Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressively debilitating, neurodegenerative condition, which has a profound impact on patients, their loved ones and related health and social care services. The physical and psychosocial effects of the condition, particularly in the latter stages of disease progression, are considerable. Consequently, as is synonymous with chronic conditions more generally, there is often a dissonance for those affected, between how things were, how things are and how things ought to be (Ahlstrom, 2007; Gill and Lowes, 2014).
In this study, the authors adopt an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to provide an in-depth understanding of the lifeworld of a person with Parkinson’s disease. The paper reports on the experiences of a single participant, ‘Barbara’, a 61-year-old woman who has been living with Parkinson’s disease for 4 years. The aims of the study are twofold: first, to provide a meaningful insight into the experiences of someone affected by Parkinson’s disease, and second, to demonstrate how IPA can be used to illuminate such experiences and thus help inform healthcare practice and wider related research.
As is common with several phenomenological approaches to research, data collection in this study involves the co-creation of data between participant and researcher. The study therefore provides a fascinating, in-depth understanding of Barbara’s lifeworld, particularly focusing on the impact and consequences of living with the condition, the perceived effects on loved ones, and her approach to coping and management of Parkinson’s disease.
While the study offers an intriguing insight into Barbara’s lifeworld, aspects of which invariably have wider transferability, the paper also demonstrates the value of using IPA for a study of this nature. However, the paper is somewhat unique in that it is not presented in a typical research paper format; instead, the authors offer a scholarly insight into ‘how the principles and steps of IPA are put into action and realised in research’ (p51). The paper therefore focuses less on methods (e.g. the ‘doing’ of the research) and more on the methodology and findings (e.g. the ‘how’ and the ‘so what’ of the study). This helps the reader better appreciate what the methodology can offer qualitative healthcare researchers, particularly in the context of chronic conditions.
The reviewed study highlights the value and importance of individualised care and demonstrates how these insights can be meaningfully achieved through IPA. However, it might have been useful to provide the reader with further linkage to the wider, related chronic-condition literature and some insight into how this coping/adjustment process evolves over time and/or may be further facilitated by health and social care professionals. Nonetheless, this paper will be of considerable interest to qualitative researchers and those more broadly interested in the use and application of IPA.
Biography
Paul Gill is a senior lecturer in Adult Nursing at the School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University, and has an interest in chronic conditions, service-user experiences and qualitative research.
References
- Ahlstrom G. (2007) Experiences of loss and chronic sorrow in persons with severe chronic illness. Journal of Clinical Nursing 16(3a): 76–83. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gill P, Lowes L. (2014) Renal transplant failure and disenfranchised grief: Participants’ experiences in the first year post-graft failure. International Journal of Nursing Studies 51(9): 1271–1280. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]