{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,6]],"date-time":"2026-11-06T05:25:21Z","timestamp":1793942721848,"version":"4.8.0"},"reference-count":69,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776729600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776729600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Health (London)"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Interest in posthuman concepts and ideas, philosophies and theories has grown enormously over the last 25\u2009years, and posthumanism is now one of the most vibrant and innovative frontiers in healthcare thinking. At its most basic, posthumanism is a philosophical approach that decentres the human and considers other non-human or more-than-human objects as equally important. But this description belies the many challenges posthumanism presents to the researcher. There are many competing approaches to consider, there is often opaque language to navigate, and there are many structural problems to overcome. In this paper we tackle three major methodological challenges: vitalism, or the question of what gives life to things; transcendence, and the substance problem; and correlation, or latent anthropocentrism. We consider how it might be possible to research with a process-based ontology in a world dominated by substance-based principles. And we conclude with four related recommendations: a focus on key principles, concept creation, deep reading and attention to ontological slippage, before reflecting on our own experiences researching walking for people living with persistent pain.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/13634593261442953","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T09:55:02Z","timestamp":1776765302000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Evicted from paradise: Methodological challenges of posthuman healthcare research"],"prefix":"10.1177","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9925-9810","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David A.","family":"Nicholls","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4353-9711","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Clair","family":"Hebron","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Brighton, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shirley","family":"Chubb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Chichester, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aagaard J (2022) Troubling the troublemakers: Three challenges to post-qualitative inquiry. International Review of Qualitative Research 15(3): 311\u2013325. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/19408447211052668","DOI":"10.1177\/19408447211052668"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Adam S Juergensen L Mallette C (2021) Harnessing the power to bridge different worlds: An introduction to posthumanism as a philosophical perspective for the discipline. Nursing Philosophy 22(3): e12362. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/nup.12362","DOI":"10.1111\/nup.12362"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_1","volume-title":"The Cinematic Mode of Production: Attention Economy and the Society of the Spectacle","author":"Beller J","year":"2006","unstructured":"Beller J (2006) The Cinematic Mode of Production: Attention Economy and the Society of the Spectacle. Dartmouth College Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822391623"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bergson H (1911) The evolution of life: Mechanism and teleology (Mitchell A Trans.). In: Bergson H (ed.) Creative Evolution. Henry Holt pp.1\u201397. Available at: https:\/\/brocku.ca\/MeadProject\/Bergson\/Bergson_1911a\/Bergson_1911_01.html","DOI":"10.5962\/bhl.title.166289"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Brady AM (2025) Negotiating attention: An ecology of reading in the digital age. Educational Philosophy and Theory 57: 942\u2013955. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/00131857.2025.2486651","DOI":"10.1080\/00131857.2025.2486651"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_1","unstructured":"Brady JC (2022) Bergson on problems. Epoch\u00e9 Magazine. Available at: https:\/\/epochemagazine.org\/53\/bergson-on-problems\/ (accessed 15 January 2026)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_1","volume-title":"The Posthuman","author":"Braidotti R","year":"2013","unstructured":"Braidotti R (2013) The Posthuman. Polity Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Braidotti R (2019) A theoretical framework for the critical posthumanities. Theory Culture & Society 36(6): 31\u201361. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0263276418771486","DOI":"10.1177\/0263276418771486"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_1","volume-title":"Posthuman Glossary","author":"Braidotti R","year":"2018","unstructured":"Braidotti R, Hlavajova M (2018) Posthuman Glossary. Bloomsbury Academic."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/9780230590823"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_1","author":"Buchanan I","year":"2020","unstructured":"Buchanan I (2020) Assemblage Theory and Method: An Introduction and Guide. Bloomsbury Academic.","journal-title":"Assemblage Theory and Method: An Introduction and Guide"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Campbell N Dunne S Dylan-Ennis P (2019) Graham Harman immaterialism: Objects and social theory. Theory Culture & Society 36(3): 121\u2013137. