Understanding the Lived Experience of Persons Who have a Different Sense of Hearing

325 Pages·2016·0.85 MB·English

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Understanding the Lived Experience of Persons
Who have a Different Sense of Hearing

Catherine Elma Aquino-Russell

This thesis is presented for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
of
Curtin University of Technology

April 2003
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Declaration

This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other
degree or diploma in any university.

To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously
published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made.

Signature:

Date: April 9, 2003
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ABSTRACT

Hearing loss is a silent, often overlooked condition which deprives people of the
most basic of human needs--the ability to communicate effectively. The notion that
there is a dearth of understanding by health care professionals when caring for
persons with hearing loss has been acknowledged. This research study aimed to
describe the meaning of what it is like to live with a different sense of hearing for
seven Canadian participants. The process of inquiry was guided by Parse’s human
becoming theory for nursing (1981, 1987, 1992, 1998). The Giorgi (1970, 1971,
1975, 1985, 1989, 1992) modification of the phenomenological method was used for
analysis-synthesis. Five women and two men employed and ranging between 25 and
70 years shared their lived experiences with the researcher via email
correspondence. Confidentiality and anonymity were assured. Participants were
asked to write about what it is like for them to live with a different sense of hearing.
The central finding of this study was: Living with a different sense of hearing is
experiencing the joy-sorrow of hearing-not hearing unfolding through discovering
gained-lost communication surfacing all-at-once with diminished-enhanced feelings
of self while choosing the rhythm of revealing-concealing amid potential regard-
disregard of others. The findings of this research build on Parse’s (1981, 1998)
theory of human becoming and may enhance nurses’ understanding of what it is like
to live with hearing loss, which may in turn alter the way nurses structure practice
with persons who live with a different sense of hearing, making a difference in their
quality of life.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge a number of persons from my past, present, and future
whose help, support, and lingering presence have helped me throughout this
dissertation process from tacit to explicit becoming….

First, heartfelt thanks are extended to my husband and best friend, Roger C. Russell.
Roger, you are “the wind beneath my wings”. You have been ever since we met on
that airplane, during all of our worldly adventures together, and will be my strength
and ‘raison d’être’ for eternity. I appreciate your loving support and encouragement.
You are my ‘biggest fan’ and I love you and thank you so very much for walking
with me to make this endeavor possible.

Next, to my two wonderful daughters, Catrina Elen and Allison Marina, I thank you
both from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for helping me to maintain balance in
my life, for your encouraging words and gestures, and for teasing me about my “big
words” like: cocreation and paradoxical. As you both have inspired me, I hope that I
too, have inspired you to do what you may think is not possible, but is…

I’d like to express thanks to my family, my mother, Eleanor, my sister, Susan, and
my brother, James. Mom, you have always believed in me and supported me in my
aspirations to be whoever I wanted to be. Susan, you have bestowed me with
thoughtful and caring deeds for which I am grateful. James, I appreciate your
generosity, your gift, which helped to make this educational journey possible. To my
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aunts, I give you all my deepest thanks. Glennis, you have been a mentor to me since
I began contemplating Nursing as a profession. You always guided me in my
striving for higher education. Mary, Carmel, Irene, and June, thank you for your
encouragement and love. To Rita, my Godmother, I thank you for your love and
faith in me.

To my mother-in-law, Marina Russell, I appreciate your encouraging words and
steadfast support as we journeyed our way through the paths we have chosen. As
well, thanks are extended to my brother-in-law Dr. Steven Russell, for the big-
brother advice related to this PhD process.

I extend sincere appreciation to Curtin University of Technology for the scholarship
and to my supervisors, Dr. Michael Hazelton, Dr. Aileen Plant, and Dr. Tina Tse.
Mike, I admire your talent with words, thank you for your thoughtful critiques, and
scholarly contributions to this dissertation. Aileen, I value your words of wisdom.
Tina, I am grateful for your guidance, your editorial assistance, and the times we
spent together. Thanks to each of you for your collegiality.

