The Lived Experience of Suffering: A Parse Research Method Study

The purpose of this study was to enhance understanding about the lived experience of suffering. Parse's phenomenological-hermeneutic method was used to answer the research question: What is the structure of the lived experience of suffering? Participants were 12 elderly persons residing in two longterm care facilities. Data were collected through dialogical engagement. Through the extraction-synthesis process, three core concepts were identified. When joined, they formed the structure: Suffering is unbounded desolation emerging with resolute acquiescence with benevolent affiliations. The finding was linked with the human becoming theory through heuristic interpretation, and is discussed in light of participants' descriptions and relevant literature.