B.P.

KOIRALA INSTITUTE OF HEALTH SCIENCES

COLLEGE OF NURSING
DHARAN ,SUNSARI , NEPAL

Seminar on Parse Theory of Hermeneutics

Submitted to: Submitted by

Ms. Rambha Sigdel Sapana Dahal

Ass.Professor M.Sc. Nursing 1st year

Community Health Nursing Community Health Nursing

CoN,BPKIHS CoN,BPKIHS

Submitted on:6/9/2022
 Hermeneutics

Introduction

Hermeneutics, in general terms, is the art of interpretation or the art of

understanding. It is basically a branch of a discipline closely related to the
language. We think, interpret, talk and write using language. As a consequence, we
need hermeneutics to live in society; we need a language interpretation.
Hermeneutics plays a role in a number of disciplines whose subject matter
demands interpretative approaches, characteristically, because the disciplinary
subject matter concerns the meaning of human intentions, beliefs, and actions, or
the meaning of human experience as it is preserved in the arts and literature,
historical testimony, and other artifacts.

History

Although its origins are somewhat unclear, the term hermeneutics is often traced
back to the ancient Greek figure of Hermes, the messenger of the gods to humans
and hence interpreter of divine action. The Latin half-neologism ‘hermeneutica’
was introduced into scientific terminology shortly before1630 by the German
Philosopher and the theologian Johann Conard Dannhauer (1603-1666) as an
equivalent of the old Greek term ‘hermeneutike = hermeneutic (art) that in turn
derives from the verb ‘hermeneuein’ meaning originally ‘to express’ or ‘to
translate’ .

The 19th century saw the move of hermeneutics from religious texts to
understanding in general and from approximating correct understanding to the
approximation of better understanding. This move is mainly associated with
Friedrich Schleiermacher and Wilhelm Dilthey. First Schleiermacher (1838|1998)
extended hermeneutics from religious and ancient texts to all forms of linguistic
material and later Dilthey (1957) to understanding in general. Modern
hermeneutics deal with the question of human understanding in general as
developed by Heidegger and Gadamer.
Definition and Meaning

Hermeneutics is a qualitative research methodology that focuses on interpreting the

meanings of experiences in individual’s life. It is a major philosophy and research
method in the humanities, human sciences and arts disciplines with a central goal
of describing people’s experiences. Hermeneutics refers to the theory and practice
of interpretation, where interpretation involves an understanding that can be
justified. It describes both a body of historically divers methodologies for
interpreting texts, objects, and concepts, and a theory of understanding.
hermeneutics therefore concerns the meaning of interpretation—its basic nature,
scope and validity, as well as its place within and implications for human
existence; and it treats interpretation in the context of fundamental philosophical
questions about being and knowing, language and history, art and aesthetic
experience, and practical life.

Hermeneutics can be:

1. General hermeneutics: General hermeneutics has traditionally been

conceived as a philosophical discipline, commonly as part of logic in a
wide sense (including methodology and parts of what is nowadays called
epistemology).It has two leading concepts, understanding and interpretation.

2. Several domain- or discipline-specific subspecies of hermeneutics : It

included hermeneutica sacra, that is bible hermeneutics, hermeneutica
iuris, that is, legal hermeneutics, archeological ,musical ,historical
hermeneutics.

Biblical Hermeneutics
It is the study of the general principles of biblical interpretation. For both
Jews and Christians throughout their histories, the primary purpose of
hermeneutics, and of the exegetical methods employed in interpretation, has
been to discover the truths and values expressed in the Bible. In the history
of biblical interpretation, four major types of hermeneutics have emerged:
the literal, moral, allegorical, and analogical.
Literal: a biblical text is to be interpreted according to the “plain meaning”
conveyed by its grammatical construction and historical context.

Moral: Moral interpretation is necessitated by the belief that the Bible is the
rule not only of faith but also of conduct.

Allegorical: It interprets the biblical narratives as having a second level of

reference beyond those persons, things, and events explicitly mentioned in
the text.
Analogical: It seeks to explain biblical events or matters of this world so
that they relate to the life to come.

Importance of hermeneutics

 It provides the qualitative researchers with the in-depth understanding

of what people say, do and why and helps in the interpretation.

