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The purpose of this article is to reintroduce and describe the processes and phases of heuristic inquiry and to illustrate how the method can advance nursing science. Heuristic inquiry is a rigorous, systematic, phenomenologically orientated research method developed by Clark Moustakas for investigating, discovering, and understanding the nature and meaning of living experiences. Heuristic inquiry invites the inclusion of the researcher's autobiographical living of experience being investigated honoring the personal experiences of the phenomenon from self and each participant in the research study. The author proposes that heuristic inquiry be used in nursing science by including a theoretical interpretive process connecting the thematic essences of the nursing conceptual framework guiding the study. Nursing theory-guided heuristic research advances the study of caring for persons experiencing human-environmental-health transitions to enhance human betterment and wellbecoming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we draw on an example of heuristic inquiry – (Re)imagining becoming a physiotherapist: a phenomenological approach – to illustrate the role that reflexivity and representation can play in physiotherapy research outcomes and the meaning they might have for moving the profession forward. Qualitative research in physiotherapy tends to acknowledge reflexivity as a route to objectivity by making researcher biases overt, yet the debate about data representation (a researcher’s decision-making about how data are represented in a text) barely feature. This contrasts with qualitative research in other fields, including other health professions, where matters of representation (i.e., how knowledge is conveyed) are routinely debated and contested. Reflexivity, in fact, is much more than being transparent. Together with representation, reflexivity helps to position both the voices of participants and researchers within the research. The heuristic inquiry described in this paper offers new insights about learning to be a physiotherapist; it challenged assumptions about care in physiotherapy practice and it changed the first researcher’s identity and practice. These insights were generated through the synergies between reflexivity and representation, and we argue that physiotherapy research has an opportunity to be more expansive by taking a commitment to reflexivity and representation more seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Futures focussed paper shares my creative response to a reflexive ricochet of being researcher, to unexpectedly becoming the researched and back again. I am currently using phenomenologically art-led and heuristic research methods to explore the implications of the Futures Senses in tertiary career education. The field of career theory is holistic and multidisciplinary. It draws from psychological, sociological and cultural fields to contextualise human action across the lifespan. Therefore, I work with people in transition and anticipation. This paper emerged from my immersion in the Futures Sense of Yearning and the moment I recognised the futures sense of Yearning in myself. This unexpected epiphany initiated a reflexive response as spectator of, and traveller on, my own transitional and anticipatory experience which was hovering in the spaces between the inner and outer self. Using a Jungian spontaneous drawing technique I set to give voice to what Jung noted as the '... two worlds: the world of the external perception and the world of the perception of the unconscious...'. This process revealed latent embodied knowing that surfaced through dialogue with the artwork. The layered emergent data of the artwork is analysed using a Causal Layered Analysis (CLA). The CLA invites diverse and layered perspectives of the subject of inquiry by examining it from the perspectives of litany, systems, worldviews and metaphor. Inayatullah uses an iceberg analogy, to illustrate the layers of an inquiry that are simultaneously exposed and discrete; known, unknown and 're-known'. Thus, a CLA of self is used, to reveal the 'iceburg in the room', with intention to explicate the meaning of the personal, as it relates to the collective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a self-as-subject heuristic inquiry on using documentary film making as a therapy approach to treat emotional blocks. Film making process is similar to systematic evocative unfolding (SEU) technique in EFT which evokes emotions and episodic memories. Camera can be regarded as an extra eye capturing something one may not notice. The documentary film in this research records and tracks the process of me: in an encounter with a wild swan, my previously numbed bodily feelings were awakened, which led to a discovery of cultural and personal influence that prevented me from feeling protective anger. Camera witnessed my therapeutic change which supports the effectiveness of emotion-focused documentary making as one way of therapy. In this research, data were footages collected regularly during a period of a few months. Watching footages helps one recollect and unfold what had happened, while editing footages again and again is a re-experience, re-narrative / re-telling and making sense of one's experience, which is therapeutic and serves as data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The women who aspire to the role of a local government councillor in rural and regional areas of Australia are still breaking new ground. This paper presents research findings, by a woman who stood for election, concerning some of the barriers women face in achieving public leadership in regional and rural local governments ('councils'). It explores the motivation and leadership styles of six women candidates campaigning in two neighbouring all-male councils in regional New South Wales in 2017. The study used heuristic inquiry in which the researcher and participants share a personal lived experience of the issues being studied. Heuristic inquiry allowed for an intimate and creative presentation of the research. Key findings were that gender disparity was not a significant motivator for five of the six women. The main motivator was service to their community with all six women favouring a servant leader style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The women who aspire to the role of a local government councillor in rural and regional areas of Australia are still breaking new ground. This paper presents research findings, by a woman who stood for election, concerning some of the barriers women face in achieving public leadership in regional and rural local governments (‘councils’). It explores the motivation and leadership styles of six women candidates campaigning in two neighbouring all-male councils in regional New South Wales in 2017. The study used heuristic inquiry in which the researcher and participants share a personal lived experience of the issues being studied. Heuristic inquiry allowed for an intimate and creative presentation of the research. Key findings were that gender disparity was not a significant motivator for five of the six women. The main motivator was service to their community with all six women favouring a servant leader style.

