Applying Petitmengin’s Explicitation Interview Method to Elicit the Lived Experience of Breathing Upon Waking by an Individual With Cystic Fibrosis

Breathing is an act that most people do not consciously evoke unless there is a presence of illness that affects the respiratory system. Adults generally take in 12 to 15 breaths per minute without even a thought about the body’s mechanics that allow for proper oxygenation and ventilation. However, for those with pulmonary compromise, breathing becomes a very conscious, deliberate, and sometimes laborious act. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of the explicitation method by Petitmengin by interviewing a subject to elicit the lived experience of breathing by an individual with end-stage cystic fibrosis (CF). To apply the interview method, the following phenomenological question guided the interviewer’s approach: What is the lived experience of breathing upon waking for an individual with CF? This paper includes a transcription of the interview followed by a self-critique, textual analysis, and discussion of the implications to health care.