McCaffrey, Ruth G.

This study provides a phenomenological analysis of living the experience of listening to music while recovering from surgery. The qualitative method used was that of Van Manen, as adapted by Munhall and outlined by Madayag. Specifically, this study describes three themes that emerged from transcribed interviews from eight participants who listened to music during recovery: (1) "comfort" from a discomforting condition which reveals the existential lived world of temporality; (2) "familiarity" in a strange environment, revealing the lived world of spaciality, and (3) "distraction" from fear, pain and anxiety, as the lived world of corporeality. In addition, implications for nursing research, practice, and education are discussed.