Psychosocial experiences of left-handed children: Phenomenological study

The study was intended to explore the psychosocial experiences of left-handed students in selected religious schools in Addis Ababa. A phenomenological qualitative research design was used to understand their experiences. An in-depth interview with sixteen left-handed students was conducted purposefully in four faith-based schools, and observation was employed and analyzed by Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. The findings showed that left-handed children go through supportive and challenging experiences at home and in school settings. The supportive experiences were accepting, understanding, and encouraging left-handedness by various social members. However, the challenging experiences focus more on the repression of the left hand, and this repression is influenced by different religious and cultural beliefs, physical environment, and educational factors. These factors repress left-handers by ignoring their special needs, comparison with siblings, and forbidding performing different tasks using their left hand. Left-handed children also experience suggestions from different societies to practice using their right hands. Left-handed children were found to have particular experiences and feelings different from relatives and other societies. The study suggests that awareness raising about left-handedness and understanding of their unique experience and challenges helps to support left-handed children, among others, from bullying and teasing. Therefore, this study has implications for parents and the school community, educational training, and other initiatives that want to be involved, and the implications for further study were discussed.