Nursing research has been the focus of intense debates on epistemological questions in recent years. This author contends that these methodologic debates have at their base the problem of differing conceptions of the person. In this paper, a Heideggerian phenomenological view of the person will be presented and contrasted with the Cartesian view of person implicit in current empirical research strategies. Methodologic implications of the phenomenological view will then be outlined in a discussion of interpretive research methods, or hermeneutics.
This study examined patterns, variations, and existential turning points in young mothers' narratives of self and their visions of the future as part of a larger hermeneutic, longitudinal study. The study was philosophically based in the phenomenology of everyday practices as inherently meaningful, situated, and historically derived and drew on dialogical views of the self. The sample consisted of 13 (of the original 16) young mothers and family members who had been interviewed 4 years earlier. For the present study, data consisted of life history accounts of the intervening 4 years, stories of caregiving routines, and recent coping episodes of parenting elicited through in-depth interviews. Findings offer a situated understanding of young mothering and highlight meaningful distinctions in the ways young mothers experience the self and project themselves into the future. The discovery of patterns and variations in the young mother's sense of self and future have implications for guiding clinical practice and are preliminary to designing programs and interventions that are tailored to the practical understanding and situated possibilities of young mothers.
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