It began by taking the journey right back to when occupational therapy was founded, and how our profession had shaped.
It ended with the suggestion that our profession needs a renewed vision drawing from peoples (our patients/clients) perceptions who experience barriers to occupation. Its was suggested that we do not learn enough from our clients and this is true becuase we are constantly relying on providing evidence based practice to prove "what we do works".
It was very valuable to go back to the beginning and see how our profession has shaped ~ and the subsequent relationship between health and occupation. E.g. occupations power to restore health ~ what a powerful idea our profession is based on.
Not only did this lecture bring up many valuable ideas ~ but it provided all the listeners with a basis to reflect on how our profession is shaped and where we want it to go in the future. Ultimetly the society and health contexts in this country have shifted us away from occupation and health.
So what does this have to do with client centred practice!! Are we able to be client centred if we are not listening to what our clients want?? or do we even have the opportunity when the relationship between occupation and health is not reflected in our western context of the profession?
It confuses me - has our profession shifted to far away to ever get back to the real philosophy ~ what our profession was founded upon....
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Interviewing & questioning
Today i had the opportunity to discuss and think about interviewing as a data collection method. The key things that sring to mind that i took away from this session during the honours school are:
Listenning to what participants say - in order to do 2 things. A) Clarify and check you have gained the perception of the participant, and B) keeping track of the key words or phrases they say so that you can prompt them to gain a better understanding or more depth. Not only is this important for gaining quality information, it is important for let the participant guide the disscussion. Allowing this will ultimetly gather information grounded in their perception of "what is going on in the area of interest".
The researchers perception/biases - during data collection.
When asking questions during data collection it is important to be aware of your own perception, in order to be avoid leading the participants to support your percpetion/bias or assumptions. How to manage this???? Well i thouht about it for a while...and decided that clearly identifying my answers to the questions would help me to become aware of "what not to ask" and making sure that i utilise the questions that i have prepared (as well as double checking that the questions i take with me to the interviews are not leading).
What to do if situations. Clearly if something out of the ordinary occurs e.g. i get questioned, interuptions emotional outburst, participants stray from the questions, etc) i need to have guidelines in place in order to get myself and the participants back on track. I plan to go through some scenarios and talk with my superviser about "what to do it scenarios"..
After talking about interviewing we had the chance to analyse an interview - and pick out questions that were leading, or unclear. Also during this we noticed some of the challenges and realities of interviewing. It was really interesting especially when you get a participant where you are consitently "digging" for answers. This made me wonder whether the question were simple enough or prehaps the content within them was hard for the participant to understand. I guess thats what we were talking about "matching the level of the questions to the ability and age of the participants"
Also during this session we observed our questions being used to interview someone else. It was so beneficial to here if the interviewee was struggling to understand what the question was asking...however this may be a challenge during a teleconference!!!!!! but i guess "silence or ummmmmmm" will be the main prompt to reword or clarify what is being asked....
Looking forward to my pilot focus group to test out my interview skills..and see if the questions are going to "work" in my favor to get some discussions going.
Well at least i have some resources to come back to in order to reflect on how it goes, and analyse my interview skills and questions.
Listenning to what participants say - in order to do 2 things. A) Clarify and check you have gained the perception of the participant, and B) keeping track of the key words or phrases they say so that you can prompt them to gain a better understanding or more depth. Not only is this important for gaining quality information, it is important for let the participant guide the disscussion. Allowing this will ultimetly gather information grounded in their perception of "what is going on in the area of interest".
The researchers perception/biases - during data collection.
When asking questions during data collection it is important to be aware of your own perception, in order to be avoid leading the participants to support your percpetion/bias or assumptions. How to manage this???? Well i thouht about it for a while...and decided that clearly identifying my answers to the questions would help me to become aware of "what not to ask" and making sure that i utilise the questions that i have prepared (as well as double checking that the questions i take with me to the interviews are not leading).
