{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T17:50:20Z","timestamp":1789753820367,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":72,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"1","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000785","name":"Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000785","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,30]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article examines how people who are shorter than average make sense of their lived experience of embodiment. It offers a sociophenomenological analysis of 10 semistructured interviews conducted in the Netherlands, focusing on if, how, and why height matters to them. It draws theoretically on phenomenological discussions of lived and objective space, intercorporeality and norms about bodies. The analysis shows that height as a lived phenomenon (1) is active engagement in space, (2) coshapes habituated ways of behaving and (3) is shaped by gendered norms and beliefs about height. Based on this analysis, the article challenges what we label as the \u2018problem-oriented approach\u2019 to discussions about growth hormone treatment for children with idiopathic short stature. In this approach, possible psychosocial disadvantages or problems of short stature and quantifiable height become central to the ethical evaluation of growth hormone treatment at the expense of first-hand lived experiences of short stature and height as a lived phenomenon. Based on our sociophenomenological analysis, this paper argues that the rationale for giving growth hormone treatment should combine medical and psychological assessments with investigations of lived experiences of the child. Such an approach would allow considerations not only of possible risks or disadvantages of short stature but also of the actual ways in which the child makes sense of her or his height.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2018-011548","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,26]],"date-time":"2018-11-26T17:15:26Z","timestamp":1543252526000},"page":"2-11","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["How sociophenomenology of the body problematises the \u2018problem-oriented approach\u2019 to growth hormone treatment"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"46","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3018-7411","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Cristina","family":"Murano","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Culture and Communication, Link\u00f6ping University, Link\u00f6ping, Sweden"},{"name":"Medicine, Science, Health and Society (Cermes3), School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris, France"},{"name":"Center for Bioethics, Children\u2019s Mercy Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jenny","family":"Slatman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Culture Studies, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kristin","family":"Zeiler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thematic Studies: Technology and Social Change, Link\u00f6ping University, Link\u00f6ping, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1210\/jc.2008-0509"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1159\/000086593"},{"issue":"Suppl 1","key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.3","first-page":"75","article-title":"Management of idiopathic short stature: psychological endpoints, assessment strategies and cognitive-behavioral intervention","volume":"71","author":"Noeker","year":"2009","journal-title":"Horm Res"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1159\/000458526"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9566.2004.00386.x"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2014.10.015"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/maq.12025"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/archpedi.158.3.236"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1159\/000452150"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1210\/jc.2016-2046"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/archpedi.156.3.230"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.12","unstructured":"\u00a0European Medicines Agency. Somatropin [Internet]. London: European Medicines Agency, 2012."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"270","DOI":"10.1136\/adc.2005.081778","article-title":"\"Anything you can do, I can do bigger?\": the ethics and equity of growth hormone for small normal children","volume":"91","author":"Gill","year":"2006","journal-title":"Arch Dis Child"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2012-010297"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.23.5.305"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0022-3476(00)90057-X"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.314.7074.97"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.18","unstructured":"Feldman SD . The presentation of shortness in everyday life. Height and heightism in American society: toward a sociology of stature. In: Feldman SD , Thielbar GW , eds. Life styles: diversity in American society. Boston: Little, Brown, 1975:437\u201343."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.19","unstructured":"Herpin N . Le pouvoir des grands. Paris: La D\u00e9couverte, 2006."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.20","unstructured":"Lasco G . Height matters: The making, meanings and materialities of human stature in the Philippines. (Doctoral dissertation). Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, 2017."