scholarly journals Constructions of frailty in the English language, care practice and the lived experience

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMANDA GRENIER
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
The Body ◽  
Care Practice ◽  
Negative Experience ◽  
Experience Of Care ◽  
Foucauldian Analysis

The way frailty is conceptualised and interpreted has profound implications for social responses, care practice and the personal experience of care. This paper begins with an exegesis of the concept of frailty, and then examines the dominant notions of frailty, including how ‘frailty’ operates as a ‘dividing-practice’ through the classification of those eligible for care. The definitions and uses of ‘frailty’ in three discursive locations are explored in: (a) the Oxford English Dictionary, (b) the international research literature, and (c) older women's accounts of their lived experience. Three distinctive discourses are found, and applying a Foucauldian analysis, it is shown that the differences reflect overlaps and tensions between biomedical concepts and lived experiences, as well as negative underlying assumptions and ‘subjugated knowledge’. The concept of frailty represents and orders the context, organisational practices, social representations and lived experiences of care for older people. The evidence suggests that if, as the older women's accounts recommended, socially- and emotionally-located expressions of frailty were recognised in addition to the existing conceptions of risk of the body, frailty might no longer be thought of primarily as a negative experience of rupture and decline. To encourage this change, it is suggested that practice focuses on the prevention of frailty and associated feelings of loss, rather than reinforcing the feelings and experiences which render a person ‘frail’.

scholarly journals How sociophenomenology of the body problematises the ‘problem-oriented approach’ to growth hormone treatment

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-11
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Murano ◽  
Jenny Slatman ◽  
Kristin Zeiler
Keyword(s):  
Growth Hormone ◽  
Short Stature ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Growth Hormone Treatment ◽  
Hormone Treatment ◽  
The Body ◽  
Psychological Assessments ◽  
Objective Space ◽  
Oriented Approach

This article examines how people who are shorter than average make sense of their lived experience of embodiment. It offers a sociophenomenological analysis of 10 semistructured interviews conducted in the Netherlands, focusing on if, how, and why height matters to them. It draws theoretically on phenomenological discussions of lived and objective space, intercorporeality and norms about bodies. The analysis shows that height as a lived phenomenon (1) is active engagement in space, (2) coshapes habituated ways of behaving and (3) is shaped by gendered norms and beliefs about height. Based on this analysis, the article challenges what we label as the ‘problem-oriented approach’ to discussions about growth hormone treatment for children with idiopathic short stature. In this approach, possible psychosocial disadvantages or problems of short stature and quantifiable height become central to the ethical evaluation of growth hormone treatment at the expense of first-hand lived experiences of short stature and height as a lived phenomenon. Based on our sociophenomenological analysis, this paper argues that the rationale for giving growth hormone treatment should combine medical and psychological assessments with investigations of lived experiences of the child. Such an approach would allow considerations not only of possible risks or disadvantages of short stature but also of the actual ways in which the child makes sense of her or his height.

scholarly journals Digesting Stigma: Exploring the Illness Experience of New Zealanders with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (‘It’s just shitty’)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bryony Cunningham-Pow
Keyword(s):  
Irritable Bowel Syndrome ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Gastrointestinal Illness ◽  
Illness Experience ◽  
Social Expectations ◽  
Irritable Bowel

<p>This thesis is an anthropological exploration of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and the first ethnographic study of people with IBS in New Zealand. It explores the illness experience of people with IBS and whether stigma plays a role within this experience. IBS is a gastrointestinal illness that affects 10-20% of New Zealand’s population. However, its aetiology is unknown, there is no cure, and the biomedical approach that informs its diagnosis and treatment is often incongruous with its lived experience. I posit that the illness experience of my participants and what is stigmatising for them must be understood not only in relation to its physical manifestations but also in relation to the biomedical and neoliberal influences that inform social expectations of the body and social participation. Further, participants experience their IBS simultaneously resisting and participating within these influences to make sense of and manage their illness in a way that aligns with their lived experiences.  All work within this thesis is my own except where otherwise stated.</p>

scholarly journals Telepresence and Tele-absence: A Phenomenology of the (In)visible Alien Online

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norm Friesen
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Mode Of Delivery ◽  
Spatial Coherence ◽  
Eye Contact ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Mutual Gaze ◽  
Communicative Practice

