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A modified hermeneutic phenomenological approach toward individuals who have autism
Author(s) -
Newman Claire,
Cashin Andrew,
Waters Cheryl D.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.20382
Subject(s) - autism , phenomenology (philosophy) , psychology , cognition , cognitive psychology , abstraction , style (visual arts) , cognitive style , cognitive science , developmental psychology , epistemology , psychiatry , philosophy , archaeology , history
Individuals with autism have a unique cognitive processing style characterized by impaired abstraction, impaired theory of mind, and visual as opposed to linguistic processing of information. A consequence of this unique cognitive processing style is that traditional ways of hermeneutical phenomenological examination may be inadequate to achieve the kind of understanding of experience toward which this method is directed. In order to stay true to Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology, we needed to develop modifications to this research methodology, which include the use of visual aids to promote participant engagement and access the eidetic memory of a participant with autism, so as to elicit concrete descriptors of an experience. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 33:265–271, 2010