Lived Experiences and Healing Meanings of Postoperative Patients Using Traditional Herbal Remedies
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Abstract
Traditional herbal medicine remains an essential element in many societies’ healing practices, representing an intersection between cultural heritage and modern healthcare. Within the field of natural and herbal remedies, current knowledge largely emphasizes pharmacological efficacy while overlooking the lived experiences that shape patients’ perceptions of healing. However, little is known about how patients interpret and internalize their recovery through herbal use in contemporary clinical contexts, particularly following surgical procedures. This qualitative study fills that gap by employing an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach to explore how postoperative patients construct meaning from their experiences with herbal remedies during recovery, thereby offering a novel perspective that integrates cultural, psychological, and existential dimensions often absent in prior pharmacological research. Data were gathered from twelve postoperative patients (aged 28–65; 7 females and 5 males) who combined prescribed medical treatments with traditional herbal remedies after surgery. Each participant was interviewed through in-depth, semi-structured sessions lasting 60–90 minutes. The transcripts were analyzed following Smith’s IPA framework, involving iterative coding, theme clustering, and interpretative synthesis to ensure credibility and depth of interpretation. The analysis revealed four essential themes: emotional serenity, social support, spiritual resonance, and trust in natural safety. Together, these themes illustrate that herbal healing is not solely a physical process but a symbolic and existential act of reconnection—with self, community, and nature. This study’s novelty lies in its illumination of how postoperative recovery through herbal medicine embodies a culturally grounded sense of healing that transcends biomedical paradigms. The findings demonstrate that recovery through herbal medicine is understood as a holistic balance between body, mind, and spirituality. By bridging experiential narratives with cultural symbolism, these insights advance our understanding of healing as a meaning-making experience, emphasizing the value of integrating cultural and emotional dimensions into patient care. The study’s implications extend to the development of culturally sensitive healthcare models and open pathways for future interdisciplinary research combining phenomenology, medical science, and cultural studies.
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