 Nurses should seek to interpret and understand the lived experiences

of patients in order to limit or prevent misunderstandings and
inaccuracies in communication

Concept of Hermeneutic Cycle

The concept of the hermeneutic circle was conceived by German
philosopher Martin Heidegger in 1927 in his book Being and Time. The
hermeneutic circle refers to the idea that our understanding of a text as a
whole is based on our understanding of each individual part, as well as our
understanding of how each individual part refers to the whole text. For
example:
When we first read a text—whether a book, a research paper, or a blog post
—we form an initial understanding. As we progress through the text, we
keep on evaluating this initial understanding based on the new knowledge
brought by the text as it unfolds. This new knowledge will form the basis of
a new understanding, which will change our personal context in terms of
 beliefs and expectations. In turn, the new context will inform the way we
interpret the text.

Literature Review and the Hermeneutic Circle Cycle

The whole body of relevant literature for a specific phenomenon consists of
multiple texts and, in turn, individual texts can be seen as parts of the whole
body of relevant literature. In accordance with the hermeneutic circle,
understanding of the meaning and importance of individual texts depends on
the understanding of the whole body of relevant literature which in turn is
built up through the understanding of individual texts. Undertaking a survey
of relevant literature can therefore be described by the hermeneutic circle.

Seeing the process of understanding as generally open ended and circular in

nature, hermeneutics provides a framework for describing literature reviews.
According to this understanding, literature reviews facilitate a deeper
understanding not only of the body of relevant literature but also a deeper
understanding of individual texts. Literature reviews therefore do not have to
start by identifying all potentially relevant texts, but should proceed from a
thorough reading of relevant texts. Reading of texts will facilitate the quest
for further relevant literature. Using this approach enables researchers to
successively encircle relevant works. Depending on the nature of an
investigation, this encirclement can be wider, for broad overviews
investigating general relationships, or narrower when a comprehensive
survey of particular aspects is desired.
( Sebastian K. Boell & Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic,2010)

Hermeneutics : Interpretive Phenomenology

It was given by Heidegger which stresses on the interpretation and understanding

not just describing the human experiences. In interpretive phenomenology
bracketing does not necessarily occur. Hermeneutics pre-supposes prior
understanding on the part of the researcher. Interpretive phenomenologist ideally
approach each interview text with openness- they must be open to hearing what
the text is saying. They rely on in-depth interviews with individuals who have
experienced the phenomenon of interest, but can go beyond a traditional approach
to gathering and analyzing data. For example: interpretive phenomenologist
augument their understanding of the phenomenon through the analysis of
supplementary texts, such as novels, poetry.

Example: The study of how the older adult in nursing homes constructed the
meaning of home following transition from community dwelling to the nursing
home.

The Parse Phenomenologic- Hermeneutic Research Method

It was formulated by Rosemary Parse based on her Human becoming Paradigm. It

has elements of both the phenomenology and hermeneutics. Its aim is to uncover
the meaning of universal living experiences by studying descriptions of people’s
experiences.

Nursing Paradigms and Parse’s Theory

Person :Open being who is more than and different from sum of parts.

Environment: Everything in the person and his experience.

Health: It is not static but is ever changing as human choose ways of living

Nurse: Human science and art that uses abstract body of knowledge to serve
people

Parse’s research methods consists of three processes:

Dialogic engagement: It is the data gathering process. Parse stressed that this is not
an interview but a unique dialogue where the researcher is a true presence with the
participant, who is asked to talk about the experience under study.

Extraction –synthesis : In this process , descriptions are moved out of the

participants’ language into the language of science, a higher level of abstraction.

The six steps in this process includes:

  Constructing a story that captures the core ideas about the phenomenon
from each person’s dialogue.
 Extracting and synthesizing essences from participants’ description.
 Synthesizing and extracting essences as conceptualized in the researcher’s
language at a higher level of abstraction.
 Formulating the language art from each participants’ essences. A
proposition is a non- directional statement conceptualized by joining the
core ideas of the essences that arise from the participants’ description in the
researchers’ language.
 Extracting and synthesizing core concepts from the language art of all
participants. Core concepts are the ideas that capture the central meaning of
the proposition.
 Synthesizing a structure of the living experience from the core concepts. A
structure involves a conceptualization in which the researcher joins the core
concepts.

