Caring Science With a Focus on Existential Issues in a Caring Context—A Research Area Inspired by Existential Philosophy

Abstract

This article examines and exemplifies how existential philosophy can provide deeper understanding of existential issues in a caring context. Existential philosophy, including lifeworld theory, is treated both as an epistemology for the development of research methods and inspiration for analysis and discussions in caring science research. The significance of the lifeworld is also highlighted as a guide to perform and enable caring and caring didactics, along with short descriptions where existential philosophy has previously influenced the development of caring science. The concept existential caring science is suggested as a research area for research on existential and meaning-oriented phenomena.

Lifeworld hermeneutics: An approach and a method for research on existential issues in caring science

“…Qualitative research methods are particularly suitable for caring science research because they can contribute to the existential knowledge necessary to understand the patient suffering from unhealthiness and illness, as well as address existential phenomena, such as health, wellbeing, homelessness, lostness in life, suffering and ageing in order to develop caring practices that promote health and well-being [1,2].…”

“…Therefore, research based on interpretations poses a challenge in the struggle to see something new or something other than the researcher's own pre-understanding [7] and others the researcher already knows [8][9][10][11][12]. Although Gadamer never spoke of interpretation as a research method, he has inspired many hermeneutically-minded caring science researchers in their attempts to apply a hermeneutic approach in empirical research on existential issues in health care [2,[13][14][15].…”

“…For professional care to be caring, in the sense that it supports and strengthens a patient's health and well-being in demanding existential situations, an in-depth understanding of existential issues matters. In existential caring science, existential issues refer to a deeper understanding of the world of the patient, from the patient's perspective, founded on the significance of the lifeworld as a guide to perform and enable caring and caring didactics [2]. In this article, we have elaborated on lifeworld hermeneutics as an approach and method for seeking answers to existential issues and lived experiences.…”

Pre-Understanding—A Threat to Validity in Qualitative Caring Science Research?

“…From a lifeworld perspective, care should therefore be focused the individual persons uniqueness beyond just medical signs and symptoms, illness and diagnosis in order to strengthen their health processes and enabling wellbeing (Todres et al, 2014). The significance of the lifeworld and existential issues in caring science research has also been highlighted by Palmér et al (2021) as a guide to perform and enable caring and caring didactics.…”

“…A lifeworld perspective and existential philosophy has influenced the development of caring science into the concept of existential caring science as a research area for research on existential and meaning-oriented phenomena in a caring context (Palmér et al, 2021). With the above described foundation of caring science in mind, we will now elaborate further on the role of pre-understanding, five examples are given where pre-understanding is highlighted in caring science research.…”