The Meaning of Experiences for New Migrant Nurses
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23015721Keywords:
migrant nurses, Filipino nurses, hermeneutic phenomenology, lived experience, nursing migration, professional adaptationAbstract
This hermeneutic phenomenological study interpreted the meaning of the experiences of new migrant Filipino nurses working abroad and used the findings as the basis for a proposed intervention program. Fifteen Filipino nurses who had been working abroad for three years or less were purposively selected from hospitals, community hospitals, and nursing homes across Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. Data were gathered through validated semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted primarily through Zoom and voice-messaging platforms. Interview transcripts were organized in NVivo and analyzed through familiarization, open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, with interpretation guided by Max van Manen's five lifeworld existentials: lived body, lived space, lived time, lived human relations, and lived materiality. Five essential themes emerged: Bearing, Adapting, and Becoming in the Lived Body; Dwelling Between Distance, Structure, and Belonging; Becoming Better Through Time: Struggle, Growth, and Transformation; Connecting, Enduring, and Becoming in the Lived Human Relations; and Working, Adapting, and Becoming Through Material Systems. Across these themes, migration was experienced as a continuous process of physical and emotional endurance, spatial displacement and belonging, gradual competence development, relational negotiation, and adaptation to technologies, protocols, and care systems. The findings indicate that becoming a migrant nurse extends beyond professional relocation and involves identity reconstruction, resilience, ethical growth, and increasing confidence in global healthcare settings. These insights informed the 12-month KALINGA-ABROAD Program, a nurse-centred support framework addressing embodied well-being, community integration, structured mentorship, relational safety, technological readiness, and continuity of support.
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