Heuristic Interpretation
It is the final process which entails the structural transposition,conceptual
integration, metaphorical emergings, and artistic expressions. By means of
structural transposition, the structure of the description of the experience is
moved to the higher level of abstraction. The structure of the experience is
connected with the concept of Parse’s Human Becoming Paradigm through
the conceptual integration. Metaphorical emergings entail identifying
metaphors in the participants’ description that help illuminate the meaning
of their experiences. In the artistic expression, the researchers’ own choice
of an artform is used to embody their transfiguring moments.
Example: To investigate the lived experience of feeling overwhelmed.
Participants in the study were adults from a general population. Descriptions
were arrived at through the dialogic engagement.

Hermeneutics in Nursing Studies: An Integrative Review

Utilizing hermeneutic phenomenology for nursing practice, education, and
administration has made a significant contribution to the substantive body of
nursing knowledge. Qualitative methods acceptance as effective approaches to
nursing knowledge discovery continues to develop; evidenced by increasing
nursing research guided by hermeneutic phenomenology; to investigate
phenomena of interest experiences .

Education Domain: The study of Ranse et al. [28] has provided insight into the
experiences of third-year nursing students preparing for the transition to practice as
graduate nurses. When reflecting on experiencing loss, students questioned their
own actions, acknowledged the value of relationships and identified ways to cope.
The second study of Packard and Hoffman [29] to the students’ reflections and
shared conversations; become human science text for this hermeneutic
phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of pre-nursing students.
Regarding the study of Coatsworth et al. [30] data reflected participants’ realities
and how the researcher related findings of the study to demonstrate and resonate
with a construction of overseas volunteering assisted student nurses to reconnect
with their empathy and compassion, and explore the humanistic and interpersonal
nature of nursing rather than the technical skill-based components of nursing
identity. Additionally, the participants were forced to enact their nursing skills to
the very boundaries of their capabilities and to be more innovative. Furthermore;
Porteous & Machin [31] study; revealed developing undergraduate students own
skills of coping and survive with considerable variation in their experience that
influenced their motivation and behavior to meet the demands of academic life

Practice Domain: Experience of working with new nurses, working experiences

with chronic daises ill patients, adapting to new strategies as emotional intelligence
in nursing practice are central phenomenon to nursing practice that can be enriched
when examined from a qualitative lens. Therefore, phenomena unique to the
practice of professional nursing need investigative approaches suitable to their
unique nature [7] .Valizadeh et al. [37] described the preceptors experience of
working with new nurses as “being left alone”, with no adequate support from
nurse managers and bedside nurses. They felt that the workload involved in the
preceptorship role was often underestimated and new nurses were assumed as full
working forces. On the hand, the preceptors were critiqued for shortcomings and
errors caused by new nurses. Mendes, [38] study of the humanity of nurses was
revealed in response to the needs of the family. In view of the requirements for
information, it was verified that the information transmitted allowed them to
become aware of themselves, to become empowered in their daily lives and to
alleviate the emotional burden experienced. While Blomberg et al. [39] study
showed personal ethical value by confirming the patient as a person, caring for the
patient and preserving the patient’s dignity. A new understanding emerged that the
operating theatre nurses always have the patient in mind. Karimooi et al. [41]
indicated that the coronary artery disease led patients to experience ups and downs
for the participations. After the disease, they were trying to achieve calmness
through some strategies. Members of the treatment team, especially nurses should
provide self-care education for to make them be having successfully in this field.
Imani et al. [40] revealed that nurses that work in unstable and stressful conditions,
provide better understanding about the concept of nurses’ intelligent resilience.
And by this may enhance to achieve calmness through some strategies to make
them behaving successfully. While; Bright [42] has clarified the role of ethical
orientation, creativity and connection with the human experience through
exploration of self and other. However, Koskinen & Nystrom [43] had central
foundations in the application of research which are ethics, creation of a
hermeneutical room, dialogue and common understanding and appropriation and
action. When theoretical understanding turns into praxis, knowledge also becomes
activity and theory and practice become one.