Proliferating media forms, from tablets to Twitter, are changing communicative practice, delimiting new experiential horizons, and thus providing phenomenological research with novel variations on the experience of self and other. Videoconferencing via Skype or FaceTime offers prominent examples of these changing forms. Despite the use of these communication technologies in both educational contexts and everyday life, educational videoconferencing has been described in the research literature as “a hidden mode of delivery, employing invisible pedagogical techniques.”  In this study I address this situation of simultaneous familiarity, invisibility and uncertainty by focusing particularly on the lived experience of space, the body and eye contact in videoconferencing contexts. This study suggests that the disruption of spatial coherence and power of gaze and mutual gaze are all but unavoidable features of this experience. It concludes by emphasizing the importance forms or expressions of absence, such as the diminution of eye contact, or the importance of not always being perceived as performing or “on” in videoconferencing contexts.

scholarly journals Living the Full Catastrophe: A Mindfulness-Based Program to Support Recovery from Stroke

Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 498
Author(s):  
Lori A. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Stroke Survivor ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
The Body ◽  
Stroke Recovery ◽  
Stroke Event ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Complex Emotions

Decades of research suggest that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training supports a greater capacity to live with chronic medical conditions and contributes to lowering stress levels. This paper introduces a model for a Mindfulness-Based Recovery from Stroke (MBRfS) for promoting stroke recovery, informed by the lived experience of the author (a stroke survivor and certified MBSR instructor), the research literature regarding MBSR training, and the specific challenges of stroke recovery. Four themes emerged from the autoethnographic analysis that informed the proposed model: Readiness to accept the stroke event and the acquired brain injury, navigating uncertainties of stroke recovery with awareness and self-responsibility for outcomes, trusting the inherent wisdom of the body as a stroke recovery “teacher”, and increased capacity to integrate complex emotions with self-compassion, and a sense of wholeness. A four-component MBRfS model is offered, which consists of an integration amongst a modified MBSR framework, emergent attitudinal themes, and insights from the autoethnographic vignettes. The MBRfS model offers a path for providing participants with a supportive experience within stroke recovery. Recommendations and suggestions for future studies are offered to support the development of MBRfS for stroke survivors and their caregivers, as well as contributing to healthcare providers.

The lived experience of Huntington’s disease: A phenomenological perspective on genes, the body and the lived experience of a genetic disease

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niclas Hagen
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Genetic Disease ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Phenomenological Perspective ◽  
Disease Experience ◽  
Empirical Material

The purpose of this article is to explore the intersections between genes, the body and the lived experience of a genetic disease. This article is based on empirical material from a study on how individuals affected by Huntington’s disease experience their everyday life. This study identified two themes that represent and capture the experience of the affected individuals. The themes are (1) noticing symptoms in everyday life and (2) neither health nor disease. The analysis of the empirical material was performed by employing a theoretical framework based on phenomenology. The findings of this study showed that the lived experiences among individuals affected by Huntington’s disease were both fluid and dynamic in their nature. Furthermore, the analysis of the empirical material suggests that this fluid and dynamic character can be linked to a dimension that revolves around the intersections between genetics and the body. Following phenomenologist Drew Leder’s outline of the divergence between the invisible and the visible features of the body, the analysis of the empirical material suggests that the mutated gene that causes Huntington’s disease can be seen as a phenomenological nullpoint. It is important that the healthcare system acknowledges and addresses the lived experiences that are discussed in this article, particularly, as the use of genetics and genetic testing becomes more widespread usage within medicine.

scholarly journals Digesting Stigma: Exploring the Illness Experience of New Zealanders with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (‘It’s just shitty’)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bryony Cunningham-Pow
Keyword(s):  
Irritable Bowel Syndrome ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Gastrointestinal Illness ◽  
Illness Experience ◽  
Social Expectations ◽  
Irritable Bowel

<p>This thesis is an anthropological exploration of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and the first ethnographic study of people with IBS in New Zealand. It explores the illness experience of people with IBS and whether stigma plays a role within this experience. IBS is a gastrointestinal illness that affects 10-20% of New Zealand’s population. However, its aetiology is unknown, there is no cure, and the biomedical approach that informs its diagnosis and treatment is often incongruous with its lived experience. I posit that the illness experience of my participants and what is stigmatising for them must be understood not only in relation to its physical manifestations but also in relation to the biomedical and neoliberal influences that inform social expectations of the body and social participation. Further, participants experience their IBS simultaneously resisting and participating within these influences to make sense of and manage their illness in a way that aligns with their lived experiences.  All work within this thesis is my own except where otherwise stated.</p>

The Journey Back to Oneself: Reimagining Medical Education

Afflicted ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Piemonte
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The World ◽  
Scientific Facts ◽  
Experience Of Illness ◽  
Curricular Interventions ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches

Chapter five includes a discussion of specific curricular interventions that can work toward getting students to think critically and to reflect deeply and broadly on what it means to be human. It highlights pedagogical approaches that allow students to see that the “real” scientific facts of biological disease cannot be separated from the existential reality of illness and that human beings always already dwell within their lived experiences, even before science and medicine inscribe their particular, abstract truths onto the body. Through exposure to patients’ stories—whether through narratives or face-to-face encounters—reflective writing, dialogue, and quality mentorship, students might come to appreciate the lived experience of illness, to expand their moral imaginations, and to develop a more capacious sense of care that is grounded within a recognition of our shared humanness and potential for suffering. This kind of pedagogy does not result in a “professionalism” that can be measured, quantified, and assessed, but rather a way of being in the world—a posture of openness toward others, an ability to face uncertainty, and the capacity to extend care to all patients even when “nothing else can be done.”

