Understanding lived experiences of African American women who lost a male child to suicide

¶ … roots in Husserl's philosophy of phenomenology, later developed and somewhat modified by key philosophers such as Sartre, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty. The phenomenological approach is best for understanding description of lived experience in regards to methods that include observation, interviews, discussion, and participant involvement. The objective is 'to get into' the subject, understand him or her as best as possible, in order to understand her perspective and interpret him as he does himself. It can also be used for interviews and for textual analyses such as memoirs and other accounts of an individual's life. What phenomenology essentially involves is bracketing one's assumptions in an act called 'epoche' so that one attempts to perceive the other and occurrences objectively. Concepts peculiar to phenomenology also include terms such as 'intentionality, 'noema', and 'noesis'. 'Intentionality' is the focus practiced by the researcher, 'noema' refers to the phenomenon that is experienced, whilst 'noesis' is the way in which it is experienced. Further terms include 'phenomenological reduction', 'imaginative variation', and 'synthesis' that alternately refer to reducing the phenomena to its essence, imagining it in its manifold possibilities which will help the researcher derive structural themes, and, finally, synthesizing derived meanings and essence to arrive at a complete (although never conclusive) judgment (Moustakas, 1994).

The phenomenological practitioner is well aware of the fact that everything can be seen from multifaceted angles and all have multi-layered constructions. A researcher has to persistently keep on looking at the target item always seeking different frames of reference in order to arrive at meanings that may have been concealed: To arrive at the essence of the phenomena entails unifying noema (the external perception) with noesis (the internal perception).

Admittedly, the phenomenological approach does have some challenges foremost of which is the question whether it is really possible to understand the other form his perspective and, secondly, whether the interviewer is not 'compelling' the interviewees to recount their story according to what they think the researcher may want to hear. The questions that the researcher decides to ask them, the way they may hear and interpret his questions, the manner in which he records their stories -- all of these may be unavoidably, unintentionally biased since all is slanted in a certain manner. These are problems that are intrinsic to phenomenology (as they are to interviewing in general) and, possibly, cannot be resolved.

As used here, my intention for employing the phenomenological method was to arrive at the stories of the mothers of the suicide victims in a way that has not as yet been addressed. My intent is to interpret the stories and experiences of the interviewees in the way that they perceive them, and, consequently, to be able to identify important areas of experiencing suicide from a maternal perspective that has heretofore been overlooked or insufficiently explored, and which, due to their dealing with emotions and feelings, cannot be explored in a quantitative manner. The scientific, quantitative manner is best conduced in a laboratory-based environment amongst inert, or predictable elements. People's feelings, however, cannot be adequately tested via measurement and mathematical based instruments. Although the former are arguably more objective than a qualitative method, the qualitative research provides rich description that the quantitative lacks. The qualitative generates, elaborates, and 'stretches out' the material available on the subject via description, exploration, and investigation of the phenomenon as articulated by the subjects themselves. This study uses the phenomenological approach in the hope of getting as close to the lived experiences as possible so that something of their reality as they see it can be expressed.

Does the research generate a new theory?

By using a phenomenological perspective, the research study may well generate new theory in a manner that is reminiscent of grounded theory. Investigating the phenomenon from the felt experience of the mothers may well open us up to a heretofore-undiscovered aspects accordingly affording us new avenues of exploration.

Does the research refine or add to a new theory?

The research adds to the quantitative material on the subject by adopting a qualitative, phenomenological approach. Suicide has increased alarmingly amongst African-American males (Thomas, 2009). The maternal voice is rarely, if ever, heard; Granting mothers of suicide victims this opportunity can help both practical and theoretical applied research in that social workers and counseling programs can be better structured to help families cope with the loss, as well as other programs aimed to alleviate the problem. The study may throw new light on suicide from a spiritual aspect, or from some other aspect, perhaps because it is considered taboo that has hitherto been overlooked. By describing the real experiences of African-American mothers who have lost a male child to suicide, underlying cultural and spiritual elements that render the subject taboo may emerge that will help us understand the phenomenon better.

Does the research refute a theory or test a theory?

In a manner of speaking the research may be testing the theory that parents of a child who commits suicide are blamed for the child's death and involuntarily liked less. This theory was formulated by American researchers in the U.S.A. (Calhoun et al., 1980) and may well be relative to the nationality and ethnicity of the parents. In some countries, of the Middle East, for instance, suicide of particular individuals is seen as an honor (since their death was seen as sacrifice for holy cause). By taking a phenomenological approach, the study will be investigating whether African-American mothers feel that they are liked less by their community and society and blamed for the child's death as Calhoun et al. (1980) propose.

Does the research expand a theory by telling us something new?