Phenomenology as a Philosophical Orientation for Understanding the Transformative Experience of Disabling Illness

Abstract

Kaufman’s ground-breaking work in the 1980s introduced the phenomenology of disability. In my commentary, I describe phenomenology as a philosophy of understanding the world around us and as a methodology for understanding the lived experiences of patients with life-changing disabilities. Like Kaufman, my focus for the use of phenomenology in health care is to capture the existential and transformative experience of illness. As such, I agree with Kaufman that phenomenology can help health care professionals expand their understanding of patient experiences to provide a fuller and richer, holistic response to care.

Keywords:

• ethics
• narrative phenomenology
• rehabilitation
• stroke