What to do if situations. Clearly if something out of the ordinary occurs e.g. i get questioned, interuptions emotional outburst, participants stray from the questions, etc) i need to have guidelines in place in order to get myself and the participants back on track. I plan to go through some scenarios and talk with my superviser about "what to do it scenarios"..
After talking about interviewing we had the chance to analyse an interview - and pick out questions that were leading, or unclear. Also during this we noticed some of the challenges and realities of interviewing. It was really interesting especially when you get a participant where you are consitently "digging" for answers. This made me wonder whether the question were simple enough or prehaps the content within them was hard for the participant to understand. I guess thats what we were talking about "matching the level of the questions to the ability and age of the participants"
Also during this session we observed our questions being used to interview someone else. It was so beneficial to here if the interviewee was struggling to understand what the question was asking...however this may be a challenge during a teleconference!!!!!! but i guess "silence or ummmmmmm" will be the main prompt to reword or clarify what is being asked....
Looking forward to my pilot focus group to test out my interview skills..and see if the questions are going to "work" in my favor to get some discussions going.
Well at least i have some resources to come back to in order to reflect on how it goes, and analyse my interview skills and questions.
Grammar & Good Writing
Wow - today i learnt so so much!!!! The rules, guidelines and conventions of grammar!
I always new i was bad at it - but now im starting to understand all the important aspects of writing to improve grammar.
So Grammar and all the C's! Things that i never really thought about! I mean you know that your writing is ment to make sense..but "HOW" is a different question!
These C's must be present in all pieces of writing!
Clear ~ to help communication style
Complete ~ all info you need to communicate
Consise ~ doesnt have lots of extra bits
Concrete ~ gets to the point, fact, say what you want it to say
Consistent ~ sentance and paragraphs match
Convincing ~ positive about what you are trying to say
Correct ~ quote and citations
Courteous ~ polite when citing others work
Coherent ~ coming together in a way that makes sense
These C's are important in order to make certain the 'reader' gets the message
I think it is so important that we acknowledge that we cannot write as we talk!!!
Equally important is the fact that you have to make the message in the writing clear enough that the reader is not finding themselves asking questions.
Following learning about this we went over some key terms and used examples to show "right" and "wrong" scenarios. This was so interesting!
~adjective - explain and add detail of a noun/pronoun
~adverb - dramatically changes the meaning of a sentance - important to get it in the write place
~article - precedes and may define a noun e.g. a, an, and the.
~conjuction - joining word - be certain that you "need" to use it - may be best to start a new sentance!
~noun - the main concept (person, place, thing or idea).
~participle - "ing" a verb form used as a noun, part of a verb, or an adjective
~ prepositions - pecedes a noun to show relationships
~ pronoun - in stead of repeating the noun e.g. he, she, they, it, that. But the most important thing about this is that you make sure it relates to the right one. A pronoun should relate to the last noun mentioned,
~ verb - action or being word
Other things that i remember are..
***a sentance should be no longer than 3 lines, and have no more than 3 commas
***a sentance needs a noun and a verb!
Learning about this has been so vital and i know that it will help me when i am editing! So i think now it is important that i identify what things i really struggle with when i am writing so that i am concious about what i need to look for when i am editing.
And always remember - it is vital to read out loud to make sure it sounds good and all the c's are included.
I always new i was bad at it - but now im starting to understand all the important aspects of writing to improve grammar.
So Grammar and all the C's! Things that i never really thought about! I mean you know that your writing is ment to make sense..but "HOW" is a different question!
These C's must be present in all pieces of writing!
Clear ~ to help communication style
Complete ~ all info you need to communicate
Consise ~ doesnt have lots of extra bits
Concrete ~ gets to the point, fact, say what you want it to say
Consistent ~ sentance and paragraphs match
Convincing ~ positive about what you are trying to say
Correct ~ quote and citations
Courteous ~ polite when citing others work
Coherent ~ coming together in a way that makes sense
These C's are important in order to make certain the 'reader' gets the message
I think it is so important that we acknowledge that we cannot write as we talk!!!
