1,721,089 research outputs found
Strengthening the position of family therapy and systemic practice through methodology
No full textFirst paragraph: There is little doubt that there is a fit at method, theory and epistemological levels between constructionist/constructivist therapy and research. Qualitative research has a resonance with systemic practitioners with a desire to see/hear the voices of participants, in a way that is isomorphic with the therapeutic endeavour. A recent paper has begun to tease out some of the important convergences between qualitative research and family therapy (De Haene, 2010). In this paper the author focuses on dialogical methods from the qualitative stable, suggesting an essential joining of therapy and research. Through an argument based around constructivism she suggests that language-based research is itself interventive, and thereby concludes that "the division between research and therapy no longer stands" (p. 9)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Psychosocial support within the everyday work of hospice ward nurses: an observational study
Full text linkAbstract
Psychosocial support is said to be an inherent component of nursing care and a major focus of
palliative care. Literature exists which outlines perceptions of the psychosocial needs of patients
and how psychosocial support should be provided. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence
on how psychosocial support is operationalised in practice. This study provides a valuable and
substantial new contribution to the evidence on the psychosocial needs expressed by patients in a
hospice ward and how nurses immediately respond to these needs within their everyday practice.
A study gathering data via observations with matched interviews of patients and nurses,
organisational, documentary, and demographic variables, was conducted over an eight month
period. Thirty-eight nurses (registered and auxiliary) and 47 patients were included in a maximum
variation sampling strategy. Data was analysed using constant comparative qualitative techniques.
Patients expressed a wide variety of psychosocial needs, often only signalling them whilst receiving
care for other reasons. Considering these needs in relation to Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs
suggests that in-patients more commonly express prerequisites to physiological care and ‘lower
level’ safety needs rather than the more thoroughly researched and espoused ‘higher’ level
psychosocial needs. The nurses reacted to these psychosocial needs with a range of responses
which indicated a diminishing level of immediate support: ‘dealing’, ‘deferring’, ‘diverting’ and
‘ducking’. The majority of the nurses were observed using each of these responses at some point
during data collection. A variety of the responses were used for each type and context of
psychosocial need. These responses were influenced by the ward’s workplace culture.
This study demonstrates a requirement for more thorough consideration of the true psychosocial
needs of patients, which appear to vary dependent on the context of care. Consideration should be
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given to workplace culture and its influence over psychosocial support, with nurses being supported
to expand their response repertoire so that patients’ psychosocial needs are acknowledged more.
Increasing nurses’ knowledge of the reality of psychosocial support through education and research
will encourage formalisation of the place of psychosocial support in the planning, documentation
and provision of care.
This study shows that ward nurses can offer psychosocial support as an inherent component of
their everyday work. Findings derived from this research indicate that developing an understanding
of how patients express psychosocial needs in practice, through a consideration of Maslow’s (1943)
hierarchy of needs, may increase recognition and support of psychosocial needs and enable nurses
to respond more comprehensively
Valuing People: Hopes and dreams for the future
No full textThis paper outlines the views of key policy makers, implementers and practitioners on Valuing People (Department of Health, Valuing people. A new strategy for learning disability for the 21st century, The Stationary Office, London, 2001). It reports a series of interviews conducted in 2003/2004 with a diverse selection of people involved in English policy construction and implementation around the support needs of people with a learning disability and/or around older people and dementia. Interviewees talked about what they perceived to be the strengths and weaknesses of policies for this client group, which led to thinking particularly about the gaps in provision for people with a learning disability as they age. The findings discussed here introduce interviewees' reported hopes and dreams for social policy in 10 years' time. The interviewees highlighted satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the connections between policy and practice. Areas for policy development and, crucially, ways of improving provision to people with a learning disability who develop dementia are highlighted
Relationship Difficulties in Dementia Care: A discursive analysis of two women's accounts
No full textThis article reports on a small-scale study where people giving and receiving care were invited to talk about their relationship. It draws on one care dyad of a woman (who has a diagnosis of dementia) and her daughter (who has provided care for her mother). A short series of interviews was conducted with both women, focusing on their biographies and current relationship. This article reports the account given by the mother and how this intersects with the account given by the daughter. The discursive analysis presented centralizes a concern with attending to the accounts of people with dementia. Analysis of the talk of people with dementia can make a valuable contribution to understanding care relationships. Such analysis has the potential for shedding light on difficulties in care relationships. The article ends by outlining some salient issues for professionals and family members involved in dementia care
The role and value of family therapy for people living with cancer: a rapid review of recent evidence
Full text linkPurpose of review: Cancer impacts the whole family and relational system, not just the individual with the diagnosis. The present article identifies and reviews publications in the field of family therapy and cancer since 2019, to describe the theoretical models and techniques applied, and the outcomes achieved. Recent findings: A search of databases and grey literature led to the identification of five articles from four studies. Four papers described primary research and one summarized a case example. Papers were published by teams in the USA, Sweden and Iceland. Each article described the benefits of adopting a family therapy approach on outcomes such as family communication, bereavement and decreased carer burden. Four papers described specialist family therapists delivering the interventions, and one used oncology nurses drawing on the theories and techniques of family therapy. Summary: The rarity of family therapy publications in the past year reflects the individual-level approach to cancer which permeates both medicine and talking therapies. The utility of family therapy could be further surfaced through more large-scale studies which thoroughly describe the unique theoretical basis and techniques, alongside outcomes for multiple people within the family system
Attitudes toward assisted-death services, perceived supporting norms, and emotional distress
Full text linkThis paper summarises three studies examining the association between (un)favourable attitudes toward assisted-death services and emotional distress in contexts where the service is proposed, as well as the moderating role of norms supporting assisted-death services. In three studies, the participants (i.e., community members, veterinarians, and health practitioner students) reported their level of distress after exposure to scenarios of assisted-dying that are relevant to their respective contexts. We found that supportive norms (i.e., perception that referent group support the action) could reduce emotional distress from considering assisted-death contexts. In addition, in two studies, supportive norms were also found to strengthen the impact of attitudes, such that unfavourable attitudes toward assisted-death services were associated with emotional distress more strongly when norms supported the practice. We conceptualize assisted-death distress as a possible indicator of practitioner well-being risk, as well as a marker of practitioner and community acceptance of (or resistance to) the behaviour. https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/omega OMEGA-Journal of Death and DyingOutput Status: Forthcomin
The ripple effect in community nursing
No full textCarers have long been a focus of health and social care policy and practice, with a clear marker being set down in the 1995 Carers (recognition and services) Act (Department of Health (DH), 1995). Since that time, a range of other policies have encouraged practitioners to consider not just the patient, but also the person providing unpaid care for them, often highlighting the cost savings to governments in the informal provision of care. Such caregiving is provided in the context of a wide range of illnesses, such as progressive and degenerative conditions like dementia, acute onset such as stroke or relapsing/remitting disease such as multiple sclerosis
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