{"id":12491,"date":"2017-04-06T07:32:35","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T07:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/?p=12491"},"modified":"2017-04-06T07:32:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T07:32:35","slug":"exploring-the-experiences-occupations-of-men-with-cfsme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/exploring-the-experiences-occupations-of-men-with-cfsme\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the experiences & occupations of men with CFS\/ME"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thesis abstract:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exploring the experiences and occupations of men with chronic fatigue\u00a0syndrome\/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS\/ME) using a gadamerian\u00a0interpretive phenomenological framework<\/a>, by\u00a0Anne Johnson, 2107 University of the West of England\u00a0Phd thesis [Online March 31, 2017]<\/p>\n

Background:<\/strong>
\nChronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) known interchangeably as myalgic\u00a0encephalomyelitis or encephalomyelopathy (ME) is a contentious and often\u00a0misunderstood condition of unknown cause. Associated symptoms may\u00a0fluctuate and include post exertional mental and physical fatigue, sleep\u00a0disturbance, generalised aches and pains and for some,\u00a0hypersensitivities to alcohol, light and noise.<\/p>\n

The impact of having\u00a0CFS\/ME can result in disruption to all aspects of day to day life for\u00a0children and adults regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic factors. In\u00a0adults, it is estimated that population prevalence is 0.2-0.4% which is\u00a0higher than in children and that women are affected by the condition\u00a0more than men by a ratio of 3:1.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of the literature\u00a0linked to living with CFS\/ME focuses on the experiences of women with\u00a0the condition and as a consequence, there is a dearth of literature\u00a0reporting on the experiences of men. Additionally, men with CFS\/ME are\u00a0considered as difficult to recruit in terms of research participation.<\/p>\n

Objective:<\/strong>
\nThe focus of this study was to explore the experiences of men living\u00a0with CFS\/ME and its impact on their day to day lives and occupations.<\/p>\n

Design:<\/strong>
\nA qualitative design was employed underpinned by interpretive\u00a0phenomenology. Eight men aged between 21 and 68 years old were recruited\u00a0with a clinically confirmed diagnosis of CFS\/ME and interviewed up to\u00a0four times. Rich data were generated through dialogue, poetry and\u00a0artworks. Interpretations were made using the hermeneutic work of\u00a0Gadamer <\/a>(2004) as a philosophical framework.<\/p>\n

Analysis:<\/strong>
\nThematic analysis was employed. Unique and shared experiences were\u00a0identified from the data. Shared findings were synthesised into three\u00a0themes to reflect the temporally situated nature of the men’s\u00a0experiences.<\/p>\n

Findings:<\/strong>
\nThe findings illustrate that existentialist notions of\u00a0‘being-in-the-world’<\/a> were significantly disrupted by the presence of\u00a0CFS\/ME. Additionally, the occupational dimension of ‘being-in-the-world’\u00a0referred to as ‘doing’ and notions of ‘belonging’ and ‘becoming’ were\u00a0also disrupted. How CFS\/ME impacted upon individual risks to survival\u00a0and health was also elicited.<\/p>\n

Conclusions:<\/strong>
\nNew knowledge was generated to add to the body of work linked to the\u00a0impact of CFS\/ME on the lives and occupations of men with the condition.\u00a0A unique way of knowing about the meaning of occupation was also gained\u00a0through fusing philosophical and occupational orientations\/frameworks to\u00a0inform occupational therapy practice and the occupational science\u00a0literature.<\/p>\n

The importance of considering the men’s ‘being-in-the-world’\u00a0was emphasised in order to understand their ‘doing’ as a dimension of\u00a0‘being’ and their subsequent ‘belonging’ and ‘becoming’. Uniquely,\u00a0notions of ‘traumatised being’, associated with potentially life\u00a0threatening causes of fatigue, and ’emasculated being’ were experienced\u00a0by some of the men and the importance of an awareness of these concepts\u00a0is addressed in terms of occupational therapists facilitating survival,\u00a0well-being and ‘harmonious health’ for men with CFS\/ME.<\/p>\n

[<\/strong>patient stories are contained in chapter 5]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thesis abstract: Exploring the experiences and occupations of men with chronic fatigue\u00a0syndrome\/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS\/ME) using a gadamerian\u00a0interpretive phenomenological framework, by\u00a0Anne Johnson, 2107 University of the West of England\u00a0Phd thesis [Online March 31, 2017] Background: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) known interchangeably … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[3677,2979,3678,2911,3679],"class_list":["post-12491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-anne-johnson","tag-men","tag-occupational-therapy","tag-thesis","tag-university-of-the-west-of-england"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5qkYK-3ft","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12491"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12526,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12491\/revisions\/12526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}