Equally important is the fact that you have to make the message in the writing clear enough that the reader is not finding themselves asking questions.
Following learning about this we went over some key terms and used examples to show "right" and "wrong" scenarios. This was so interesting!
~adjective - explain and add detail of a noun/pronoun
~adverb - dramatically changes the meaning of a sentance - important to get it in the write place
~article - precedes and may define a noun e.g. a, an, and the.
~conjuction - joining word - be certain that you "need" to use it - may be best to start a new sentance!
~noun - the main concept (person, place, thing or idea).
~participle - "ing" a verb form used as a noun, part of a verb, or an adjective
~ prepositions - pecedes a noun to show relationships
~ pronoun - in stead of repeating the noun e.g. he, she, they, it, that. But the most important thing about this is that you make sure it relates to the right one. A pronoun should relate to the last noun mentioned,
~ verb - action or being word
Other things that i remember are..
***a sentance should be no longer than 3 lines, and have no more than 3 commas
***a sentance needs a noun and a verb!
Learning about this has been so vital and i know that it will help me when i am editing! So i think now it is important that i identify what things i really struggle with when i am writing so that i am concious about what i need to look for when i am editing.
And always remember - it is vital to read out loud to make sure it sounds good and all the c's are included.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Technology set up and data collection process
One of the sessions today in the honours workshop was on recording interviews, the process and follow up.
I had done some thinking and work on this - however i gained a few more ideas and suggestions!
Little things but so vital!
- asking participants to minimise noise for recording (cellphones, jewellery, background noises) - this is so important because participants are likely to be at home where there are many distractions, background noises e.g. family members, computers etc.
-asking participants to have a peice of paper and a pencil (avoid clicking of pens) to jot down thoughts if someone else is speaking in the focus group
-doing a sound check with everyone
- keeping track of if people have answered a questions - however always acknowledge they have talked about the next question and prompt them to say more e.g. "i acknowledge that you mentioned......before... do you have anything else yourd like to add bearing in mind more ideas have been discussed??"
- colour coding papers (e.g. red means end of session; blue means questions etc)
-how to interupt someone - go though processes to ensure they know what is happening
-if you have to stop write down the last 4 words the participant has just said - in order to track back and prompt the participant to gain their thoughts
-what to say if you want someone to clarify what they mean or have not understood at all what they said.. "hmmmmmm is there anything else yourd like to add??"
-maybe instead of asking the participants to not use the name of the new grad (may slip out), ask them to write a name down that starts with the same letter and is the same gender. Then they should write it on paper in front of them to prompt them to use it.
-most importantly trying to get the interaction going within the group, by encouraging participants to comment on what has already been said and add their views, perspeptions or examples.
-lastly to never leave the teleconference/or stop recording untill the last participant has left - just incase they stay on the line and wish to add or just add another vital piece of information.
Another day tomorrow at the honours school - looking forward to it :)
I had done some thinking and work on this - however i gained a few more ideas and suggestions!
Little things but so vital!
- asking participants to minimise noise for recording (cellphones, jewellery, background noises) - this is so important because participants are likely to be at home where there are many distractions, background noises e.g. family members, computers etc.
-asking participants to have a peice of paper and a pencil (avoid clicking of pens) to jot down thoughts if someone else is speaking in the focus group
-doing a sound check with everyone
- keeping track of if people have answered a questions - however always acknowledge they have talked about the next question and prompt them to say more e.g. "i acknowledge that you mentioned......before... do you have anything else yourd like to add bearing in mind more ideas have been discussed??"
- colour coding papers (e.g. red means end of session; blue means questions etc)
-how to interupt someone - go though processes to ensure they know what is happening
-if you have to stop write down the last 4 words the participant has just said - in order to track back and prompt the participant to gain their thoughts
-what to say if you want someone to clarify what they mean or have not understood at all what they said.. "hmmmmmm is there anything else yourd like to add??"
-maybe instead of asking the participants to not use the name of the new grad (may slip out), ask them to write a name down that starts with the same letter and is the same gender. Then they should write it on paper in front of them to prompt them to use it.