Childlessness may affect a woman’s well-being and sense of identity, and cause feelings of loss and grief. I found no research on coaching for childless women. Using heuristic inquiry, I explored the experience of coaching in six participants (co-researchers), including myself. Findings suggest that coaching helped women cope with negative self– and societal– narratives; accept and change their perspective on a life without children; picture alternative futures; build confidence; achieve goals and rediscover themselves. Some women felt vulnerable and coach understanding, support and care were important, as were trust and co-creation. The research highlights the potential utility of coaching amongst childless women.

There has been a surge of interest in team coaching in recent years, however understanding of the process, based on the first-person perspective of team coaches, is lacking. This qualitative study was conducted using heuristic inquiry methodology, enhanced by the inclusion of focus groups. This process enabled shared learning, expanded thinking and knowledge development amongst the co-researchers over an eleven-month period. The study sheds light on the emergent practice of team coaching from the team coach’s perspective. The findings challenge concepts in the existing literature, add to existing knowledge as well as opening up new areas for debate. The findings have considerable potential to inform practice, and the coaching profession, by providing insight and a practical resource in the form of the PiE Team Coaching Model and accompanying framework. These resources detail universal elements, as well as typical variations, for team coaches to consider in their practice.

Homeplace (hooks, 1990) is a social construct wherein Black people can aspire to healthy existence and wholeness in an anti‐Black world. Describing experiences of their annual writing retreat, seven Black male counselor educators explored their experience of homeplace through coautoethnography using the six phases of heuristic inquiry (Moustakas, 1990). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiencing the death of a loved one can be a difficult occurrence. Adolescents, in particular, experience death in a unique way. Yet there is relatively little research on adolescents' experience with parental death and their involvement in the medical setting during a parent's terminal illness. This qualitative study utilized heuristic inquiry, a type of phenomenological research, to investigate adolescents' involvement in the hospital setting during parental terminal illness. Qualitative analysis of participants' experiences resulted in two primary categories associated with adolescents' involvement with medical professionals during parental illness: factors influencing hospital involvement and experience with health care professionals. The findings have implications for medical and mental health professionals who work with adolescent family members of terminally ill patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of intersectionality in counselor education and supervision has not been formally addressed by researchers in the preparation of counselors in training. Traditional ways of teaching multicultural and diversity issues in counseling include compartmentalized discussions about social identities, but do not incorporate intersectionality despite its significance in describing how individuals move through the world. The method of inquiry used to collect and analyze data was heuristic in nature due to the focus on contextual experiences of the participants as well as the researcher. The results showed how seven CES faculty members’ personal and professional experiences influenced their incorporation of intersectionality in their multicultural pedagogy. The extent to which intersectionality plays a role in understanding multicultural counseling education and experiences of faculty members is explored in this article.

