title: Experiencing chronic illness: cocreating new understandings.
abstract: This study was conducted as part of a research course in which new partnerships with area citizens and community-driven programs of research were developed. Working together, the teachers, students, and citizens were able to document their practical knowledge through conducting a study of the lived experiences of chronic illness using Heideggerian hermeneutical phenomenology. The pattern, Experiencing Chronic Illness: Cocreating New Understanding, and three themes emerged during the analysis of the data (a) focusing on functional status doesn't adequately account for the experience of chronic illness, (b) decentering the focus on the treatment of symptoms makes way for equally important discussions of meaning making in the context of chronic illness, and (c) the objectified language of healthcare covers over how chronic illness is experienced.
authors.affiliation: Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Ironside
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scheckel
authors.forename: Constance
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wessels
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.forename: Deana K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Seeley
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D003256:Community Participation; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D004506:Education, Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033262:Narration; D011788:Quality of Life; D014481:United States