“Getting the Left Right”

Abstract

We used a phenomenological approach to gain insight into the experiences of self, other, and world in patients with hemispatial neglect within the first month following stroke. Comprehensive descriptions of circumstances were conjoined with open-ended interviews of 12 participants. The neglect experience was captured in the overarching theme, "getting the left right," which encompasses the two subthemes of (a) surreal awareness of the left and (b) emergence of a different world. Patients had unclear perceptions of their own body and surroundings, their attention was brittle, and they encountered bewildering reactions from other people. They simultaneously pursued the ineffable neglected space and searched for coherence. The vulnerability, loss, and conflicting perceptions that patients with neglect face should be acknowledged and alleviation sought. Facilitating methods should provide additional opportunities for patients to communicate their experiences. We underscore the importance of readjusting the current approaches of neglect and emphasizing meaningfulness in professional guidance.

Taking phenomenology beyond the first-person perspective: conceptual grounding in the collection and analysis of observational evidence

“…4 For a concrete example of how such concepts can ground observational research, we will turn to one of the authors' empirical studies of neglect. Participants included 12 neglect hospital admitted patients (8 women) with moderate to severe neglect within 21 days following stroke (Klinke et al, 2015). Finding the most fruitful concepts to ground the data collection and analysis was a time-consuming and laborious endeavor.…”

“…Any additional pursuing was not possible because she became upset when her performance was questioned. (Klinke et al, 2015(Klinke et al, , 1629 Pursuing specific events of misperceived affordances in the remaining 11 study participants revealed that memories of events occurring on their left side, including verbal information provided within the neglected space, often faded over time or were replaced by confabulations. In a similar manner, other distinctive features of neglect emerged throughout the study when the researcher interrogated misperceived affordances.…”

“…Therefore, it is essential to establish a rapport that invites patients to express their experiences, however odd or uncanny. To establish such a rapport, the researcher will need to demonstrate genuine interest and appear knowledgeable when patients convey their experiences.8 Rather than have a generic list of observations and questions, the researcher builds a framework that allows for flexibility to interrogate different contexts of misperceived affordances, seeKlinke et al, 2014Klinke et al, , 2015, for examples of this kind of framework.…”

Recovery beyond functional restoration: a systematic review of qualitative studies of the embodied experiences of people who have survived a stroke

“…The two authors subsequently conducted separate quality assessments on 35 studies. Eventually, 34 studies met the quality criteria,38–71 and 1 study was excluded 72. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 flow diagram (figure 1) presents the process for selecting and identifying the included studies.…”

“…Eighteen studies (52.9%) conducted single interviews at one time point only,41 43 47 49 51–53 58 61–67 69–71 14 studies (41.2.%) conducted repeated interviews38–40 42 44–46 48 50 54–57 68 and 2 studies (5.9%) conducted both repeated and one-off interviews 59 60. Regarding the data analysis approach, 19 studies (55.9%) adopted a phenomenological or hermeneutic approach,38–40 42 43 45 47 48 51 53–58 63 65 67 68 3 studies (8.8%) adopted a narrative approach,46 50 61 3 studies (8.8%) adopted an interpretative inductive or descriptive approach,64 69 70 2 studies (5.9%) adopted a grounded theory approach,66 71 2 studies (5.9%) adopted an ethnographic approach,44 60 1 study (2.9%) adopted a deductive content analysis approach,52 1 study (2.9%) adopted a phenomenographical approach,41 1 study (2.9%) adopted both phenomenological and ethnographic approaches,62 and 2 studies (5.9%) did not clearly state their methodological orientation 49 59. Three overarching analytical themes were identified, namely, ‘disconnection between oneself, others and the world,’ ‘the transitional period: exploring and negotiating’, and ‘reconnecting with oneself, others and the world’.…”