This research aimed to contribute in the ever growing insight about the human psyche. Specifically, it intended to compose an alternate perception derived from the compounded personal experiences of the researcher and the participants of this research on the psi function of auric sensitivity, processed and analyzed through the method of analysis of heuristic inquiry. Having conducted an empirical study using a heuristic inquiry approach, aided by a select quantum physics principles, the researcher arrived with a quantum understanding of the human psyche. The human psyche is being referred to the human’s total personality and the collection of processes that involved the whole human faculties. Essential part of the total human personality was the psi reality called the human aura, and the psi potential or function that was called auric sensitivity. As quantum physics would explain, the human aura was an energy filled enveloping us. As an energy in varying densities, forms, textures, and colors, it can be seen and felt especially with extra ordinary level of sensitivity which can be harnessed through the process of preternaturalization comprised of a cyclical mechanized step by step process and by embracing a lifestyle or spirituality that is appropriate to psi phenomena. Being concerned and sensitive with the human aura would give humanity one notch of benefits, better understanding, healing, and improving of oneself and others too. References Academy of Ideas. “Introduction to Carl Jung – The Psyche, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious.” January 9, 2016. https://academyofideas.com/2016/01/introduction-to-carljung-the-psyche-archetypes-and-the-collective-unconscious/ Dejillas, Paul. Our Cosmic Origins. USA: Jobo Elizes, 2017. Eccles, John C. “The Human Psyche.” The GIFFORD Lectures University of Edinburgh 1978–1979.” Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 1980. Frankie. “A Metaphor for Understanding the Human Psyche.” Medium. November 20, 2016. https://medium.com/the-place-between/your-unconscious-what-you-need-to-know-about-it-d82bfc99ffee. Hiles, Dave. “Heuristic Inquiry and Transpersonal Research.” Paper presented to CCPE, London October, 2001. http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/HIpaper.htm. Kenny, Gerard. “An introduction to Moustakas’s heuristic method.” Nurse Researcher. United Kingdom: RCN Publishing, 2012. Moustakas, Clark. Heuristic Research: Design, Methodology, and Applications. Newbury Park CA: Sage Publications, 1990. Santander, Noel D. “Introducing Psianthropology.” Scientia. Manila: San Beda University, June 2014. Seth, Jane Roberts, and Robert Butts. The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expressions. Amber- Allen Publishing, 1996. Siegfried, William. “The Formation and structure of the Human Psyche.” Athene Noctua: Undergraduate Philosophy Journal. Issue No. 2. Florida Atlantic University, Spring 2014. Sultan, Navine. Heuristic Inquiry: Researching Human Experience Holistically. Sage Publications, 2018. https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=XQdHDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.

A capability mind set which includes reflexivity enhances the competency frameworks promoted by the professional associations with their attention to self-awareness, self-insight and personal accountability. Reflexivity is a core enabler of ethical coaching practice and personal and professional growth. However a clear appreciation of the term, its application, its benefits and its practice emerges as a potential misconception. The benefits of writing of poetry are typically understood within related helping professions such as psychotherapy and this article explores a possible relationship regarding the potential of poetry in supporting reflexive engagement for the professional coaching practitioner.