Administration Domain: Studies related to professional nurse behavior and work

activities, satisfaction, successful leadership strategies, and perspectives on nurse
empowerment would cross over between administration and practice and little.
Thompson et al. [44] study findings of nurses’ work activities and professional
group identity influence their work identity. When work activities and professional
group identity do not align with role expectations, as can be the case for nursing
home nurses, work identity may be compromised. These nurses may attempt to
change work practices to strengthen their work identity. While last study of Liden
et al. [45] found patients’ suffering from MUS constantly engage in a reflective
process involving reasoning about and interpretation of their symptoms. Their
efforts to describe their symptoms to healthcare professionals are part of this
reflection and search for meaning. The role of healthcare professionals in the
interpretative process should be acknowledged as a conventional and necessary
care activity.

Evidently, practice-related research domain is growing and expanding into various

nursing areas, with significant and extensive development of related-researches in
education and administration domains. Examples of hermeneutic
phenomenological research applied to the areas of nursing practice, education, and
administration emphasize the important contribution that phenomenological
research has made to nursing’s substantive body of knowledge. Hermeneutic
phenomenology method provides a road for investigation that allows interpretation
of numerous experiences. The interpretations of nurses in practice, education, and
administration domains can be a remarkable foundation of data that need to be
more fully explored and make significant contribution to body of nursing
knowledge. Incorporating data extracted in the domains of clinical practice,
education, and administration can help significantly in improving patient care.

A hermeneutic approach to the characteristics of mental health nursing

practice

Mental health nursing (MHN) takes a non-reductionist view of the human being,
based on a hermeneutic and interdisciplinary perspective. MHN is dependent on
the development of hermeneutic knowledge for understanding the deeper meaning
of, for example, encountering a patient with emotional pain. The aim of this study
was to provide a philosophical discussion about the characteristics of MHN
practice. The hermeneutic approach was used to expand the philosophical
discussion of MHN. In order to explore the consequences for MHN practice,
previous relevant research within the discipline of MHN was used, exemplified by
patients suffering from emotional pain. Two themes emerged: A reflective way of
being and working and Relationships as a foundation for change and
improvements. Four themes emerged related to the practice of the nurse: Desire for
confirmation and trust, The vulnerable human being, The difficulties involved in
responsibility and The power of self-development, authenticity and freedom. MHN
must be open to changing some of the negative images of past interdisciplinary
discussions in order to provide high quality care and support to the suffering
patient. The hermeneutic approach is one way to help nurses who work in the
context of mental health to understand and use their intuition and empathy to
empower patients, thus providing hope and future possibilities.( Holm AL,
Severinsson E,2011)

Summary

Hermeneutics is the art of interpretation or the art of understanding. Hermeneutics

is a qualitative research methodology that focuses on interpreting the meanings of
experiences in individual’s life. It is a major philosophy and research method in the
humanities, human sciences and arts disciplines with a central goal of describing
people’s experiences. The hermeneutic circle refers to the idea that our
understanding of a text as a whole is based on our understanding of each individual
part, as well as our understanding of how each individual part refers to the whole
text. Its importance in nursing is that it helps nurses to interpret and understand
the lived experiences of patients in order to limit or prevent misunderstandings and
inaccuracies in communication.

References
1. Polit D.F. and Beck C.T. Nursing Research: Generating and Assessing
Evidence for Nursing Practice. 10th Edition, Wolters Kluwer Health,
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2. Peterson PL, Baker E, McGaw B. International encyclopedia of education.
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3. Sebastian K. Boell & Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic (2010) Literature
Reviews and the Hermeneutic Circle, Australian Academic & Research
Libraries, 41:2, 129-144, DOI: 10.1080/00048623.2010.10721450

Retrieve from: https://doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2010.10721450

4. Abu Ali, F. and Abushaikha, L. (2019) Hermeneutics in Nursing Studies: An

Integrative Review. Open Journal of Nursing,9,137-151.doi:
10.4236/ojn.2019.92013.

5. Tuffour I. A critical overview of interpretative phenomenological analysis:

A contemporary qualitative research approach. Journal of Healthcare
Communications. 2017 Jul 29;2(4):52.

6. Holm AL, Severinsson E. A hermeneutic approach to the characteristics of

mental health nursing practice. J Psychiatr Mental Health Nursing. 2011
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