A Caring Science Study on Suffering in Outsidership

Maria Björkmark, Camilla Koskinen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Background: Fellowship with other people is fundamental for every person’s life, health and wellbeing. Despite this many experience outsidership in our society today.Objective: The aim of this study is to present what outsidership means for the human being and what suffering a person may experience in outsidership.Material and methodology: Outsidership is studied through narratives from foreign students, as well as from persons who have experienced outsidership in relation to a religious community. The main methodology used is hermeneutics and therefore the material was analysed through content analysis and hermeneutical interpretation.Results: The result indicates that outsidership can lead to social pain, collective rejection, stigma, shame, suffering related to care and mental illness. Outsidership that is by own choice, temporary and where the person’s social network and foundation in life remains, can lead to that the person learns new social codes and isable to create a new sense of belonging. On the other hand outsidership experienced in relation to a community, with strict rules and boundaries, can lead to a suffering that is much deeper and hard to endure. Being excluded from a fellowship and not feeling welcome might lead to mental illness.Discussion: An involuntary outsidership often leds to deep human suffering and requires care and understanding from nursing staff. The study shows that health professionals do not always know how to encounter patients suffering from outsidership. Thereby there is a need for more knowledge and understandingabout outsidership in healthcare.Keywords: outsidership, suffering, hermeneutics, content analysis, caring science
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)415–421
JournalInternational Journal of Caring Sciences
Volume9
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2016
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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