The Lived Experience of Cultural Immersion

This article presents the findings of a grounded theory study of 3 graduate students\u27 lived experience of cultural immersion. Results indicated that participants experienced 3 phases (goal setting, interaction, and evaluation) and 4 themes (bias, gender, barriers, and self-awareness) during immersion. Recommendations for the implementation of immersion experiences are discussed

The Lived Experience of Ovarian Cancer

It was estimated that in 2009,21,550 women would be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 14.600 women would die from it. There are approximately 176,007 women living with ovarian cancer in the US. While there is extant quantitative - literature surrounding quality of life of women with ovarian cancer, there are significantly less qualitative studies. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of how women with ovarian cancer perceived their quality of life. I Five women were interviewed. Interviews were tape recorded and transcribed, then I read for overall impression and general themes. Three major themes were identified in the data: feelings of loss, impact on family, and life has changed. The findings were consistent with that of other qualitative studies and provide insight for health care providers caring for these women. Women who are battling ovarian cancer need emotional as well as physical support from their health care providers. Providers need to be aware of the implications that a diagnosis of ovarian cancer has on a patient and her family

Different aspects of the lived experience of intellectual disabilities

The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Journal of Intellectual Disabilities: JOID, Vol.14 Issue 1, 2010, Copyright SAGE Publications Ltd on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/In this issue of Journal of Intellectual Disabilities the first three papers present different aspects of the lived experience of intellectual disabilities, and each of these is undertaken through the use of different methodological approaches. These experiences are the predominant feature in this issue, and are expressed through mothers and informal carers as well as through people with learning disabilities themselves. This is followed by a ‘case note’ follow up study concerning sterilisation of women with intellectual disabilities. The final paper moves to a ‘scoping review’ based on existing literature to explore the role, if any, for social care practitioners in the process of annual health checks for adults with learning disabilities in England.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The lived experience of Dupuytren's disease of the hand

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Aims: To describe patients’ experiences of living with Dupuytren’s disease. Background. Dupuytren’s disease is a chronic, progressive deformity of the hand which limits active extension of the fingers due to advancing and irreversible flexion deformity. It is estimated that two million people are affected by the condition in the UK. Nurses may frequently encounter patients with this condition in a wide range of settings. However, the disease is neglected in the nursing literature and little is known about patients’ experience of living with the condition. Design: A phenomenological approach, using Coliazzi’s method, was employed. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six men and one woman diagnosed with Dupuytren’s disease. Results. Four interlinking themes emerged. Theme 1: Awareness of Dupuytren’s disease describes participants’ experiences of recognising and acknowledging the disease, which often did not occur until functional ability was restricted. Theme 2: Living with Dupuytren’s disease describes how patients coped with the disease and adapted their activities to maintain independence. Theme 3: Deciding on treatment illuminates how patients decided on treatment and highlights a lack of information and support from health professionals. Theme 4: Receiving treatment articulates participants’ experience of surgical treatment and post surgical rehabilitation. Conclusions: The findings revealed that people living with Dupuytren’s disease receive little information about their condition and possible treatment from health professionals yet high quality and accurate information is required for patients to understand their condition and the treatment options available. Relevance to clinical practice. People with Dupuytren’s disease do not always recognise their condition until it has significantly progressed. Following diagnosis they need accurate and up-to-date information about their condition and treatment options. Nurses have an important role to play in raising awareness of the disease, educating patients about its features and progression and enabling them to become active partners in decisions about treatment

Embodied ways of knowing.

In this article I present an argument for `embodied ways of knowing' as an alternative epistemological strategy, drawing on feminist research and embodied experience. To present my argument, I begin by considering a number of problematic dualisms that are central to Western knowledge, such as the separation between mind and body and between knowledge and experience. In critique of mind/body dualism, feminists and phenomenologists claimed that Western understandings were based on a profound ignorance about and fear of the body. Mind/body dualism needed to be challenged and articulated differently, potentially through valuing and understanding `embodiment'. In critique of the knowledge/experience dualism, feminists and phenomenologists have suggested that `knowing' could be based on lived experience. From lived experience, knowledge could be constructed by individuals and communities, rather than being universal and resulting strictly from rational argument. Research on women's ways of knowing and on movement experience provided valuable insights into alternative ways of knowing. Just as lived experience and movement experience could be ways of knowing, I argue that `embodied ways of knowing' could also contribute specifically to knowledge. The relevance of understanding `embodied ways of knowing' for those involved in education and movement studies may be the further appreciation, development and advocacy for the role of movement experience in education

It’s scary, scary, scary …”: the lived experience of asthma.

