This can be exemplified by one of the earliest phenomenographic studies carried out in Sweden, which searched for qualitative differences between individual students as to the outcome and process of their learning, based on their written reports after reading

an academic text. The results Selumetinib in vivo revealed a hierarchy of categories in terms of depth of learning (from surface to deep learning), which reflected in turn the qualitatively different ways the students had comprehended the text (Richardson, 1999). Notwithstanding this pedagogical focus, phenomenography has in recent years gained the interest of healthcare researchers as well, as, with its unique empirical approach, it has the potential of adding to knowledge within a healthcare framework (Barnard et al., 1999; Sjostrom & Dahlgren, 2002). In the work presented here, we were interested in the phenomenographic study of patients’ experiences of chronic illness. The prevalence of chronic illnesses worldwide is increasing, as the result of better possibilities PF-02341066 concentration for treatment and survival (Wagner et al., 2001). Chronic illnesses are here defined as illnesses

that are prolonged in duration, do not often resolve spontaneously, and are rarely cured completely. They may require repeated periods of treatment from healthcare providers and may also need to be managed by patients (Audulv, 2013; Wagner et al., 2001). Herein, based on this need to manage the illness, lies the potential of the phenomenographic approach in healthcare research, as the ways that patients experience their illnesses can be used as sources of knowledge in patient education and

patient empowerment (Stattin, 2001). In learning to live with a chronic illness, patients need to understand not only their illness, but the way they experience it. Giving patients the opportunity to reflect upon their ways of experiencing can give them insight into their own needs and reactions, which then can lead to Org 27569 making decisions and taking control (Stattin, 2001). In a preliminary exploratory search for previous research on chronic illnesses with a phenomenographic approach, we found a long series of studies, almost exclusively from Sweden. These studies, which dealt with different chronic illnesses, were each based on the experiences of few informants. Therefore, we decided to synthesize these studies using a meta-ethnographic method which allowed for an interpretation of the results within a phenomenographic framework. Thus, our aim was not to describe patients’ various individual experiences of illness, but instead to identify the different ways chronic illness can be experienced by patients. Method The method chosen for our synthesis of research studies using a phenomenographic approach was meta-ethnography. This method, developed in 1988, is an inductive and interpretive form of knowledge synthesis (Noblit & Hare, 1988).