Machine learning applications in tobacco research: a scoping review

2021 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2020-056438
Author(s):  
Rui Fu ◽  
Anasua Kundu ◽  
Nicholas Mitsakakis ◽  
Tara Elton-Marshall ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
English Language ◽  
Synthesis Method ◽  
Clinical Trial Data ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
The Body ◽  
Reference List ◽  
English Language Journal

ObjectiveIdentify and review the body of tobacco research literature that self-identified as using machine learning (ML) in the analysis.Data sourcesMEDLINE, EMABSE, PubMed, CINAHL Plus, APA PsycINFO and IEEE Xplore databases were searched up to September 2020. Studies were restricted to peer-reviewed, English-language journal articles, dissertations and conference papers comprising an empirical analysis where ML was identified to be the method used to examine human experience of tobacco. Studies of genomics and diagnostic imaging were excluded.Study selectionTwo reviewers independently screened the titles and abstracts. The reference list of articles was also searched. In an iterative process, eligible studies were classified into domains based on their objectives and types of data used in the analysis.Data extractionUsing data charting forms, two reviewers independently extracted data from all studies. A narrative synthesis method was used to describe findings from each domain such as study design, objective, ML classes/algorithms, knowledge users and the presence of a data sharing statement. Trends of publication were visually depicted.Data synthesis74 studies were grouped into four domains: ML-powered technology to assist smoking cessation (n=22); content analysis of tobacco on social media (n=32); smoker status classification from narrative clinical texts (n=6) and tobacco-related outcome prediction using administrative, survey or clinical trial data (n=14). Implications of these studies and future directions for ML researchers in tobacco control were discussed.ConclusionsML represents a powerful tool that could advance the research and policy decision-making of tobacco control. Further opportunities should be explored.

A Phenomenological Investigation of the Lived Experience of Psychopathology

1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
Russell M. Harris ◽  
Russell A. Bors
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Subjective Character ◽  
Interpersonal Dynamics ◽  
Diagnostic Labels ◽  
The University ◽  
Undergraduate Class

We collected personal documents from various participants on the topic of "a personal experience in which you observed or experienced psychopathology." The protocols were "topical autobiographical" personal documents, which we analyzed using the procedures set forth by van Kaam, to describe—rather than attempting to explain—lived experiences. Subsequently, 15 protocols obtained from an undergraduate class in psychopathology at the University of Regina were analyzed. We feel that both the methodology used and our findings reveal a new way of viewing psychopathology, showing the inadequacy of reducing psychopathology to diagnostic labels. We found that the fullness of the pathological experience can only be understood through elucidating experienced interpersonal dynamics. Consequently, both an essential and a situational quality is evidenced, revealing the inadequacy of theories in which either the existence of psychopathology or its subjective character are denied.

scholarly journals Mobilizing the Sense of “Fat”: A Phenomenological Materialist Approach

Human Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Slatman
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
The Body ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
Conceptual Frame ◽  
Fat Bodies ◽  
The Way ◽  
Phenomenological Exploration

AbstractThis paper aims to mobilize the way we think and write about fat bodies while drawing on Jean-Luc Nancy’s philosophy of the body. I introduce Nancy’s approach to the body as an addition to contemporary new materialism. His philosophy, so I argue, offers a form of materialism that allows for a phenomenological exploration of the body. As such, it can help us to understand the lived experiences of fat embodiment. Additionally, Nancy’s idea of the body in terms of a “corpus”—a collection of pieces without a unity—together with his idea of corpus-writing—fragmentary writing, without head and tail—can help us to mobilize fixed meanings of fat. To apply Nancy’s conceptual frame to a concrete manifestation of fat embodiment, I provide a reading of Roxane Gay’s memoir Hunger (2017). In my analysis, I identify how the materiality of fat engenders the meaning of embodiment, and how it shapes how a fat body can and cannot be a body. Moreover, I propose that Gay’s writing style—hesitating and circling – involves an example of corpus-writing. The corpus of corpulence that Gay has created gives voice to the precariousness of a fat body's materialization.

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