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"465","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ehb.2012.06.004","article-title":"Height, socioeconomic status and marriage in Italy around 1900","volume":"11","author":"Manfredini","year":"2013","journal-title":"Econ Hum Biol"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.ajp.162.7.1373"},{"issue":"Suppl 3","key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.1159\/000330145","article-title":"Psychological criteria for treating children with idiopathic short stature","volume":"76","author":"Bullinger","year":"2011","journal-title":"Horm Res Paediatr"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1530\/eje.0.151S029"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"76","DOI":"10.1186\/1477-7525-11-76","article-title":"Assessing the quality of life of health-referred children and adolescents with short stature: development and psychometric testing of the QoLISSY instrument","volume":"11","author":"Bullinger","year":"2013","journal-title":"Health Qual Life Outcomes"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/adc.2005.086942"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1111\/apa.1991.80.s377.14","article-title":"Psychological impact of significantly short stature","volume":"377","author":"Siegel","year":"1991","journal-title":"Acta Paediatr Scand Suppl"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1111\/apa.1991.80.s377.3","article-title":"The social cost of being short: societal perceptions and biases","volume":"80","author":"Underwood","year":"1991","journal-title":"Acta Paediatr"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1159\/000330155"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1159\/000341151"},{"issue":"Suppl 3","key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.1159\/000330163","article-title":"Psychological functioning in idiopathic short stature","volume":"76","author":"Noeker","year":"2011","journal-title":"Horm Res Paediatr"},{"issue":"Suppl 3","key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1159\/000330162","article-title":"Growth-related quality of life","volume":"76","author":"Chaplin","year":"2011","journal-title":"Horm Res Paediatr"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Carel H . Phenomenology of Illness. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199669653.001.0001"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11019-014-9544-2"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11019-010-9237-4"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10746-009-9109-1"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.37","unstructured":"Leder D . The absent body. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1990."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"553","DOI":"10.1007\/s11019-015-9625-x","article-title":"How to develop a phenomenological model of disability","volume":"18","author":"Martiny","year":"2015","journal-title":"Med Health Care Philos"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1007\/s11007-014-9316-y","article-title":"The normal, the natural, and the normative: a merleau-Pontian legacy to feminist theory, critical race theory, and disability studies","volume":"48","author":"Weiss","year":"2015","journal-title":"Cont Philos Rev"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02331805"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"69","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1527-2001.2012.01305.x","article-title":"A Phenomenology of excorporation, bodily alienation, and resistance: rethinking sexed and racialized embodiment","volume":"28","author":"Zeiler","year":"2013","journal-title":"Hypatia"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.5840\/soctheorpract20103616","article-title":"Cultural Norms, the Phenomenology of Incorporation, and the Experience of Having a Child Born with Ambiguous Sex","volume":"36","author":"Malmqvist","year":"2010","journal-title":"Soc Theory Pract"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"295","DOI":"10.1007\/s10728-010-0153-9","article-title":"The meaning of body experience evaluation in oncology","volume":"19","author":"Slatman","year":"2011","journal-title":"Health Care Anal"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Slatman J , Yaron G . Toward a Phenomenology of Disfigurement. In: Zeiler K , K\u00e4ll LF , eds. Feminist Phenomenology and Medicine. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014:223\u201340.","DOI":"10.1515\/9781438450087-012"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.45","first-page":"100","article-title":"Bodily Relational Autonomy","volume":"21","author":"K\u00e4ll","year":"2014","journal-title":"J Conscious Stud"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Slatman J . Our Strange Body. Philosophical Reflections on Identity and Medical Interventions. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2014.","DOI":"10.1017\/9789048523146"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Diprose RJ . A \u201cgenethics\u201d that makes sense: take two. In: Shildrick M , Mykitiuk R , eds. Ethics of the body: postconventional challenges. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005:237\u201358.","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/2842.003.0019"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.48","unstructured":"Merleau-Ponty M . Smith C , Phenomenology of perception, trans. London, New York: Routledge, 1962."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shildrick M . Embodying the monster. Encounters with the vulnerable self. London: SAGE Publications, 2002.","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446220573"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"640","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9566.00224","article-title":"A phenomenology of fear: Merleau-Ponty and agoraphobic life-worlds","volume":"22","author":"Davidson","year":"2000","journal-title":"Sociol Health Illn"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Morris D . Body. In: Diprose RJ , Reynolds J , eds. Merleau-Ponty: key concepts. Stocksfield: Acumen, 2008:111\u201320.","DOI":"10.1017\/UPO9781844654024.010"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.52","first-page":"194","article-title":"Intercorporeality and interaffectivity","volume":"11","author":"Fuchs","year":"2016","journal-title":"Phenomenology and Mind"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.53","unstructured":"Weiss G . Body images. Embodiment as intercorporeality. New York, London: Routledge, 1998."