-most importantly trying to get the interaction going within the group, by encouraging participants to comment on what has already been said and add their views, perspeptions or examples.
-lastly to never leave the teleconference/or stop recording untill the last participant has left - just incase they stay on the line and wish to add or just add another vital piece of information.
Another day tomorrow at the honours school - looking forward to it :)
An inspiring lecture
The first hour of our 3rd honours school was spent engaged listenning to a scholar from the OT school at AUT. What a research insiration it was listening about the trends and ideas about occupational science and how it is embedded in the occupational therapy literature (backing up or challenging it). Its great to finally meet the person you have heard about and read articles from.
When discussing the definition of occupation it reinforced to me the need to things about what,how, why, where, and when. The form/function and meaning of occupations. Sounds simple i know but thinking about a persons occupation i firstly think of "what it is" then "how they will/use to do it". As a new graduate in a fast paced acute environment i wondered if i do actually analyse why, where or when.. I'm sure i do but it did make me wonder
For ex. A patient who lives alone wants to and is going to return home in a few days - and needs to be able to function independantly and safely with fatigue .. Reflections on what/where/how/when/why
What-showering/bathing
Where-bathroom environment
How-independatly/assistance using aids or not
When-morning/night, before/after breakfast/tea
Why-return home and fx independantly/safely
So i guess by breaking a situation (assessment/treatment) down i do think about these. But i guess the idea that springs to mind is - if someone has been admitted to hospital there circumstances or conditions have changed, and the challenge is some of these questions may be hard to answer in the ward environment (espec how, and when considering the cognitive fx of the person)
On another note - i learnt that within the occupational therapy literature "we" or researchers are drawing on the knowledge of occupational science in order to back up or challenge our ideas.
I thought it was interesting how there has been an expansion of the research methods. The time georaphic method sounded very interesting to me, and i wondered how useful it would have been for my topic. It could be used to track what new graduates do during the day, there everyday life context - could be quite interesting i think. Mite look into this and see what studies have utilised this method for pure interest.
In addition it was very interesting that the topic of biculturalism came up (so important in New Zealand now). With traditional western perspectives of health which isnt enough in our society. Occupations differ emensly between different cultures, and it is so important that we understand why/how they do in order to continue to provide occupational therapy services that are culturally sensitive. So incorporating the individual in the society, their culture and i guess context and their world views. Ive learnt to understand that this is a huge area that requires research understand the impact of culture and meanings of occupation.
To conclude the final point or idea that i got out of the talk this morning was that "occupational therapist help people do well". Students and OT's often struggle to define what we do in a broad enough way to ensure that we are not understating our potential. I think this definition is great as it has enough scope to then further explain the terms "help" and "do well" e.g.how, what are the means etc.
When discussing the definition of occupation it reinforced to me the need to things about what,how, why, where, and when. The form/function and meaning of occupations. Sounds simple i know but thinking about a persons occupation i firstly think of "what it is" then "how they will/use to do it". As a new graduate in a fast paced acute environment i wondered if i do actually analyse why, where or when.. I'm sure i do but it did make me wonder
For ex. A patient who lives alone wants to and is going to return home in a few days - and needs to be able to function independantly and safely with fatigue .. Reflections on what/where/how/when/why
What-showering/bathing
Where-bathroom environment
How-independatly/assistance using aids or not
When-morning/night, before/after breakfast/tea
Why-return home and fx independantly/safely
So i guess by breaking a situation (assessment/treatment) down i do think about these. But i guess the idea that springs to mind is - if someone has been admitted to hospital there circumstances or conditions have changed, and the challenge is some of these questions may be hard to answer in the ward environment (espec how, and when considering the cognitive fx of the person)
On another note - i learnt that within the occupational therapy literature "we" or researchers are drawing on the knowledge of occupational science in order to back up or challenge our ideas.