The research presented here contributes to a developing sociological-phenomenological empirical corpus of literature by addressing the lived experience of asthma in non-élite sports participants and committed exercisers. Despite the prevalence of asthma and exercise-induced asthma/bronchoconstriction, there is a distinct lacuna in terms of qualitative research into living with asthma, and specifically in relation to participation in sports and physical cultures. Here we focus upon the aural dimension of asthma experiences, examining the role of ‘auditory attunement’ and ‘auditory work’ in sporting embodiment

A Safe Place to Learn: Peer Research Qualitative Investigation of gameChange Virtual Reality Therapy

BACKGROUND: Automated virtual reality (VR) therapy has the potential to substantially increase access to evidence-based psychological treatments. The results of a multicenter randomized controlled trial showed that gameChange VR cognitive therapy reduces the agoraphobic avoidance of people diagnosed with psychosis, especially for those with severe avoidance. OBJECTIVE: We set out to use a peer research approach to explore participants' experiences with gameChange VR therapy. This in-depth experiential exploration of user experience may inform the implementation in clinical services and future VR therapy development. METHODS: Peer-led semistructured remote interviews were conducted with 20 people with a diagnosis of psychosis who had received gameChange as part of the clinical trial (ISRCTN17308399). Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and template analyses. A multiperspectival approach was taken to explore subgroups. Credibility checks were conducted with the study Lived Experience Advisory Panel. RESULTS: Participants reported the substantial impact of anxious avoidance on their lives before the VR intervention, leaving some of them housebound and isolated. Those who were struggling the most with agoraphobic avoidance expressed the most appreciation for, and gains from, the gameChange therapy. The VR scenarios provided "a place to practise." Immersion within the VR scenarios triggered anxiety, yet participants were able to observe this and respond in different ways than usual. The "security of knowing the VR scenarios are not real" created a safe place to learn about fears. The "balance of safety and anxiety" could be calibrated to the individual. The new learning made in VR was "taken into the real world" through practice and distilling key messages with support from the delivery staff member. CONCLUSIONS: Automated VR can provide a therapeutic simulation that allows people diagnosed with psychosis to learn and embed new ways of responding to the situations that challenge them. An important process in anxiety reduction is enabling the presentation of stimuli that induce the original anxious fears yet allow for learning of safety. In gameChange, the interaction of anxiety and safety could be calibrated to provide a safe place to learn about fears and build confidence. This navigation of therapeutic learning can be successfully managed by patients themselves in an automated therapy, with staff support, that provides users with personalized control. The clinical improvements for people with severe anxious avoidance, the positive experience of VR, and the maintenance of a sense of control are likely to facilitate implementation

'dis ɔhord' : one woman’s experience of confronting and understanding the lived experience of birth.

This paper is a collaborative piece written by a midwifery academic and an artist. It presents and interprets a number of mixed media art works created by Caroline Calonder in response to the traumatic birth of her son, and utilises findings derived from Lesley Kay’s doctoral study about birth and birth stories as a means of contextualising, understanding and interpreting the work (Kay et al 2017). In sharing elements of Caroline’s experience, the psychological harm it caused her, and the means she used (and continues to use) to understand, and come to terms with the experience, the paper highlights some of the distressing and harmful sequelae which can arise when a woman’s disembodied experience of birth is accepted as normal and mainstream. Furthermore, it emphasises the need for health care professionals to actively work towards safeguarding women’s emotional health, and the value of art as a means of confronting and recovering from birth trauma

The bodily other and everyday experience of the lived urban world

This article explores the relationship between the bodily presence of other humans in the lived urban world and the experience of everyday architecture. We suggest, from the perspectives of phenomenology and architecture, that being in the company of others changes the way the built environment appears to subjects, and that this enables us to perform simple daily tasks while still attending to the built environment. Our analysis shows that in mundane urban settings attending to the environment involves a unique attentional mode, which does not rely on concentrating on, or appreciating the architectural objects, but rather on social attention and on the subject’s kinesthesis in relation to the built environment