The divide between counseling research and practice is often wide. Humanistic research methodologies such as heuristic inquiry resonate with clinical practice and may bridge the research‐practice chasm through focus on real‐world experience and self‐other understanding. This article illuminates principles of heuristic inquiry and implications for humanistic clinical practice and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide bereavement is a newly developing field of research in the UK, yet over 6,600 people take their own lives here every year. This heuristic inquiry aims to explore the lived experiences of trainee psychotherapists bereaved by maternal suicide. It examines the lived experiences of the researcher and two participants, with data collected through interviews, dreams and journalling. The findings revealed five themes: 1) It's not just about the suicide, 2) The pain continues – attachment, abandonment and fear, 3) Left with all the unprocessed feelings – "the shit", 4) Trigger after trigger – complicated experiences of psychotherapy training, 5) A catastrophic loss that no one "gets". Implications for the counselling and psychotherapy profession are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotions play a significant role in our lives. While the literature has shed some light on how emotions are evoked, not all aspects are well understood. Music and dance or movement have been shown to stimulate an aesthetic or emotional response and seem to affect each other. However, these cross-modal influences have only been studied in individuals who are passively engaged. Missing are accounts of how music affects dancers and moving affects making music, a gap which is especially salient considering the frequent application of music during dance/movement therapy sessions. In this paper, I present a vignette from a creative arts studio class and subsequently describe the use of a heuristic arts-informed methodology as a means of gaining greater understanding about the connection between music and movement and their influences on emotions. I connect extant literature to my own findings and derive suggestions for the field of dance/movement therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using heuristic inquiry (HI), this article focuses on the ritual form of the Sesame approach to dramatherapy. It draws on the author's practice of facilitating dramatherapy group sessions in a psychiatric unit, working with young people who have suffered severe mental health difficulties and pose a risk to themselves and/or others. The majority had a history of trauma and had previously expressed suicidal ideation. Through exploring the author's own embodied reflexivity, the article examines the role of dramatherapy in young people's psychiatric care and the importance of a relational approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heuristic inquiry has been classified by many qualitative researchers, as a phenomenological approach, whereas transpersonal psychologists consider it a transpersonal research method. However, Moustakas, the creator of heuristic inquiry, distinguished heuristic research from descriptive phenomenology, and labeled it personal, instead of transpersonal. The differences between heuristic research and descriptive phenomenology are highlighted in this article for methodological clarity, and evidence from Moustakas's writings is presented to support the argument that heuristic inquiry could be considered either a personal or a transpersonal research method. Distinguishing phenomenological characteristics such as a grounding in philosophy and the application of the psychological-phenomenological reduction are missing from the heuristic inquiry design. In addition, heuristic inquiry is a person-centered approach, whereas the phenomenological method is a phenomenon-centered approach. Multiple essential similarities with transpersonal research methods, such as transpersonal descriptors, incorporating the researcher's personal experience, and a transformational impact justify the transpersonal classification. In addition, the article presents some challenges encountered in heuristic applications, such as discomfort with personal disclosure, privileging the researcher's personal experience, and unique ethical issues such as handling the confidentiality of the researcher as participant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rather than concentrating primarily on the content of my research, I focus here on the process of carrying my research for a professional doctorate. Referring to Bourner, Bowden and Laing’s (2000) distinction between professional researchers and researching professionals, I question whether the methodology used by aspiring academics is necessarily relevant for practitioners, such as me, who carry out doctoral research from within their professional practice. I spell out some of my philosophical attitudes and beliefs and show how these influence my approach to research. I then describe in some detail what I refer to as my research practice, covering key processes such as: absorbing existing information; initiating the production of new information; processing information to create new understanding; and expressing such understanding. I include a very brief description of my findings in order to illustrate the sort of knowledge that emerged from my research practice and follow this by a discussion on quality, limitations and implications. Finally, I challenge the reader to consider their own research practice.

This paper summarizes research first presented in an unpublished dissertation by the author (2005). A rigorous art-based, heuristic methodology in the tradition of Clark Moustakas (1990) examines the author’s own experiences with songwriting, spanning over 25 years. Compelling images reveal themselves in the inquiry in songs, dreams, painting, and sculpture as harbingers of human shadow, with undeniable auto-ethnographic features. A model for conceptualizing songwriting in particular and the creative process in general as vehicles for psychological understanding and healing is explored and described for art therapy and music therapy practitioners. The theoretical grounding emerging from this study pays homage to Hillman’s work (1977), highlighting an image’s autonomy, intent, and a sense of “otherness” owing to emergence from an imaginal realm (versus consensual reality). Images in this context are understood as not only visual but apparent in and able to be rendered through a variety of art modalities. The text highlights (and hyperlinks) a progression of original songs produced in the study, songs that parallel the academic learning and culminate in a final, musical “creative synthesis.” A complete song list, an index of images, and references are included.