I thought it was interesting how there has been an expansion of the research methods. The time georaphic method sounded very interesting to me, and i wondered how useful it would have been for my topic. It could be used to track what new graduates do during the day, there everyday life context - could be quite interesting i think. Mite look into this and see what studies have utilised this method for pure interest.
In addition it was very interesting that the topic of biculturalism came up (so important in New Zealand now). With traditional western perspectives of health which isnt enough in our society. Occupations differ emensly between different cultures, and it is so important that we understand why/how they do in order to continue to provide occupational therapy services that are culturally sensitive. So incorporating the individual in the society, their culture and i guess context and their world views. Ive learnt to understand that this is a huge area that requires research understand the impact of culture and meanings of occupation.
To conclude the final point or idea that i got out of the talk this morning was that "occupational therapist help people do well". Students and OT's often struggle to define what we do in a broad enough way to ensure that we are not understating our potential. I think this definition is great as it has enough scope to then further explain the terms "help" and "do well" e.g.how, what are the means etc.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Literature mindmap
Here is my mindmaps of the current literature about my topic. The key themes are:
Nature of acute physical setting
Demands of the setting
New graduates skills and abilities
Support/Supervision
Clinical decision making and problem solving
Challenges and Opportunities
Now that i have done the mindmap i can know add detail to every aspect of the mind map to ensure that my literature review is detailed enough to justify my decison to explore my topic.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Themes for questioning in the focus group
It was pointed out the me (by one of my supervisers) the importance of having some key themes during data collection. Over the last month i have been working on my questions and having trouble knowing what type of questions to start with and how to approach the data collection process during a focus group. Having themes will not only give me some structure, but it will also prompt me to know what area i need to question participants more on. These key themes have developed as a result of reading the literature about how new grads are transitioning into acute care, and the nature of acute care practice etc.
The key themes are
~New graduate’s ability
~Challenges in acute care
~Support
~Reality of work environment
Jess
The key themes are
~New graduate’s ability
~Challenges in acute care
~Support
~Reality of work environment
Jess
Timeline
Draft timeline at this stage
Begin research 18 February 2008
Present initial ideas to Post Grad School 12 March 2008
Proposal due 11 April 2008
Submit for Ethics Approval 9 May 2008
Ethical Approval 3 July
Contacted unit managers 10 July 2008
Present work so far to Post Grad School 21 July 2008
Focus group piloted July 28-1 August 2008
Send off demographic sheets and consent forms August 2008
Data Collection Begins Late August 2008
Data Collection Finishes Late September 2008
Finish analysis 1 October 2008
Present findings to Post Grad School October 2008
Complete final write up 8 December 2008
Begin research 18 February 2008
Present initial ideas to Post Grad School 12 March 2008
Proposal due 11 April 2008
Submit for Ethics Approval 9 May 2008
Ethical Approval 3 July
Contacted unit managers 10 July 2008
Present work so far to Post Grad School 21 July 2008
Focus group piloted July 28-1 August 2008
Send off demographic sheets and consent forms August 2008
Data Collection Begins Late August 2008
Data Collection Finishes Late September 2008
Finish analysis 1 October 2008
Present findings to Post Grad School October 2008
Complete final write up 8 December 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
My obsession with lists and tick boxes
I dont think i would have coped so far, or for the rest of the research process without my obsession with tick boxes, and things to do lists. Sometimes (more like all of the time) people laugh at me for being so obsessed with organisation but i dont see how i would manage with out them. The walls around my desk and computer are filled with calenders, wall planners, things to do lists, helpful words for writing, and a whiteboard with important dates ands things to remember.
There are other things on my wall - pictures; a start chart for exercise; a bus timetable; a map of dunedin; when library books are due; news paper articles etc. But man i guess that just reinforces the type of learner i am - visual/kinesthetic!!!
Am i abnormal????
There are other things on my wall - pictures; a start chart for exercise; a bus timetable; a map of dunedin; when library books are due; news paper articles etc. But man i guess that just reinforces the type of learner i am - visual/kinesthetic!!!
Am i abnormal????
Getting prepared for data collection
Wow so much to organise at the moment.