Special thanks are extended to Dr. Rosemarie Rizzo Parse, a person whom I greatly
admire. Thank you for reviewing my work, for your feedback, guidance, supportive
words, and your mentoring. This dissertation, in its present form would not have
been possible without you and your human becoming school of thought.
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Particular appreciation is acknowledged to Avraham Santopinto, my guru, colleague,
and friend, whom I have never met in person, yet, who eagerly agreed to assist a
stranger halfway around the world. I thank you sincerely for giving me the gift of
yourself, sharing your creativity, and your insights to enhance my learning and
understanding.

Finally, and most importantly, I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to the seven
participants of this research who shared personal and extraordinary descriptions of
their lived experiences to enhance my own and others’ understanding in the
cocreation of what it is like to live with a different sense of hearing.
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DEDICATION
I’d like to dedicate this dissertation in loving memory of my father, an incredible
human being, James R. Aquino, whose continuous and everlasting presence has
constantly been with me, is with me now, and always will be.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page number
Declaration ……………………………………………………….…………………..i
Abstract …... ……………………………………………………………………….. ii
Acknowledgements..……………………………….………………………………..iii
Dedication …...……………………………………………………………………...vi
Table of contents. ………………………………………………………….…….....vii
List of tables …………...…………………………………………………….…….xiii
CHAPTER I ………………………………………………………………………...1
INTRODUCTION TO THE PHENOMENON OF INTEREST……….……...…….1
Researcher’s perspective …………………………………………………….1
Views of hearing loss …………………………………………………..……4
Comparison between natural science and human science paradigms ……….6
Phenomenon of interest and purpose of the study……………………….…11
Theoretical perspective: Parse’s theory of human becoming………...….....12
Significance of the study for enhancement of nursing science………...…...14
Research question ………….………...…………………………….……….17
Objectives of the study ….……………………………...…………………..17
Organization of the thesis ……..………………………………………...….17
Summary ………………………………………………………….………18
CHAPTER II ……………………………………………………………………...20
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE …………………………………………20
Overview ………………………………………………………………….20
Natural science paradigm ………….……………………………………….21
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Knowledge about hearing loss……………………………………...21
Etiology of hearing los…….… ………….…………….2
Signs and symptoms of hearing loss ………...………..……23
Labels ……………………………………………….….…. 24
Culture, diversity, and identity related to hearing loss..…….25
Implications of hearing loss ……...………...…………………..…..30
Stigmatization and attitudes about hearing loss ……...….…35
Treatment aproaches …….………………………………….….…39
Psychiatric aproach ………………….…………….….….39
Audiological aproach ………………….……….…….…. 40
Psychological aproach ……………….………….…….….4
Nursing aproach ………….…………………….………. 45
Multidisciplinary aproaches ………….……………….… 47
Assessing quality of life………...……………………………….… 50
Personal experiences of research participants and other authors …..54
Human science paradigm ……….…………………………………….……58
Research focusing on the phenomenon of hearing loss …...…….…58
Universal experiences as related to the research phenomenon … …60
Summary …………………………………………………………………. 62
CHAPTER III …………………………………………………………….…….…63
METHODOLOGY:
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH METHOD …………….….63
Overview …………………………………………………….……………. 63
Ontology, epistemology, and methodology ……………………………….64
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Ontological basis: Parse’s human becoming school of thought…….65
Methodological foundation:
Qualitative inquiry and phenomenology...…………….……………72
Phenomenology in human science research …...………….. 73
Phenomenology in nursing …………….………………….75
Contrary opinions about phenomenology in nursing …...….76
Phenomenological method …….……………………….….79
Presuppositions and general steps of the phenomenological
research process ……….…………….………………….….79
Giorgi’s modification of the phenomenological method ..…82
Computer mediated communication for collection of research
descriptions …………….……………………………………….….85
Opportunities of computer mediated communication …...... 88
Challenges of computer mediated communication …...…... 90
Summary …………………………………………………………….……. 91
CHAPTER IV ………………………………………………….………………… 93
RESEARCH PROCEDURE ……………………………………………………… 93
Overview ………………………………………………….…………….. 93
Research question ……………………………….…..….…………………. 93
Sampling and participant selection …………….……………………….….94
Role of the researcher …………………….…………………….….……… 95
Ethical considerations and protection of participants’ rights ……...……… 96
Gathering of research descriptions …..………………….………….…….. .97
Storage of research descriptions ……………………...………………….…99