38 research outputs found
Lived experience of a neonatal homecare nurse
No full textThe neonatal homecare nurse (NNHCN) role delivers care in the home to infants and their families that have been discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit. The autonomous role with its expanding areas of nursing care, require that the NNHCN is at the forefront of knowledge advancement to ensure appropriate care is given to this population. This research project inquires into the life-world of the NNHCN experiences to gain knowledge of a specialised nursing role that leads care in partnership with the parents in their home.
Phenomenology as a methodology has been utilised to inform the research project to gain a deeper insight into the world of the NNHCN. This view allows dimensions of my nursing practice to be uncovered to show how and why I practice in the way I do. The theme of worry, and how it situates me to care and acquire knowledge, helps profile my nursing within the complex and dynamic world of the families I care for. The theme of active listening has also been identified and analysed to illustrate the development in my communication style needed to culturally and competently care and act on my concerns.
This project increases the body of nursing knowledge around a small and isolated area of nursing that has evolved to meet the needs of an increasing preterm population, sick infants and their families. Recommendations are based on the findings and may help in succession planning and recruitment profiling
Diapycnal mixing across the photic zone of the NE Atlantic
No full textVariable physical conditions such as vertical turbulent exchange, internal wave, and mesoscale eddy action affect the availability of light and nutrients for phytoplankton (unicellular algae) growth. It is hypothesized that changes in ocean temperature may affect ocean vertical density stratification, which may hamper vertical exchange. In order to quantify variations in physical conditions in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, we sampled a latitudinal transect along 17 ± 5∘ W between 30 and 63∘ N in summer. A shipborne conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) instrumented package was used with a custom-made modification of the pump inlet to minimize detrimental effects of ship motions on its data. Thorpe-scale analysis was used to establish turbulence values for the upper 500 m from three to six profiles obtained in a short CTD yo-yo, 3 to 5 h after local sunrise. From south to north, average temperature decreased together with stratification while turbulence values weakly increased or remained constant. Vertical turbulent nutrient fluxes did not vary significantly with stratification and latitude. This apparent lack of correspondence between turbulent mixing and temperature is likely due to internal waves breaking (increased stratification can support more internal waves), acting as a potential feedback mechanism. As this feedback mechanism mediates potential physical environment changes in temperature, global surface ocean warming may not affect the vertical nutrient fluxes to a large degree. We urge modellers to test this deduction as it could imply that the future summer phytoplankton productivity in stratified oligotrophic waters would experience little alterations in nutrient input from deeper waters
Experiences of Dutch maternity care professionals during the first wave of COVID- 19 in a community based maternity care system
No full textBackground and objective During the COVID-19 pandemic the organization of maternity care changed drastically; this study into the experiences of maternity care professionals with these changes provides suggestions for the organization of care during and after pandemics. Design An online survey among Dutch midwives, obstetricians and obstetric residents. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to investigate associations between the respondents' characteristics and answers. Results Reported advantages of the changes were fewer prenatal and postpartum consultations (50.1%). The necessity and safety of medical interventions and ultrasounds were considered more critically (75.9%); 14.8% of community midwives stated they referred fewer women to the hospital for decreased fetal movements, whereas 64.2% of the respondents working in hospital-based care experienced fewer consultations for this indication. Respondents felt that women had more confidence in giving birth at home (57.5%). Homebirths seemed to have increased according to 38.5% of the community midwives and 65.3% of the respondents working in hospital-based care. Respondents appreciated the shift to more digital consultations rather than face-to-face consultations. Mentioned disadvantages were that women had appointments alone, (71.1%) and that the community midwife was not allowed to join a woman to obstetric-led care during labour and subsequently stay with her (56.8%). Fewer postpartum visits by family and friends led to more tranquility (59.8%). Overall, however, 48.0% of the respondents felt that the safety of maternity care was compromised due to policy changes. Conclusions Maternity care professionals were positive about the decrease in routine care and the increased confidence of women in home birth, but also felt that safety in maternity care was sometimes compromised. According to the respondents in a future crisis situation it should be possible for community midwives to continue to deliver a personal handover after the referral of women to the hospital, and to stay with them
Finding A Voice: Exploring the Biographical Narratives of Adults with Selective Mutism
No full textThis research explores the lived experiences of adults with selective mutism using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Existing literature has typically positioned selective mutism as a disorder of childhood and as a result little is known about the difficulties faced by individuals who continue to experience the effects of selective mutism throughout adolescence and adulthood. This research seeks to gain an understanding of the phenomenology of selective mutism as a lived experience and to allow participant's voices to be heard.
In-depth narrative interviews were conducted with six individuals who had continued to experience selective mutism throughout their adult life. Data from my own experience of suffering from SM were also included. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify five essential themes. These findings provide an insight into the embodied experience of selective mutism, the process of sense making in which individuals engage to negotiate their identities and the effects of social isolation. Furthermore this research explores the experiences of therapy and help seeking which were important topics within participant narratives.
