Getting to Know Patients’ Lived Space

Abstract

The present paper explores patients’ experience of lived space at the hospital and at home. To expand the understanding of the existential meaning of lived space the study revisited two empirical studies and a study of a meta-synthesis on health and caring. Phenomenological philosophy was chosen as a theoretical framework for an excursive analysis. The paper demonstrates that existential dimensions of lived space at the hospital and at home differ significantly. For the patients, the hospital space means alien territory as opposed to the familiar territory of home. To some extent the experienced differences are due to the physical environment; however, as our analysis shows, other and more significant meanings are also involved. For patients, lived space at the hospital primarily concerns the influence of complex institutional power structures and specific cultural and social conventions, e.g. the role of the good patient and the ambiance of hospitals. Home, on the other hand, offers familiar lived space in which patients feel protected and safe. Further, the paper relates patients’ experience of lived space to a phenomenological view of lived space in order to illustrate the radical influence of illness on patients’ lifeworld and experience of lived space. The combination of illness and general discomfort may influence patients’ experience of home negatively; the former experience of home as a sanctuary changes into feelings of being left on one’s own and burdened by too much responsibility. Consequently, in the light of the increasing focus on patients’ self-monitoring at home, it is important for healthcare professionals to recognize the influence of spatial aspects on patients’ well-being both at the hospital and at home.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Annelise Norlyk

Annelise Norlyk, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Nursing Science, Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, Denmark. Her research focuses on patients’ and relatives’ experiences of the transition from a brief period of hospitalization post-surgery to a lengthy recovery period at home. Her expertise concerns patients’ and relatives’ experiences of early discharge, self-care, participation in fast-track colonic surgery programmes and how patients cope with the loss of a leg. She also has a passion for methodology and her particular interests are phenomenology and hermeneutics. Her work is informed by phenomenological research approaches and resulting methodological implications. E-mail address: [email protected]

Bente Martinsen

Bente Martinsen, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Aarhus University, Denmark. Her research is concerned with peoples’ experiences of physical dependency with a special focus on the phenomenon of assisted feeding. She has investigated this phenomenon among people in their own homes as well as among patients admitted to hospital. Martinsen has studied caregivers’ experiences of assisting people with feeding in a hospital context. Methodologically, her particular interests are phenomenology and hermeneutics. Her work is informed by phenomenological research approaches and the resulting methodological implications. E-mail address: [email protected]

Karin Dahlberg

Karin Dahlberg is Professor in Caring Science, and is at present Guest Professor at Linnaeus University, School of Health and Caring Sciences, Centre for Lifeworld Research, and at University of Gothenburg, Centre for Person-Centred Care, Sweden. She has a particular interest in continental philosophy and phenomenology, and how these ideas can strengthen the knowledge base of health care. For many years she has given lectures on phenomenological research in Europe, the US and Asia. With the publication of a new theory of health and caring, her lecture base has widened. She is presently working on two new books, one on research methodology for beginners, and one on health and caring science. E-mail address: [email protected]