The emotionally engaged researcher : using hermeneutic phenomenological analysis to explore dilemmas in mental health care

Author / Creator

Wharne, Simon, author

Available as

Online

Summary

In this reflective account, I argue that when researchers examine issues in mental health care, they must be emotionally congruent with their topic. I suggest that they need to recognize the centra...

In this reflective account, I argue that when researchers examine issues in mental health care, they must be emotionally congruent with their topic. I suggest that they need to recognize the centrality of "care" in this setting and that unexplored impartiality or politically neutral research positions are unavailable. However, a rigorous and balanced account can be enabled by reflecting on one's own concerns while being interested in and committed to the phenomena under examination. In this account, I explore my own engagement with mental health care by describing how I worked through a reflective process while conducting a research study. I provide details of my emotional process and changing understanding while also describing the study design, methods, practice, and practical lessons learnt. As observed in van Manen's account of research practice, emotional engagement does not necessarily imply bias. I will introduce principles from this practice and trace some of the philosophical ideas behind the approach. These will include Heidegger's observation that "care" is the nature of our "being-in-the-world," along with some of Merleau-Ponty's comments on the nature of conversation and a summary of Sartre's ideas about how our emotional processes are pulling us forward toward desired futures. I will describe how these notions can reveal the nature of emotionality in the disposition of the researcher. I will conclude by summarizing my own emotional engagement in the research process.

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