Emerging Horizons, Part Seven. Mike's Story: Lessons Learned

This seventh and final instalment of the Emerging Horizons series brings all the experiences of the participants in the film together with my own (ML) as the digital storytelling (DST) facilitator to discuss three of the many lessons learned from this research project (please see the introductory editorial to the series, Crafting Meaning, Cultivating Understanding, to access the film). The article summarizes the interpretations of the film in both written and digital story form, explores the value of the “artist of our days” mindset that DST can cultivate in Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) cancer survivors, and leans on hermeneutic philosophy to emphasize the importance of conversation when viewing digital stories. I conclude with a personal exhortation to be vigilant in looking for the “setups and payoffs” in my own life so that, as a DST facilitator working in healthcare settings, I can continue to help others story, and re-story, the meaningful moments of their health experiences

Emerging Horizons, Part Six. Bethany’s Story: Layers of Meaning

This six installment of the Emerging Horizons series explores Bethany’s digital storytelling (DST) experience (please see the introductory editorial, Crafting Meaning, Cultivating Understanding, to access the documentary film on which the series is based). In the film, Bethany demonstrates how a digital story can become both a signpost and a monument in the life of an Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) cancer survivor by indicating how they have changed, providing direction for their future selves, and creating a reminder of the meaningful moments that happened along the way. Her experience also reveals how DST can help participants craft a story with many layers of intentional meanings while the plurivocity of word, image and compositional elements of DST enables a profound hermeneutic excess (i.e., x = x+) and ensures that what is contained in a digital story is always more than what was intended by the storyteller. Using the screenwriting framework of the “said, unsaid, and unsayable,” and Nicholas Davey’s concept of “aquifers of meaning,” I (Lang) demonstrate how a digital story artwork can act as an artesian well, providing AYAs and their friends and family an encounter with the “unsayable,” by bringing to the surface what has been mute and beyond awareness

The Island of Misfit Toys

A philosophical hermeneutic study was conducted to understand the meaning of children’s cancer camps for the child with cancer and the family. Six families and five camp counselors were interviewed in order to bring understanding to this topic.  While the research included findings related to: the concept of play at cancer camp (both philosophically and scientifically); grief as something to live with versus “get overâ€; storytelling as a means of re-shaping and understanding traumatic experiences; and the solidarity of the community as one that creates intense, healing bonds, this paper will detail the finding related to the children and families experience of finding acceptance and fit at camp

Stories from Cancer Camp: Tales of Glitter and Gratitude

Each year in Canada, approximately 1400 children and adolescents under the age of 20 are diagnosed with cancer.  It is well recognized that childhood cancer affects the entire family, and innumerable challenges accompany this diagnosis. In recognition of the challenges that accompany this disease, cancer camps started in the 1970s to help children and their families escape the rigidity and severity of cancer treatment. Very little is known about how camps affect these families, and to that end, a philosophical hermeneutic study was conducted to understand the meaning of children’s cancer camps for the child with cancer and the family.  Six families were interviewed to bring understanding to this topic, and while the research included findings related to the concept of play, fit and acceptance, grief, and community, this paper will detail the finding related to storytelling and the reshaping of experiences that happens by virtue of being at camp.Â

Changing the Shape of Sickle Cell Disease Treatment: A Hermeneutic Study of a Case that Changed a Family and a Medical Practice

This hermeneutic study analyzes a case of one family who chose to undergo two hematopoietic stem cell transplants for two of their four children affected with sickle cell disease (SCD) with full knowledge of the risks involved with curative therapy. This case had a life-changing impact on the family and on the medical practice of the physician who worked with them. As a result of this family, international treatment of early transplant for SCD has adopted different protocols. In this study, interviewing the mother in the family, the physician, and the transplant nurse, and analyzing the data hermeneutically brings us to a deeper understanding of how change occurs and its profound effect on lives and medical treatment.

Defending Hermeneutics

This article offers several perspectives on the challenges of defending Gadamerian hermeneutics in applied research settings, specifically counselling psychology and nursing. Given the lack of methodological steps associated with the method, researchers employing hermeneutics can be vulnerable to scrutiny from others. We discuss the uncertainty that is inevitable when embarking on hermeneutic inquiry and provide personal accounts of how we have encountered the uncertain nature of hermeneutics

Understanding the Impact on Healthcare Professionals of Viewing Digital Stories of Adults with Cancer: A Hermeneutic Study

The purpose of this study was to understand the effects on oncology healthcare providers (HCPs), both personally and professionally, of watching digital stories made by adults with cancer (past and present), and what HCPs envisioned for the uses of digital stories. Seven healthcare professionals from various disciplines volunteered for this study. This research took place in a large urban center in Western Canada and was done in the tradition of philosophical hermeneutics. A 90-minute focus group was used for data collection, where participants watched eight digital stories (batched in four groups of two stories) that had been created by individuals with cancer (past or present). Data was analyzed using an interpretive qualitative methodology. Findings revealed that watching digital stories made by adults with cancer was emotionally compelling, provided context, incited deep introspection, and may offer a protective effect with respect to HCP burnout

Is it Really “Yesterday’s War”? What Gadamer Has to Say About What Gets Counted

In this paper, the authors address the perceived recent trend of funding and publishing bodies that seem to have taken a regard of qualitative research as a subordinate to, or even a subset of, quantitative research. In this reflection, they pull on insights that Hans-Georg Gadamer offered around the history of the natural and human science bifurcation, ending with a plea that qualitative research needs to be received, appraised, judged, and promoted by different lenses and criteria of value

Conducting Hermeneutic Research: The Address of the Topic

The conduct of research as guided by philosophical tenets of hermeneutics, in particular the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer, is a complex and sophisticated endeavor. In this paper, we offer that one of the things that guides the inquiry is the topic and that most often topics for discovery arrive with the experience of an address. We discuss the notion of the address of the topic, how a researcher discerns a topic to be studied and, from this address, develops appropriate research questions that help to inform how the study will be conducted

The Public Face of Grief: Parental Bereavement and Social Media

The expression of grief in social media is a complex and multi-layered issue that is ever present in our lives, especially with the increase in social media engagement. In this study, we interviewed 10 bereaved parents around their experiences of social media as vehicle to express their grief following the death of a child. We also interviewed 10 people who posted on sites offering bereavement support and examined multiple social media sites dedicated to grief and loss of a child. Guided by Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics, we developed several interpretations of this complex and complicated relationship of grief and social media. In this paper, we discuss some of our findings around interpretations of relevant emotion, honoring the deceased, and seeking orientation in a changed world. Advice from bereaved parents is offered to others with similar losses and to those posting on bereavement sites. In the end, we are faced with the interpretation that this relationship of social media and grief is many things, but it is never “neutral.”  Keywords: Grief, social media, hermeneutics, Gadame