This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1043454208319186v1 25/4/185    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Fochtman, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fochtman, D. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Phenomenology in Pediatric Cancer Nursing Research

Kapiolani Medical Center for Women, School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, in Honolulu, Hawaii, diannef{at}kapiolani.org

What does it mean to have cancer as a child or adolescent? To understand this, researchers must study the illness from the child's point of view and listen to these children's descriptions of their "lived world." Phenomenology is a qualitative research methodology that can be used to discover and interpret meaning. To use phenomenology congruently, the philosophical background must be understood as well as the adaptation of the philosophical basis to research in the caring sciences. Only when clinicians truly understand the meaning of this illness to the child can they design nursing interventions to ease suffering and increase quality of life in children and adolescents with cancer.

Key Words: Key words: phenomenology • hermeneutics • children and adolescents with cancer • qualitative methodology • understanding the meaning

This version was published on July 1, 2008

Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, Vol. 25, No. 4, 185-192 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1043454208319186


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?