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1357034X95001001004"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/pr.2012.189"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/20797222.2017.1401304","article-title":"Teenage Girlhood and Bodily Agency: On Power, Weight, Dys-Appearance and Eu-Appearance in a Norwegian Lifestyle Programme","volume":"18","author":"Groven","year":"2018","journal-title":"Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.57","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1471-6712.2004.00258.x"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1177\/1357034X05052459","article-title":"The Missing Dialogue between Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty: on the importance of the zollikon seminars","volume":"11","author":"Aho","year":"2005","journal-title":"Body Soc"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.59","first-page":"22","article-title":"Intertwined Identities: challenges to bodily autonomy","volume":"2","author":"Weiss","year":"2009","journal-title":"Perspectives: International Postgraduate Journal of Philosophy"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.60","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"In: Zeiler K , K\u00e4ll LF , eds. Feminist Phenomenology and Medicine. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014.","DOI":"10.2307\/jj.18253445"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.61","unstructured":"Ellen KF . Making sense of intersex: changing ethical perspectives in biomedicine. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2014."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zeiler K . On the aut\u00f3s of autonomus decision-making: Intercorporeality, temporality, and enacted normativities in transplantation medicine. Aho K , Existential medicine: Essays on health and illness. London: Rownman and Littlefield Int, 2018:81\u2013100.","DOI":"10.5040\/9798881812126.ch-006"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Svenaeus F , Bioethics P . Phenomenological Bioethics. Medical technology, human suffering and the meaning of being alive . Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2018.","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315210131"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"347","DOI":"10.1007\/s00431-015-2656-8","article-title":"Psychometric performance of the Quality of Life in Short Stature Youth (QoLISSY) questionnaire in the Netherlands","volume":"175","author":"Rohenkohl","year":"2016","journal-title":"Eur J Pediatr"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.65","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1186\/s12955-015-0236-2","article-title":"Evaluation of the American-English Quality of Life in Short Stature Youth (QoLISSY) questionnaire in the United States","volume":"13","author":"Bullinger","year":"2015","journal-title":"Health Qual Life Outcomes"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.66","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/archpedi.160.10.1035"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.67","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1076","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2010.06.026","article-title":"The medicalisation of \u2019tall' girls: A discourse analysis of medical literature on the use of synthetic oestrogen to reduce female height","volume":"71","author":"Rayner","year":"2010","journal-title":"Soc Sci Med"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.68","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Malmqvist E . Phenomenology, Cosmetic Surgery and Complicity. In: Zeiler K , Kall LF , eds. Feminist Phenomenology and Medicine. New York: Suny Press:81\u2013100.","DOI":"10.2307\/jj.18253445.7"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.69","unstructured":"Lakoff G , Johnson M . Philosophy in the Flesh. New York: Basic Books, 1999."},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.70","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1363460715593477"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.71","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1186\/s40504-018-0069-y","article-title":"How medical technologies shape the experience of illness","volume":"14","author":"Hofmann","year":"2018","journal-title":"Life Sci Soc Policy"},{"key":"2025092412055528000_46.1.2.72","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"295","DOI":"10.1007\/s10728-010-0153-9","article-title":"The Meaning of Body Experience Evaluation in Oncology","volume":"19","author":"Slatman","year":"2011","journal-title":"Health Care Analysis"}],"container-title":["Medical Humanities"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2018-011548","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T19:07:29Z","timestamp":1758740849000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/mh.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2018-011548"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,26]]},"references-count":72,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,21]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,3]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/medhum-2018-011548"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/medhum-2018-011548","relation":{},"ISSN":["1468-215X","1473-4265"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1468-215X","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-4265","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,26]]}}}