Exploring the Lived Experience of Hope and Happiness: A Phenomenological Study
Keywords:
Phenomenology, Epoch, Meaning of Hope and HappinessAbstract
This study aimed to explore and conceptualize the lived experience of hope and happiness using a phenomenological approach. This qualitative phenomenological study collected data through semi-structured interviews with 33 participants who possessed relevant lived experiences. Data analysis followed systematic stages of transcription, open, axial, and selective coding, thematic structuring, and linguistic competence analysis guided by epoché and phenomenological reduction. Reliability was confirmed through inter-coder agreement using Cohen’s Kappa. The results revealed that hope and happiness are organized around five core dimensions: motivation, happiness, life satisfaction, joy, and dissatisfaction. The emergent conceptual framework demonstrates that family relationships, love and friendship, occupational success, psychological security, inner satisfaction, meaning-making, personal competence, and value-based beliefs significantly contribute to the formation of hope and happiness, while experiences of failure, loss, and insecurity undermine these constructs. Hope and happiness emerge as dynamic, multidimensional, and culturally embedded phenomena shaped by the interaction of personal, social, environmental, and value-based factors, providing a robust foundation for psychological interventions aimed at enhancing mental health and overall quality of life.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Omidreza Ghani (Author); Mohammad Javad Taghipourian; Azam Hajiaghajani, Maryam Rahmaty (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
