Phenomenology is grounded in experience. It values the raw data of
immediate experience. ("To the things themselves," was the slogan that
inspired and guided Husserl and his followers.) So this approach
requires, in the first place, attitudes of openness and awareness. It
involves learning to become conscious of spontaneous perceptions, or in
other words, getting in touch with one's sensations and feelings. It
means capturing prereflective experience, that is, becoming aware of
one's immediate impression or response to reality before labeling,
categorizing, or judging it.
In this kind of a state of readiness to receive what appears, a
phenomenon may be grasped intuitively. It is as if a particular bit of
reality, a happening, flashes _impressively_ into one's awareness. The
intensity of the experience and the absorption of one's attention in the
phenomenon vary over a wide range. There may be only a fleeting
recognition of a phenomenon accompanied by {80} a half-formulated
thought or judgment, such as, "hmm, that's interesting," with immediate
dismissal from or replacement of it by something else in one's
consciousness. The impression may, of course, be stored in memory and
pop out again at a later time. Or the phenomenon may strike on one's
consciousness more forcefully causing further pondering and wonder. Or
the impression of the phenomenon may be so startling that it fills one's
consciousness to the point of pushing all else out; a person is
momentarily "stopped in his tracks."
In the intuitive grasp, regardless of its intensity or duration, the
phenomenon appears clear and distinct. The intuitive grasp is an insight
into reality that bears the certainty of immediate experience. No
discursive process intervenes; one simply knows the phenomenon as it is
experienced. Furthermore, the intuitive grasp provides a kind of
definite and whole understanding, a gestalt, that allows recognition of
the phenomenon in other situations. So when the person is faced with
another event he can say, "Yes, that is the phenomenon under
consideration," or "No, that is not it."
In order to be open to the data of experience in using a
phenomenological approach, one strives to eliminate "the _a priori_"
(that which exists in his mind prior to and independent of the
experience). This is done by attempting to "bracket" (hold in abeyance)
theoretical presuppositions, interpretations, labels, categories,
judgments, and so forth. Granted, a person cannot be completely
perspectiveless. Man is an individual; he is a unique here and now
person. So naturally, _necessarily_, he has an "angular" view for he
experiences reality from the angle of his own particular "here" and his
own particular "now." Or, stated differently, as a knowing, experiencing
subject, each man must have _some_ perspective of the phenomenon being
experienced. However, by recognizing and considering the particular
perspective from which he is experiencing it, a person may become more
open to the thing itself.
Furthermore, this kind of openness to one's own perspective can be
developed through deliberate practice. Several approaches may be used.
To begin with, a person can develop the habit of recognizing and
exposing his own biases. This could involve something as basic as
stating the actual physical situation or circumstance in which the
phenomenon was experienced. For example: the phenomenon could be
something seen from above or below, at a distance or nearby; something
heard in a quiet room or above the din of background noise; a patient's
behavior in a large group or in a small group, with his family, with on
particular nurse, with his doctor; a patient's response while being fed,
bathed, monitored.
Beyond this unavoidable bias of the angle of perception, the nurse's
experience of her lived world may be dulled by habituation. It is
necessary to break through the tunnel vision of routine. For instance, a
nurse new to a situation may notice a patient's response to her and
remark about it to another nurse. The second nurse, to whom the
patient's behavior is familiar, may respond, "Oh, he's done that for
years." Often this is the end of the dialogue; it should be the
beginning, for the duration of a phenomenon is not {81} equal to its
description or meaning, but rather, is an indication of its
significance.
The mystery of the commonplace is hidden by veils of the obvious. To
recognize one's biases means to put one's beliefs, one's cherished
notions, out on the table. A helpful aid in reflecting on and
articulating an experience is the question, "What am I taking for
granted?" Commonly used terms, such as, "psychiatric patient,"
"orthopedic patient," "oncology unit," "uncooperative," "emotional,"
"chronic," "terminal," "hopeless," "outpatient," "ambulatory,"
"visitors," "family," "doctor," "nurse," "administration," "front
office" have an aura of connotations that may correspond to or differ
greatly from the actual immediate experience. It may be a case where
believing is seeing. The habit of premature labeling may close a person
to the full savoring of experience.
Another means of increasing openness to one's own perspective is to
consciously note whether the phenomenon is being experienced actively or
passively. For example, the phenomenon may be the motion of changing a
patient's position in bed. Both experience the motion, but it is a
different experience for the nurse who actively moves the patient and
for the patient who is moved passively. Or again, many studies of the
phenomenon of empathy have been reported in the literature. Almost
exclusively, these are descriptions of empathizing with someone; only
rarely are they concerned with the experience of being empathized with.
Yet obviously, the active and passive experiences of the phenomenon of
empathy are different. The same holds true for touching and being
touched, bathing and being bathed, feeding and being fed, supporting and
being supported, reassuring and being reassured, and many other
phenomena in nursing.
Similarly, awareness of one's perspective may be increased by
consciously realizing whether the phenomenon is being viewed objectively
or subjectively. Consider for example, phenomena such as pain, anxiety,
sleep, restlessness, boredom. Seeing evidence of pain in another person
is not the same as feeling pain within myself. Recognizing objective
signs of anxiety in another person differs from the subjective
experience of feeling anxious myself. Sleeping and observing someone
sleeping are two different experiences. The same hold true for
restlessness, boredom, and so forth.
In view of nursing's dialogical character it may be assumed that many
phenomena of major concern would be intersubjective or transactional. It
is important then for nurses, attempting to develop openness to their
own perspectives, to consider whether the phenomenon involves two
subjects and their between. Does the action go both ways? Are both
persons calling and responding to each other simultaneously? Take the
phenomenon of "timing" for example. The nurse's verbal response to a
patient depends not only on her perception of her own here-and-now and
his perception of his here-and-now but rather it also involves their
perceptions of their shared here-and-now situation. The nursing world is
filled with intersubjective phenomena such as, eye {82} contact, touch,
silence. To describe these fully the nurse must be open to her
perspective, the patient's perspective, and their between.