In this article, I explore pathways towards critical reflexivity as a way of understanding the interaction between personal and professional development. How much do we, and can we, put our personal lives into our work? Reflexivity can be developed through various methods but is explored herein through life stories and dialogical poetry as ways of deepening the connection between personal discourses and professional lives. A heuristic inquiry framework developed by Clark MOUSTAKAS is used together with poetry and dialogue to map a personal exploration of reflexivity through life story work. The journey follows six phases: initial engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and culmination in a creative synthesis. Acknowledging that reflexivity is viewed as occurring in context, a narrative lens is used to integrate the importance of working with lived experience while recognizing how we are influenced by our past and present social interaction with others. In this way, as researchers and professionals, we are better able to position ourselves, to better understand the context in which we work, and to develop a more ethical lens through which we view our reality. The scope for personal agency and the creation of voice is explored through these interactions. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs170192

Mental health practitioners of varied orientations experience somatic phenomena in therapeutic work with clients. Understanding embodiment from the body psychotherapist's viewpoint can illuminate its nature for mental health counselors who experience the phenomenon but question how to channel it to inform their work. Findings from a heuristic inquiry using creative, relational, and reflexive approaches illuminate the experiences of 6 body psychotherapists and perceived impact of embodiment on clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiences of obsessive–compulsive individuals as expressed in first-person accounts have not been adequately explored. In this study, I used the heuristic self-search inquiry (HSSI) method and integral psychology framework to explore the process of self-healing during my encounters with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). In previous heuristic works, researchers reported their thoughts and feelings from inner-dialogue, but the actual internal dialogue was not accessible to the reader. In this study, I self-dialogued my thoughts and feelings in real-time self-to-self conversation in which I was both “I-Researcher” (IR) and “I-Participant” (IP). In this format, the conversation between IR and IP was impromptu and immediately available to the readers of this article. Together, these approaches comprised a unique method for exploring my OCD experiences. The self-dialogue data were autobiographical and collected via informal conversational style, using hand-written notes and without audio recordings. I analyzed data with a dialogic/dialectic approach and with Moustakas’s analytic phases/processes. Interpretations revealed my experience of a curative transformation through reasoned (dialectical) and relational (dialogical) HSSI. The results indicated that my own OCD healing did not depend on corrective actions (as the biomedical model posits), but instead depended on changes in my own contextual existence. These findings suggest that dialogic/dialectic integrated HSSI is a useful tool for researchers, professionals, and people who face OCD daily because the results demonstrated that belief in one’s abilities can flourish in the presence of confusion and despair and can have profound positive effects in the healing process. This research provides a helpful contribution to the therapist-centered literature on OCD by providing a client-based perspective of the disorder and a potential pathway for self-healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This paper summarizes phenomenology and discusses how nurses can use their own experiences as data and maintain rigour within the method. It explores how data from researchers experiencing the phenomenon of interest could be used to explicate assumptions and pre-understandings and may also be used as data. Background While the ethnographic concept of insider research has gained popularity, the notion of researcher as participant in phenomenology is relatively new. The lived experience of a phenomenon is unique to each person and utilization of the nurse researcher's experiences of the phenomenon should be considered for inclusion as data. Design Discussion paper. Data sources Articles from 2001 - 2015 in the CINAHL and PubMed databases were identified using keywords such as 'insider research', 'phenomenology', 'bracketing' and 'qualitative research'. In addition, reference lists from articles used were examined to identify additional literature. Implications for nursing Phenomenology is a valuable research method. Usability, credibility, trustworthiness and auditability of data collected must be considered to ensure rigour and maintain orientation to the phenomenon under investigation. Nurse researchers may be interviewed as participants if these four principles are considered and methods used are made explicit. Utilizing appropriate research methods are as important as getting clinical practice correct to advance knowledge and benefit those under our care. Conclusion We recommend using the researchers' experience as a data source to gain a complete picture of the phenomenon under investigation. Using the approach proposed here, nurses can ensure they are incorporating all data sources available while maintaining research rigour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Heuristic inquiry is a research approach that improves understanding of the essence of an experience. This qualitative method relies on researchers' ability to discover and interpret their own experience while exploring those of others. Aim To present a discussion of heuristic inquiry's methodology and its application to the