympathy and empathy for patients and the transference of the pain caused by excessive empathy. ‘Frustration of caring for no further improvement of patients,' describes ambivalence and helplessness due to ineffective chemotherapy. ‘Disappointment of being the target of criticism,' illustrates the emotional injury caused by projection of anger and denigrated value of caring. ‘Motive power of caring: patients, family and colleagues,' represents the supportive relationship for caring. ‘Take-off for better care,' describes development as patients' advocator through introspection and self-management. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that a more supportive ward environment needs to be created to support and empower oncology nurses in order to provide the best care for cancer patients.
Anger ; Drug Therapy* ; Empathy ; Hermeneutics* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Methods ; Qualitative Research ; Self Care

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of women problem gamblers, focusing on the meaning of gambling to them, how and why these women continue to gamble or stop gambling, and their needs and concerns. In order to effectively help women problem gamblers, practical in-depth knowledge is necessary to develop intervention programs for prevention, treatment, and recovery among women problem gamblers. METHODS: The hermeneutic phenomenology approach was used to guide in-depth interviews and team interpretation of data. Sixteen women gamblers who chose to live in the casino area were recruited through snowball sampling with help from a counseling center. Participants were individually interviewed from February to April 2013 and asked to tell their stories of gambling. Transcribed interviews provided data for interpretive analysis. RESULTS: In the study analysis one constitutive pattern was identified: moving beyond addiction by recognizing the two faces of gambling in their life. Four related themes emerged in the analysis-gambling as alluring; gambling as 'ugly'; living in contradictions; and moving beyond. CONCLUSION: Loneliness and isolation play a critical role in gambling experiences of women gamblers in Korea. In other words, they are motivated to gamble in order to escape from loneliness, to stop gambling for fear of being lonely as they get older, and to stay in the casnio area so as not to be alone. The need for acceptance is one fo the important factors that should be considered in developing intervention program for women.
Counseling ; Female ; Gambling* ; Hermeneutics ; Humans ; Korea ; Loneliness ; Qualitative Research ; United Nations

PURPOSE: This study aimed to understand and describe the caring experiences of spouses of elderly people with dementia. METHODS: The hermeneutic phenomenological method was used and participants were 12 spouses aged 65 and over who were taking care of their husbands or wives with dementia at home. Data were collected from individual in-depth interviews on participants' actual caring experiences. Additionally, novels, movies, and memoirs on elderly couples with partner who had dementia were included as data for the analysis. The qualitative data analysis software program was used to manage and process the collected qualitative data. Data were analyzed using hermeneutic phenomenological analysis based on four fundamental existentials including lived body, lived space, lived time, and lived others. RESULTS: Five essential themes emerged from the analysis: 1) body moving like an old machine, 2) swamp of despair filling with hope, 3) sweet time after bitterness, 4) disappointed elderly couple in the empty nest, and 5) unappreciation vs. empathetic feelings. These essential themes were comprehensively summarized as “the road leading to the maturation of life with dedication and hope while bearing the weight of caring based on the couple's relationship.” CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that the nature of the caring experience of spouses of elderly individuals with dementia is filled with many dynamic and paradoxical dimensions. Thus, results of the study would help with developing interventions tailored specifically for elderly spouse caregivers to support their role adaptation and ultimately improving their quality of life.
Aged* ; Caregivers ; Dementia* ; Family Characteristics ; Hermeneutics* ; Hope ; Humans ; Methods ; Motion Pictures as Topic ; Qualitative Research ; Quality of Life ; Spouses* ; Statistics as Topic ; Wetlands

PURPOSE: This study aimed to understand the experiences of married North Korean women's child-rearing, working lives, and their home and work environment in depth.METHODS: This study adopted van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological method to qualitatively analyze data. The participants were 8 married North Korean women defectors. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and observations from July 4 to August 20, 2018.RESULTS: Nine essential themes emerged: more personal challenges after overcoming a life-threatening crisis; hopes of firmly settling in this land; the wound from the north, which chased them here; a body that becomes stronger through hardship; being stuck in a past full of anxiety and pain; the present is full of hope; hope for the future; sense of alienation from coworkers that cannot be overcome; and sense of power to endure an exhausting work life.CONCLUSION: This study provided a broader understanding of the life and experiences of married women from North Korea. It highlights the need for nurses to recognize their importance in nursing care. The study also suggests that academic and practical approaches for nursing, and basic data for a nursing intervention for married women from North Korea be provided. The study findings can be used as a basis for preparing a national policy that will help North Korean defectors to find employment and gain stability.
Anxiety ; Child ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Employment ; Female ; Hermeneutics ; Hope ; Humans ; Methods ; Nursing ; Nursing Care ; Qualitative Research ; Wounds and Injuries