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0263276418824638","DOI":"10.1177\/0263276418824638"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315102184"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822392996-001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_1","volume-title":"Pessimism, Quietism and Nature as Refuge","author":"Cooper DD","year":"2024","unstructured":"Cooper DD (2024) Pessimism, Quietism and Nature as Refuge. Agenda Publishing."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cordry D (2025) Philosophy and the search for a new public. Deleuze and Guattari Studies 19(2): 159\u2013175. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3366\/dlgs.2025.0590","DOI":"10.3366\/dlgs.2025.0590"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5749\/9781452958392"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_1","volume-title":"From Deleuze and Guattari to Posthumanism: Philosophies of Immanence","author":"Daigle C","year":"2023","unstructured":"Daigle C, McDonald TH (eds) (2023) From Deleuze and Guattari to Posthumanism: Philosophies of Immanence. Bloomsbury Academic."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"DeFalco A (2020) Towards a theory of posthuman care: Real humans and caring robots. Body & Society 26(3): 31\u201360. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1357034x20917450","DOI":"10.1177\/1357034X20917450"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_1","volume-title":"Bergsonism","author":"Deleuze G","year":"1988","unstructured":"Deleuze G (1988) Bergsonism. Zone Books."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_1","volume-title":"Difference and Repetition","author":"Deleuze G","year":"1993","unstructured":"Deleuze G (1993) Difference and Repetition. Columbia University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_1","volume-title":"Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature","author":"Deleuze G","year":"1986","unstructured":"Deleuze G, Guattari F (1986) Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature. University of Minnesota Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_25_1","volume-title":"A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia","author":"Deleuze G","year":"1987","unstructured":"Deleuze G, Guattari F (1987) A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Massumi BTrans.). University of Minnesota Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Denzin NK Giardina MD (2023) Introduction: Global shifts in qualitative inquiry. In: Denzin NK Giardina MD (eds) Global Shifts in Qualitative Inquiry. Routledge pp.1\u201318 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4324\/9781003366072-1","DOI":"10.4324\/9781003366072-1"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dillard-Wright J Smith JB Hopkins-Walsh J et al. (2024) Notes on [post]human nursing: What it might be what it is not. Nursing Inquiry 31(1): e12562. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/nin.12562","DOI":"10.1111\/nin.12562"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_28_1","volume-title":"Materialism","author":"Eagleton T","year":"2017","unstructured":"Eagleton T (2017) Materialism. Yale University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_29_1","volume-title":"Whitehead's Philosophy of Organism","author":"Emmet DM","year":"2021","unstructured":"Emmet DM (2021) Whitehead's Philosophy of Organism. Hassell Street Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_30_1","author":"Fox NJ","year":"2016","unstructured":"Fox NJ, Alldred P (2016) Sociology and the New Materialism: Theory, Research, Action. Sage.","journal-title":"Sociology and the New Materialism: Theory, Research, Action"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_31_1","volume-title":"The Quadruple Object","author":"Harman G","year":"2011","unstructured":"Harman G (2011) The Quadruple Object. Zero Books."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_32_1","volume-title":"Immaterialism","author":"Harman G","year":"2016","unstructured":"Harman G (2016) Immaterialism. Polity Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Harris DX Rousell D (2022) Posthuman creativities: Pluralist ecologies and the question of how. Qualitative Inquiry 28(5): 427\u2013434. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/10778004221080219","DOI":"10.1177\/10778004221080219"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hartshorne C (1979) Whitehead's revolutionary concept of prehension. International Philosophical Quarterly 19(3): 253\u2013263. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5840\/ipq197919322","DOI":"10.5840\/ipq197919322"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_35_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Helin J Hernes T Hjorth D et al. (2014) Process is how process does. In: Helin J Hernes T Hjorth D et al (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Process Philosophy and Organization Studies. Oxford University Press pp.1\u201316 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199669356.013.0001","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199669356.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_36_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hird MJ Roberts C (2011) Feminism theorises the nonhuman. Feminist Theory 12(2): 109\u2013117. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1464700111404365","DOI":"10.1177\/1464700111404365"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_37_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hodge LA Olson JK (2024) Critical posthumanism: A double-edged sword for advancing nursing knowledge in planetary health. Nursing Inquiry 31(4): e12677. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/nin.12677","DOI":"10.1111\/nin.12677"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_38_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jackson AY (2017) Thinking without method. Qualitative Inquiry 23(9): 666\u2013674. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1077800417725355","DOI":"10.1177\/1077800417725355"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_39_1","volume-title":"Against Continuity: Gilles Deleuze\u2019s Speculative Realism","author":"Kleinherenbrink A","year":"2018","unstructured":"Kleinherenbrink A (2018) Against Continuity: Gilles Deleuze\u2019s Speculative Realism. Edinburgh University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_40_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/9781137412201"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_41_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kuby CR Bozalek V (2023) Post philosophies and the doing of inquiry: Webinars and WEBing sessions become a special issue(s). Qualitative Inquiry 29(1): 3\u20136. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/10778004221122288","DOI":"10.1177\/10778004221122288"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_42_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kuntz AM St.Pierre EA (2021) Proclaiming the new: An introduction. Qualitative Inquiry 27(5): 475\u2013479. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1077800420939125","DOI":"10.1177\/1077800420939125"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_43_1","volume-title":"Aberrant Movements: The Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze","author":"Lapoujade D","year":"2017","unstructured":"Lapoujade D (2017) Aberrant Movements: The Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. MIT Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lemke T (2014) New materialisms: Foucault and the \u2018government of things\u2019. Theory Culture & Society 32(4): 3\u201325. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0263276413519340","DOI":"10.1177\/0263276413519340"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_45_1","volume-title":"Hopeful Pessimism","author":"Lugt MVD","year":"2025","unstructured":"Lugt MVD (2025) Hopeful Pessimism. Princeton University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_46_1","unstructured":"Lupton D (2019) New materialisms: Key approaches. Available at: https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/336749741 (accessed 15 January 2026)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_47_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Malone K Tran C (2022) Diffracting child-virus multispecies bodies: A rethinking of sustainability education with east\u2013west philosophies. Educational Philosophy and Theory 55(11): 1296\u20131310. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/00131857.2022.2142554","DOI":"10.1080\/00131857.2022.2142554"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_48_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/9781137462466_7"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_49_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781003298519"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Meillassoux Q (2008) After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency ( Brassier R Trans.) Continuum. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5040\/9781350252059","DOI":"10.5040\/9781350252059"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_51_1","first-page":"408","volume-title":"Collapse: Philosophical Research and Development Volume III","author":"Meillassoux Q","year":"2012","unstructured":"Meillassoux Q (2012) Subtraction and contraction: Deleuze, immanence, and matter and memory (Mackay RTrans.). In: Mackay R (ed.) Collapse: Philosophical Research and Development Volume III. Urbanomic, pp.408\u2013449."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_52_1","volume-title":"Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World","author":"Morton T","year":"2013","unstructured":"Morton T (2013) Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World. University of Minnesota Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_53_1","author":"Morton T","year":"2017","unstructured":"Morton T (2017) Humankind: Solidarity With Nonhuman People. Verso.","journal-title":"Humankind: Solidarity With Nonhuman People"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_54_1","volume-title":"Theory of the Object","author":"Nail T","year":"2021","unstructured":"Nail T (2021) Theory of the Object. Edinburgh University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_55_1","volume-title":"The Philosophy of Movement: An Introduction","author":"Nail T","year":"2024","unstructured":"Nail T (2024) The Philosophy of Movement: An Introduction. University of Minnesota Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_56_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5749\/j.ctv1j13z7j"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_57_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Osborne T Rose N (2024) Against posthumanism: Notes towards an ethopolitics of personhood. Theory Culture & Society 41(1): 3\u201321. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/02632764231178472","DOI":"10.1177\/02632764231178472"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_58_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Renold E Ivinson G (2017) Horsegirl assemblages: Towards a posthuman cartography of girls\u2019 desire in an ex-mining valleys community. In: Gowlett C Rasmussen ML (eds) The Cultural Politics of Queer Theory in Education Research. Routledge pp.221\u2013241 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4324\/9781315656984-16","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315656984-16"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_59_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Richards M (2023) Posthuman Community Psychology: A Psychology for Marginalised People. Routledge https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4324\/9781003057673","DOI":"10.4324\/9781003057673"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_60_1","unstructured":"Rychter M (2011) Something out of nothing: An introduction to Ray Brassier\u2019s realistic nihilism. Kronos 16(1). Available at: https:\/\/kronos.org.pl\/numery\/kronos-1-162011\/ (accessed 15 January 2026)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_61_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shaviro S (2010) Interstitial life: Subtractive vitalism in Whitehead and Deleuze. Deleuze Studies 4(1): 107\u2013119. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3366\/e1750224110000863","DOI":"10.3366\/E1750224110000863"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_62_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5749\/minnesota\/9780816689248.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_63_1","first-page":"193","volume-title":"The Nonhuman Turn","author":"Sheldon R","year":"2015","unstructured":"Sheldon R (2015) Form\/matter\/chora: Object-oriented ontology and feminist new materialism. In: Grusin R (ed.) The Nonhuman Turn. University of Minnesota Press, pp.193\u2013222."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_64_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sinclair A Mahboub L (2024) Maddening post-qualitative inquiry: An exercise in collective (mad) theorising. Qualitative Health Research 34(13): 1247\u20131260. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/10497323241231896","DOI":"10.1177\/10497323241231896"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_65_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"St. Pierre EA (2017) Haecceity: Laying out a plane for post qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry 23(9): 686\u2013698. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1077800417727764","DOI":"10.1177\/1077800417727764"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_66_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"St. Pierre EA (2023) Poststructuralism and post qualitative inquiry: What can and must be thought. Qualitative Inquiry 29(1): 20\u201332. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/10778004221122282","DOI":"10.1177\/10778004221122282"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_67_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"St. Pierre EA (2024) A primer for post qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Research in Psychology 22(3): 571\u2013595. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/14780887.2024.2347579","DOI":"10.1080\/14780887.2024.2347579"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_68_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Taylor CA (2016) Close encounters of a critical kind: A diffractive musing in\/between new material feminism and object-oriented ontology. Cultural Studies \u2194 Critical Methodologies 16(2): 201\u2013212. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1532708616636145","DOI":"10.1177\/1532708616636145"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_69_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tesar M Semenec P Diaz-Diaz C (2020) Interview with Marek Tesar. In: Semenec P Diaz-Diaz C (eds) Posthumanist and New Materialist Methodologies: Research After the Child. Springer pp.135\u2013141 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-981-15-2708-1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-15-2708-1_12"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_70_1","unstructured":"Wallace R (2025) Why physics today stands on the wings of angels and demons. Aeon. Available at: https:\/\/aeon.co\/essays\/why-physics-today-stands-on-the-wings-of-angels-and-demons (accessed 19 March 2025)."}],"container-title":["Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/13634593261442953","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/13634593261442953","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/13634593261442953","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,6]],"date-time":"2026-11-06T04:46:48Z","timestamp":1793940408000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/13634593261442953"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]]},"references-count":69,"alternative-id":["10.1177\/13634593261442953"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/13634593261442953","relation":{},"ISSN":["1363-4593","1461-7196"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1363-4593","type":"print"},{"value":"1461-7196","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]]},"article-number":"13634593261442953"}}