experience of nurse migration. Discussion The researcher's commitment to the research is central to heuristic inquiry. It is immersive, reflective, reiterative and a personally-affecting method of gathering knowledge. Researchers are acknowledged as the only people who can validate the findings of the research by exploring their own experiences while also examining those of others with the same experiences to truly understand the phenomena being researched. This paper presents the ways in which the heuristic process guides this discovery in relation to traditional research steps. Conclusion Heuristic inquiry is an appropriate method for exploring nurses' experiences of migration because nurse researchers can tell their own stories and it brings understanding of themselves and the phenomenon as experienced by others. Implications for practice Although not a popular method in nursing research, heuristic inquiry offers a depth of exploration and understanding that may not be revealed by other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I explore pathways towards critical reflexivity as a way of understanding the interaction between personal and professional development. How much do we, and can we, put our personal lives into our work? Reflexivity can be developed through various methods but is explored herein through life stories and dialogical poetry as ways of deepening the connection between personal discourses and professional lives. A heuristic inquiry framework developed by Clark MOUSTAKAS is used together with poetry and dialogue to map a personal exploration of reflexivity through life story work. The journey follows six phases: initial engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and culmination in a creative synthesis. Acknowledging that reflexivity is viewed as occurring in context, a narrative lens is used to integrate the importance of working with lived experience while recognizing how we are influenced by our past and present social interaction with others. In this way, as researchers and professionals, we are better able to position ourselves, to better understand the context in which we work, and to develop a more ethical lens through which we view our reality. The scope for personal agency and the creation of voice is explored through these interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research uses heuristic inquiry to provide insight into experiences of generating questions in coaching. Eight experienced coaches, recruited as co-researchers, shared their experiences of generating coaching questions via post-coaching reflections and conversational interviews. Thematic analysis of the data identified that coaches noticed a wide range of elements when forming questions. Questions frequently ‘pop’ into the heads of coaches, accompanied by somatic sensations. When asking questions, coaches used prefacing statements for their own or their client’s benefit. Inner dialogue was experienced, often in the form of meta-questioning. This research highlighted three paradoxes that coaches tried to balance while enquiring of their clients. Suggestions for future research are also proposed.

The aim of this mixed method study is to identify evaluation criteria for interactive e-books. To find answers for the research questions of the study, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a four-round Delphi study with a panel consisting of 30 experts. After that, a total of 20 interactive e-books were examined with heuristic inquiry methodology. In the final phase, the results of the Delphi technique and the heuristic inquiry results were integrated. As a result, four themes, 15 dimensions, and 37 criteria were developed for interactive e-books. Lastly, the results and their implications are discussed in this paper and suggestions for further research are presented.

This is a case report about long-term existential psychotherapy with a person who lived with a ventricular assist device after a fulminant heart attack and who awaited heart transplantation. The therapeutic relationship lasted over 2.5 years with over 120 therapy sessions in total. The frequency of meetings was flexible. Most meetings took place in the therapy office at the hospital, with 50 minutes per session on a weekly basis. In the acute care phase and in a subsequent crisis, this frequency was increased to daily meetings in the inpatient unit. Using heuristic inquiry as a methodological approach, a co-constructed case report was generated, including verbatim transcript from recorded therapy sessions. Core existential-humanistic themes are highlighted and discussed against the background of the underlying theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this mixed method study is to identify evaluation criteria for interactive e-books. To find answers for the research questions of the study, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a four-round Delphi study with a panel consisting of 30 experts. After that, a total of 20 interactive e-books were examined with heuristic inquiry methodology. In the final phase, the results of the Delphi technique and the heuristic inquiry results were integrated. As a result, four themes, 15 dimensions, and 37 criteria were developed for interactive e-books. Lastly, the results and their implications are discussed in this paper and suggestions for further research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirituality’s relevance to the field of social work has grown through its expansion in literature, research, and practice over the past two decades. While studies in spirituality of diverse human groups abound in social work literature and research, there is a dearth of reported investigations on spirituality in the Deaf community. In this article, results of a mixed method research study that explored the spiritual director’s spiritual and technological experiences, coupled with an examination of the spiritual directees’ experiences, are presented and discussed. Based