Named an Outstanding Academic Title for 2002 by Choice! Thomas and Pollio, authors of numerous publications, have written a must-read book for nurses and other health care providers who want to understand and engage in the human experiences of patients. The authors provide wonderful insights for students, researchers, and clinicians into the world of existential phenomenology and share, through the use of this research methodological approach, the personal stories of patients as they lived their experiences. As thought-provoking as the research examples are, the chapters explaining philosophy and methods of existential phenomenology are essential reading for all nursing students...Thomas and Pollio write clearly and simply without the usual academic jargon, a welcome change for college students, clinicians, and researchers alike. This book fills a void in the nursing research literature and will be welcome to nursing researchers, practitioners, and lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.

--CHOICE This book fills not only a gap but a wide cavern....I can not think of a better way for neophyte nurses to engage the human experiences and perspectives of their patients, nor can I think of a more relevant and comprehensive explanation of the philosophy and methods of existential phenomenology for seasoned researchers, scientists, and theoreticians."--Jacquelyn H. Flaskerud, PhD, RN, FAAN, UCLA School of Nursing

While addressing a wide readership, this book focuses particularly on the nurse clinician and student, demonstrating how a humanistic philosophy and research methodology has the potential to illuminate the deeper meanings of health crises and universal human experiences like pain and spiritual distress.