Phenomenology: a scientific approach to lived experiences

Phenomenology is a philosophical current which intends to observe and describe the meaning attributed to an experience from the consciousness of the person who is living it. While it can be applied to different domains, especially to human care it describes subjective phenomenon such as suffering or quality of life. It constitutes as a real discipline, with its epistemology, its specific data (the individual's narration), its method of analysis to find the speech units of significance, and collaboration between researcher and participant (who becomes a co-researcher). Validity of the method is defined by the fact that the phenomenon becomes intelligible. In the representation of the disease and of the patient, the method is close to ethical principles like respect of autonomy and optimization of quality of life.