on findings from thematic analyses of the study, language, and culture were two relational features of spirituality that was congruent with the literature review in Deaf studies. Implications for the social work profession with its holistic approach and emphasis on cultural competency with clients are discussed. While the spiritual and technological experiences of the spiritual director and spiritual directees provided insight that may impact professional practices in the helping professions in the field of deafness, it is suggested that research in social work continue to study spirituality in the Deaf community in order to better understand their spiritual needs and develop culturally appropriate and spiritually sensitive practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motherhood has different meanings for women and there are a multitude of factors that shape experiences of parenting. Heuristic inquiry was used to examine the lived experiences of motherhood among 20 Mexican-origin women parenting alone. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted and data were organized and presented by six domains: (a) description of self as a mother, (b) perceptions of strengths, (c) perceptions of challenges, (d) influences as a parent, (e) meaning of motherhood, and (f) mothering as a woman of Mexican origin. Quotes were used to illustrate the six domains and a composite depiction to summarize our description and interpretation of the phenomenon of parenting alone as a Hispanic mother. Despite their challenges, participants described themselves as good mothers, who were protective, loving, and devoted to their children; they also described their culture as enriching their experiences of mothering although they faced obstacles due to marginalization and discrimination. A feminist-informed, intersectionality lens is used to discuss the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aim This paper is intended to introduce Moustakas's heuristic method to a wider nursing research audience. It is aimed at identifying the main principles that underpin this approach, and outlining the processes and structure that this form of inquiry might take. Background Heurism is a generic term that encapsulates a way of thinking and exploring that is shared by such diverse disciplines as computer programming, mathematics and philosophy. All these disciplines at some point require an understanding of the process that comprises the experience of discovery that pre-empts the formulation of a hypothesis. Review methods The heuristic method is critically reviewed and its strengths are identified. The discourse offered by post-modernism, which challenges some of the method's main principles, is explored and potential solutions offered. Discussion This paper highlights how research questions that are heuristic in origin can create conditions that offer the possibility for change in the researcher. It explores how the internal change that occurs in the researcher can be a catalyst for deeper appreciation of the question under investigation and how this personal transformation can be relevant for practice and research. Conclusion Nursing practice and research are ideally placed to engage with questions that emerge heuristically from our experience. Implications for research/practice Moustakas's method gives practitioners and researchers the opportunity to explore internal and personal questions. It suggests that the personal nature of these questions can contribute to the contexts and environments in which care and research take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marriage is often viewed as central to family stability and health, and problem-saturated discourses about single parenting have failed to address the advantages of parenting alone. Heuristic methodology was used to examine the meanings and experiences of Latinas parenting alone. This study reflects the lived experiences of 20 Mexican-origin women who participated in a 1- to 2-hour, in-depth, semistructured interview. Data are presented by three exemplary portraits and five core consistencies embedded in a composite depiction. Overall, although parenting alone was challenging, it was considered beneficial and preferable, especially when the child's father's influence was problematic or detrimental to the family's well-being. Chicana feminism and an intersectionality lens is used to interpret findings. Implications for research and intervention are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews the impact of training noncounseling specialists in counseling and Pre-Therapy skills and the effects on their clients at the severe end of the autistic spectrum. Initially most students clearly expressed their doubts about the possibility of implementing the skills and principles of the training with their client group. Their resistance to such a radically different way of working challenged our assumptions that students would embrace this training readily. Feedback at the end of training reported changes in the lives of clients and in the attitudes of the students, and achievement of the learning outcomes contradicted initial skepticism about the likely efficacy of training, and these constitute the key qualitative measures used to examine the impact of training. This paper describes our observations of a powerful dyadic change process, which may herald the development of a more helpful way of working with autistic clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports one aspect of a more extensive narrative inquiry into how two counsellors experienced their involvement in heuristic research and the contribution it made to their personal development. The paper is located within stories of Becoming a Reflexive Researcher: Using Our Selves in Research (2004) and shows how reflexive conversations enabled participants to co-construct meaning and create what Rosanna Hertz called 'reflexive knowledge' (1996). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]