Skip to main page content

• HOME
• Current
• Past issues
• Contact us
• Subscribe
• Sign up for e-Alerts
• Help

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: ptj.20090348v1 90/8/1185    most recent Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Greenfield, B. H. Articles by Jensen, G. M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Greenfield, B. H. Articles by Jensen, G. M. Related Collections Ethics and Legal Issues Professional-Patient Relations Perspectives Disability Models Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Understanding the Lived Experiences of Patients: Application of a Phenomenological Approach to Ethics

B.H. Greenfield, PT, PhD, OCS, is Assistant Professor, Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation, Emory University School of Medicine, and Affiliated Faculty, Center for Ethics, Emory University, 1462 Clifton Rd NE, Suite 312, Atlanta, GA 30322 (USA).
G.M. Jensen, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is Graduate Dean and Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs, Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, and Faculty Associate, Center for Health Policy and Ethics, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska.

Address all correspondence to Dr Greenfield at: bgreenf{at}emory.edu.

This perspective article provides a justification, with an overview, of the use of phenomenological inquiry and the interpretation into the everyday ethical concerns of patients with disabilities. Disability is explored as a transformative process that involves physical, cognitive, and moral changes. This perspective article discusses the advantages of phenomenology to supplement and enhance the principlist process of ethical decision making that guides much of contemporary medical practice, including physical therapy. A phenomenological approach provides a more contextual approach to ethical decision making through probing, uncovering, and interpreting the meanings of "stories" of patients. This approach, in turn, provides for a more coherent and genuine application of ethical principles within the "textured life-world" of patients and their evolving values as they grapple with disability to make ethical and clinical decisions. The article begins with an in-depth discussion of the current literature about the phenomenology of people with disability. This literature review is followed by a discussion of the traditional principlist approach to making ethical decisions, which, in turn, is followed by a discussion of phenomenology and its tools for use in clinical inquiry and interpretation of the experiences of patients with disabilities. A specific case is presented that illustrates specific tools of phenomenology to uncover the moral context of disability from the perspective of patients. The article concludes with a discussion of clinical, educational, and research implications of a phenomenological approach to ethics and clinical decision making.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. L. Swisher Invited Commentary Physical Therapy, August 1, 2010; 90(8): 1197 - 1200. [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. H. Greenfield and G. M. Jensen Author Response Physical Therapy, August 1, 2010; 90(8): 1200 - 1201. [Full Text] [PDF]