A Phenomenological Study on the Perception and Experience of Wearing Compression Garments

Purpose: Recently, in Korea, the health-related market pursuing healthy beauty is expanding, and the keyword safety is added, leading to industrialization in each field. In particular, in the garments market containing new materials, functional clothing with added compression functions is being released steadily. Accordingly, in this study, a qualitative study was conducted to understand the components and meaning of the experiential nature of wearing compression garments in vivid language. Method: In this study, Giorgi applied descriptive phenomenological research methods to identify the individual characteristics of participants and confirm the overall meaning and perception change process of wearing compression garments. The study participants were selected through a purposive sampling method targeting people who had worn compression garments for more than 3 months after being recommended by the M University Research Institute in Korea. The primary data collection for this study was a literature review for theoretical extraction, and the secondary data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews and narrative observation. The in-depth interview used an open-ended semi-structured interview format which is commonly used in phenomenological approaches. Results: As a result of analysis using Giorgi's four-step phenomenological approach, 75 meaning units, 13 subcomponents, and 4 components were derived. The final components related to the research participants' perception and experience of wearing compression garments are ‘the moment of wearing compression garments', ‘wearing compression garments and changes in perception', ‘wearing compression garments and physical changes', and ‘changes in health beliefs'. etc. appeared. Conclusion: What is common about the participants' experience of wearing compression garments is that they experienced positivity about changes in body shape and changes in their concept of health. It was confirmed that this experience led to control over the health environment and a change in awareness of health beliefs. The results of this study provided an opportunity to identify the uniqueness of those who have experience wearing compression garments, which cannot be confirmed in quantitative research.