The Living Experience of Feeling Overwhelmed

Abstract

Feeling overwhelmed is a universal living experience of living quality. Although feeling overwhelmed frequently occurs in healthcare, studies related to its meaning have never been published. Parse’s humanbecoming school of thought was the theoretical framework for this study. The research question for this study was: What is the structure of the living experience of feeling overwhelmed? The purpose was to advance nursing science and enhance the theory of humanbecoming. Parse’s phenomenological-hermeneutic research method was the method used. Participants from the general population included nine women and one man ranging in age from 18 to 65. Descriptions were arrived at through dialogical engagement. The major finding of the study is the structure: Feeling overwhelmed is burdening disconcertedness surfacing with divergent engagements as optimistic anticipation arises while structuring endeavors.