Getting the finishing touches done on my letters and information sheets to make sure they include everything.. organising a pilot focus group...finalising focus group questions...finalising teleconference sheet...practicing coding....then doing a literature mind map.
So getting the letters and info sheets away asap to get some participants :) so i can get consent forms and demographic forms in before mid august.
Aiming to start the first focus group in the last two weeks of August - but the biggest goal is to have data collection, analysis and results done by late september! Well see how that goes..
Ive been finding myself glearing at the calender alot lately ~ kinda freeky! Sometimes i freek myself out that im gonna run out of time. But i guess thats what a timeline is for.
Future posts will be on ...
Recriutment of participants; how the pilot focus group goes; how the coding exercise goes
Jess
Getting the finishing touches done on my letters and information sheets to make sure they include everything.. organising a pilot focus group...finalising focus group questions...finalising teleconference sheet...practicing coding....then doing a literature mind map.
So getting the letters and info sheets away asap to get some participants :) so i can get consent forms and demographic forms in before mid august.
Aiming to start the first focus group in the last two weeks of August - but the biggest goal is to have data collection, analysis and results done by late september! Well see how that goes..
Ive been finding myself glearing at the calender alot lately ~ kinda freeky! Sometimes i freek myself out that im gonna run out of time. But i guess thats what a timeline is for.
Future posts will be on ...
Recriutment of participants; how the pilot focus group goes; how the coding exercise goes
Jess
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
An updated tick box
Things completed:
• Topic & working title
• Initial literature review
• Proposal
• Ethical approval
• Clear understanding of coding/analysis process
• Clear understanding of strategies to increase rigour/trustworthiness
• Letters/info sheets/demographics form/consent forms ready
• Focus group outline & questions
• Interview questions
• Thesis document/layout reaady to go
• Draft teleconference sheet
Things to do:
• Finalise teleconference sheet
• Set up teleconference account
• Make sure all participant documents are ready to go
• Set up clear schedule for data collection/analysis
• Contact unit managers/professional advisers/team leaders
• Once participants have contacted me expressing their willingness to participate....... Arrange the focus group etc..
• Topic & working title
• Initial literature review
• Proposal
• Ethical approval
• Clear understanding of coding/analysis process
• Clear understanding of strategies to increase rigour/trustworthiness
• Letters/info sheets/demographics form/consent forms ready
• Focus group outline & questions
• Interview questions
• Thesis document/layout reaady to go
• Draft teleconference sheet
Things to do:
• Finalise teleconference sheet
• Set up teleconference account
• Make sure all participant documents are ready to go
• Set up clear schedule for data collection/analysis
• Contact unit managers/professional advisers/team leaders
• Once participants have contacted me expressing their willingness to participate....... Arrange the focus group etc..
Data Collection/Analysis guides
Some guides on large posters so that i can follow them during the data collecton and analysis stages of my study. Hope they will help me - at least by making them they definitly helped me understand the coding procedures!!!!!
The first is the overall process of grounded theory - Constant comparison method.
The second is open coding. The third is axial coding. The fourth is selective coding. :)
Ethical Approval!!!
I got ethical approval today - 5 weeks in total which is great. A few ammendments at the 4 week mark but now im set to begin..starting with contacting unit managers for participants to then get in contact with me. So looks like my timeline is somewhat on track :)
Planned to start data collection late july so i may be a wee bit behind but i think if i am for Aug 1st that give me enough time to seek participants and get consent forms signed etc. Then Aug/Sept could be data collection/analysis month and then at the end of sept i should be finished writing up results. That will give me two months to put everything together and write a discussion/recommendations chapter etc.
So everything is coming along nicely!
Planned to start data collection late july so i may be a wee bit behind but i think if i am for Aug 1st that give me enough time to seek participants and get consent forms signed etc. Then Aug/Sept could be data collection/analysis month and then at the end of sept i should be finished writing up results. That will give me two months to put everything together and write a discussion/recommendations chapter etc.
So everything is coming along nicely!
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