Ayesha Aziz

The current qualitative study aimed to explore the Mystical Experiences among religious preachers. A Purposive sampling technique was employed to select a sample of (n=10) religious preachers who had encountered at least one mystical experience. The transcendental phenomenological approach was used to capture the essence of the mystical experiences, through in-depth semi structured interview guide which was developed based on five domains namely exploration of mystic features, beliefs, impact on life, sharing of mystical experiences as well as the religious and cultural oriented explanations. Initially, a pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility of the semi-structured in-depth interview guide and also to finalize the road map for the main study. The main study was conducted after incorporating changes in the pilot study. The modification of Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen’s model by Maustakas (1994) was employed for data analysis followed through a series of steps such as bracketin...

The current study aimed to investigate the lived experiences about Stigma and Discrimination among participants diagnosed with Depression. Transcendental phenomenology was used as a research inquiry by focusing on Husserl’s concept of epoch and bracketing in order to get a fresh perspective towards the phenomenon under investigation. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit a sample of 10 participants diagnosed with Depression with a duration of at least one year from out-patient’s settings of Lahore-based private and government hospitals. The DSM-V Cross Cutting Symptoms Measures level I were utilized to screen participants on comorbidity and the severity level of Depression. Furthermore, the interview was used as a data collection measure by exploring in depth semi-structured interview guide with the screened participants. The Van Kaam modified method for analysis was rigorously followed by the researchers through a series of steps such as epoche, phenomenological reduction (hor...

The current study aimed to investigate the lived experiences about Stigma and Discrimination among participants diagnosed with Depression. Transcendental phenomenology was used as a research inquiry by focusing on Husserl's concept of epoch and bracketing in order to get a fresh perspective towards the phenomenon under investigation. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit a sample of 10 participants diagnosed with Depression with a duration of at least one year from out-patient's settings of Lahore-based private and government hospitals. The DSM-V Cross Cutting Symptoms Measures level I were utilized to screen participants on comorbidity and the severity level of Depression. Furthermore, the interview was used as a data collection measure by exploring in depth semi-structured interview guide with the screened participants. The Van Kaam modified method for analysis was rigorously followed by the researchers through a series of steps such as epoche, phenomenological reduction (horizontalization and invariant constituents), and imaginative variation (individual structural and textural description). The composite description of the essence of the experiences revealed contextual factors of Stigma and Discrimination, experiences of stigma, and strategies needed to reduce Stigma and Discrimination about Depression. The study highlighted the need to develop culture-sensitive stigma reducing intervention to establish contact between patient diagnosed with Depression and the first level service provider.

study is a small-scale study conducted prior to a main study to assess the feasibility of conducting the main study. It helps the researcher especially novice researcher to have some practice in interviewing and to be able to refine the final road map for the main study. Although literature about pilot programs in quantitative studies is widely available, this researcher experienced difficulty locating adequate literature about these in qualitative research. Therefore, the intent of this article is to discuss the importance of the pilot study by using phenomenological inquiry. For this study, the pilot study is conducted originally as a part of large-scale qualitative study meant for the Doctorate of Philosophy. The researcher shared her personal reflections of the pilot study as was conducted with the patients who had been clinically diagnosed with depression. During the process of conducting the pilot study, the researcher confronted different social and cultural challenges. The conduction of the pilot study proved to be useful in various ways such as (i) to provide the opportunity to improve methodological basis (ii) the refinement of data collection methods (iii) to enabled to position oneself as a researcher from a phenomenological perspective and (iv) to provide an opportunity to practice epoche while conducting a phenomenological inquiry.

The present study assesses developmental epidemiology of polyvictimization. Sample (N = 178) was selected through purposive sampling (14-17 years) from different NGO's based in Lahore. To assess victimization, Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) was used which assess 34 different acts of victimization by summing into five aggregates such as conventional crime; childhood maltreatment; peer and sibling victimization; sexual victimization and witnessing indirect violence. The sample was divided into three groups: slightly victimized; moderately victimized; and highly victimized groups on the basis of their obtained scores on JVQ to assess highly victimized group. The Descriptive analysis was run and results were derived for age and gender which showed that boys have frequent exposure to conventional crime and girls reported frequent exposure to sexual victimization. The results further suggested that adolescents reported to experience witnessing indirect violence, sexual victimization and conventional crime most of the time. Chi Square analysis indicates non-significant differences between gender and age with reference to victimization category but still the results stress the need for early recognition and intervention in order to take remedial steps to prevent future victimization.