Beyond the divide between cognition and discourse: Using interpretative phenomenological analysis in health psychology

This paper introduces interpretative phenomenological analysis (PA) and discusses the particular contribution it can make to health psychology. This is contextualized within current debates, particularly in social psychology, between social cognition and discourse analysis and the significance for health psychology of such debates is considered. The paper outlines the theoretical roots of PA in phenomenology and symbolic interactionism and argues the case for a role for PA within health psychology. Discussion then focuses on one area in the health field, the patient's conception of chronic illness and research in medical sociology from a similar methodological and epistemological orientation to PA is introduced. The paper concludes with an illustration of PA from the author's own work on the patient's perception of renal dialysis.