259 The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 3 experiences (e.g., What has helped you process your postpartum social and emotional experiences?), and their experiences of postpartum social and emotional meaning-making (e.g., Who have you talked to about your postpartum social and emotional experiences since you went home with [your baby]?). To increase the accuracy of participants’ recall during data collection, Hermann-Turner asked the participants to discuss their last birth experience and if they had multiple children. The research team provided each participant with contact information for mental health resources and services should they want to follow up on any topics discussed during the focus groups. The focus group audio recordings were manually transcribed by the research team to ensure the accuracy of the transcripts used for data analysis. Hermann-Turner, Jonathan D. Wiley, and Corrin N. Brown served as the data analysis team. They worked together to analyze the data by meeting as a group and reaching a consensus during each stage of the research process. Once the focus group interviews were transcribed, the team used the guidelines Moustakas (1994) provided to analyze the data. Based on these data analysis guidelines, they selected the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen phenomenological data analysis method. This method, completed for each focus group transcript, involved identifying salient descriptions of participants’ experiences. These descriptions were then grouped into themes that were used to create a detailed description of the meanings and essences of the participants’ experiences. They then constructed a composite textual–structural description of the meanings and essences of participants’ experiences across all the focus group transcripts, including verbatim examples from the transcripts to describe the themes reported in this study. Trustworthiness and Positionality Epoche—setting aside prejudgments, biases, and preconceptions throughout the research process— is essential to transcendental phenomenological research (Husserl, 1931; Moustakas, 1994). As such, we aspired to maintain epoche by employing trustworthiness strategies focused on bracketing our prejudgments, biases, and preconceptions throughout the research process. Before engaging in any research activities, we explored our subjectivity related to the phenomenon of the study by engaging in a reflective writing process to explore the connections we had with the conceptualization of the study, the phenomenon of study, the participant population, and the context of the research. Collectively, we acknowledge how our anecdotal observations and experiences guided us to explore this topic and understand how mothers’ postpartum social and emotional experiences in rural communities can be enhanced. Although we share this unified belief, we represent a variety of backgrounds and experiences related to the present study. Specifically related to the phenomenon of inquiry, two researchers are biological mothers and have had their own postpartum social and emotional experiences. One of the researcher’s postpartum recoveries was in a non-rural context. In contrast, the other researcher’s postpartum recovery was within a rural community. The remaining three researchers have not experienced postpartum social and emotional experiences as biological parents. Concerning experience with rural communities, three of the five authors have direct experience with rurality, as they reside and serve as counselors in rural communities. The remaining two authors acknowledge limited experience related to living and working within rural communities. We employed several trustworthiness strategies that supported the bracketing of our various experiences to the study phenomenon and context. In addition to the a priori reflective writing exercise mentioned above, all researchers engaged in weekly reflexive journaling during study
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