This research encourages a thoughtful reflection on the lives of those whose realities have been profoundly affected by selective mutism. This research and the exploratory nature of phenomenological inquiry will hopefully encourage further investigations into selective mutism as it exists beyond childhood
A multi-capital approach to understanding participation in professional management education
No full textThis study explores the reasons why adult learners take part in professional management education courses, their social and cultural capital together with their human and economic capital. The author has responsibility for these programmes in a university in the north of England. It is framed by a multiple capital approach which reflects, and illuminates, the rationale for engagement in lifelong learning and professional management education. The underlying research was phenomenological, as it explored the direct experiences of the participants in relation to professional management education.
Two methods were used sequentially, quantitative which provided numerical data by the use of questionnaires, and qualitative, by the use of interviews. The results of the interviews were used to construct the stories of the respondents. Fifty questionnaires were completed by employees and fifteen interviews were undertaken, out of a total population of eighty one. The entire population of twenty four employers completed a questionnaire and six of them were interviewed.
The outcomes of this research highlight the workplace in the twenty-first century, together with the impact of the current economic climate. This has led to a need for the acquisition of new skills by workers at all hierarchical levels in organisations.
Cultural capital was evidenced by the desire of employees to equip themselves with new skills and knowledge, in order to remain in employment and to advance their careers. Many of the respondents gained cultural capital through their early life experiences of home and school and their relationships with mentors. The social capital of employers was found to be important in mentoring, and encouraging, employees to engage in learning.
Economic capital was expressed through engagement in lifelong learning by employees to enhance their knowledge and skills, and to improve their employment prospects.Human capital was evidenced by both employers and employees as engagement in professional management education facilitates the acquisition of new skills and knowledge
The dynamics of sharing professional knowledge and lay knowledge: a study of parents' and professionals' experiences of childhood interventions with a Marte Meo framework
No full textLiberating qualitative research findings from the dusty shelf of academia: developing a translational methodology illustrated by a case study of the experience of living with dementia.
No full textLiberating qualitative research findings from the dusty shelf of academia: developing a translational methodology illustrated by a case study of the experience of living with dementia. The exponential growth of qualitative health and social care reports in recent years has generated a dialogue about the utility of qualitative research findings.
The traditional methods of dissemination often result in the findings remaining on 'the shelf' with the result that they have little impact on practice, policy, or members of the public. In this study I develop a generic framework for synthesizing and communicating qualitative research findings that are already in the public arena. The
framework is comprised of four stages: - Stage 1 is a strategy for identifying relevant and useful studies in the area; Stage 2 develops relevant and useful criteria for selecting studies: the quality of a study is assessed by its; substantive contribution, aesthetic merit, reflexivity, impact and expression of reality; Stage 3 draws upon the philosophy of phenomenology and hermeneutics as a way of synthesising the selected studies, providing an
experiential description of the phenomenon of interest (called a structural textual synthesis). Stage 4 offers principles by which the structural textural synthesis can be transformed and communicated to lay audiences in more
aesthetic and understandable ways. The above framework is applied to the phenomenon of living with dementia
from the perspective of the partner with dementia and their care partner. The structural-textural synthesis is transformed into a script, which has been performed, and recorded on DVD. The transferable implications of this framework are considered for their potential to communicate qualitative research findings already in the public arena to the public in ways that facilitate understanding and empath
Financial Disclosure and the Board: Is Independence of Directors Always Efficient
No full textIn listed companies, the Board of directors is the ultimate responsible of information disclosure. The "conventional wisdom" considers independence of directors as the essential attribute to improve the quality of that disclosure. In a sense, this approach subordinates expertise to independence. However, effective certification may require finn-specific expertise, in particular for intangible-intensive business models. However, this latter form of expertise is negatively related to independence as it is commonly measured and evaluated. We show that there exists an optimal share of independent directors for each company, related to the magnitude of intangible resources.Board of directors; information disclosure; accounting; intangible resources
Patients from lower socio-economic backgrounds who do not access cardiac rehabilitation programmes: a phenomenological journey
No full textIt has long been documented that patients from lower socio-economic backgrounds do not access health services. There have been Government led initiatives to ask service users what they want from services to provide initiatives that will improve the health and well-being of the population. There has been little or no involvement of patients who do not access services to ask them why they do not attend or involve themselves in decision making.
Previous studies into access to cardiac rehabilitation have been predominantly quantitative, with very little qualitative data to explore the reasons why people from lower socio-economic backgrounds do not access the programmes provided. In this study beliefs of people who have not accessed cardiac rehabilitation are explored with a group of participants who have a diagnosis of coronary heart disease using a Heideggerian phenomenological approach.
Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Themes were identified using line by line analysis. Three case examples were described bringing the data back together
into a whole transcript for further exploration. The key findings from the research showed that the participants, all from the five poorest electoral wards of Darlington highlighted what to them were the significant factors in their health journey. The most common themes were (1) support, (2) choices and risks, (3) cardiac rehabilitation inhibitors and (4) perceptions of what had happened to them.
In conclusion the findings from this study can be used to stimulate a review of current thinking and practices among health professionals, educators and other agencies involved in supporting this group of individuals to meet their long-term adjustment needs. Long term cardiac rehabilitation provision could be further enhanced if future policy
initiatives reflected the needs of this group of individuals, and further research into this area could be implemented
