Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

How to ... be a reflective practitioner.

Human beings are described by many spiritual traditions as ‘blind’ or ‘asleep’ or ‘in a dream.’ These terms refers to the limited attenuated state of consciousness of most human beings caught up in patterns of conditioned thought, feeling and perception, which prevent the development of our latent, higher spiritual possibilities. In the words of Idries Shah: “Man, like a sleepwalker who suddenly ‘comes to’ on some lonely road has in general no correct idea as to his origins or his destiny.” In some religious traditions, such as Christianity and Islam, the myth of the ‘Fall from the Garden of Eden’ symbolizes the loss of the primordial state through the veiling of higher consciousness. Other traditions use similar metaphors to describe the spiritual condition of humanity:

The Human Condition.

A physician friend of mine recently was caring for a critically ill infant who was dying. The infant's mother insisted that the infant be treated with maximal life support as long as possible. The physician told me that, as a physician, he had the right and the duty to refuse to provide treatment any longer because the effort was `futile'. I pressed him about how he knew he was doing the morally right thing. When I did, he cited the opinion of an American professional physician organization of which he was a member. He seemed to believe that he could prove he was right by citing the moral stand of this group as if it were the definitive authority in biomedical ethics. I pressed him again asking how he knew his group had the right answer. He then claimed that the majority of medical professional organizations in the United States held the same view. I, of course, could ask how he could know that unilaterally withholding care deemed futile was morally right just because the majority of American professional organizations believed it was. And then he might have appealed to some moral consensus of all medical professionals of all time throughout the world. If he did, I still would not have been satisfied. I would have disagreed with him factually. It is clear that not all physicians in history have considered it morally right to unilaterally withhold treatment they deem futile. More critically, I would have disagreed with him epistemologically. I would have disagreed with his implication that one could prove a physician's behavior is morally right by appealing to the consensus of physician opinion. Even if all physicians throughout history have believed some behavior is morally right, that does not make them right. Had he then cited the opinion of a religious group or a national court or the International Court of Justice, I would have been left with the same question: how do we know a position in biomedical ethics is right just because some group or another approves? At this point, ethics desperately searches for a foundation Ð a metaphysical rock-bottom, a grounding or source from whence Bioethics ISSN 0269-9702 Volume 13 Number 3/4 1999

The Foundations of Bioethics

Some people may be laughing when looking at you reading in your spare time. Some may be admired of you. And some may want be like you who have reading hobby. What about your own feel? Have you felt right? Reading is a need and a hobby at once. This condition is the on that will make you feel that you must read. If you know are looking for the book enPDFd walking the tightrope as the choice of reading, you can find here.

Walking a tightrope.

Using selected, contemporaneous illustrations from the reflective journal of a doctoral student undertaking data analysis for the first time, this article examines the relationship between journaling as a learning process when undertaking computer-assisted qualitative data analysis and establishing quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis. The writing of the journal is shown both to enact some potential validity criteria (e.g. in producing an audit trail) whilst also recording and reflectively prompting the process of learning, interpretation and bracketing, thus evidencing transparency. By using a journal inside the software package and alongside the stages of the interpretative phenomenological analysis, analysis within the software package, it is argued that quality and validity become dynamic, not static constructs. These constructs are intimately linked to the researcher-learning-process and permit a critical stance to be taken.

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A reflective journal as learning process and contribution to quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis

This thesis is concerned with the impact of professional background on role fulfilment In the United Kingdom current policy in health and social care in mental health is underpinned by integration; the idea that responsibilities can be accomplished irrespective of profession Approved mental health practice is one example of a psychiatric statutory role and function, until recently carried out by the profession of social work, which is now extended to other, non-medical, mental health professions This thesis aims to explore the role and experiences of current practitioners in order to understand the impact, if any, of professional background on the fulfilment of approved mental health practice and the way in which it is experienced 

Qualitative data are generated through semi-structured individual interviews with twelve approved mental health practitioners: five nurses, two occupational therapists and five social workers and the use of rich pictures to supplement the interview discussions Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied to the verbatim transcripts 
Key findings were that approved mental health practice can be accomplished irrespective of professional background Its practitioners require particular shared attributes, specifically a cognitive and affective capacity to deal with and use discord and to manage the disparate emotions that occur Conceptualised in this thesis as “pull,” this finding constitutes a different understanding of the use of emotion in the workplace and provides evidence of a new emotional dimension; the active use of dissonance Professional identity is also found to be influenced by approved mental health practice thereby turning on its head the original hypothesis of this thesis Last, personhood is found to be an additional aspect of the moral framework for approved mental health practice and is being practiced in a different circumstance than previously considered 

The implications of this work are that it challenges the perception that approved mental health practice is synonymous with the profession of social work It also revives the theory that its normative moral framework is inherently contradictory The present study appears to be the first to associate personhood with approved mental health practice and shows role fulfilment as sophisticated emotion management, primarily the active use of dissonance Both provide new insights into the enactment of approved mental health practice and are important issues for the future training and development of practitioners The influence on role of professional identity may also help policy makers better understand the impact that new ways of working in mental health might have on traditional professional roles and boundaries in integrated services

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Impact of Professional Background on Role Fulfilment: a study of approved mental health practice

The rise in numbers of applications for people being formally detained in hospital is one of the reasons given for the independent review of the Mental Health Act in England and Wales. These figures have led to concerns that the legislation might be flawed, including in relation to the process of Mental Health Act Assessments. Discussed in this article are two of the roles involved: the doctor who is responsible for conducting a medical assessment and the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) who is responsible for assessing the social circumstances and in addition making the application. Using data from a study into AMHPs and the lens of the sociological theory ‘dirty work’, we discuss shift, an aspect of dirty work not yet applied in this context. We focus on AMHPs’ perceptions of the behaviour of doctors as encapsulated in the verbatim phrase ‘role over’. We argue that AMHPs, including social workers, justify or, to play on the words of the verbatim quote, roll over. This finding adds to the understanding of behaviour as it is understood within psychiatric occupations, including social work, during Mental Health Act Assessments.

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Role over or roll over? Dirty work, shift and Mental Health Act Assessments

This special edition sets out to explore the challenges and the opportunities of providing social work education through distance learning and seeks to gather evidence from contemporary international sources. As we discovered, the topic invites debate, sometimes controversial. Our call attracted a wide range of papers from an equally wide-ranging number of countries which has both pleased and surprised and is a momentum upon which we plan to build. 
The phrase distance learning itself is not a single construct but it is nonetheless used in this shorthand way as if it were. When applied to the education of social workers the lack of clarity of definition deepens. First therefore in this editorial we seek to provide some clarification of terminology and the different ways in which it is used. Next, we provide context and in particular the underpinning arguments that support or oppose educating social workers in this way. Each paper in this special issue is then summarised in the context of this framework and of the new knowledge they bring. We conclude with the recommendations that have emerged.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02615479.2018.1495050

Social work education through distance learning: the challenges and opportunities

Exploring and in turn developing professional identity is a challenge faced by social work programmes, nationally and internationally. This paper developed from the authors’ shared research interes...

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Sarah Vicary

Papers

A reflective journal as learning process and contribution to quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Impact of Professional Background on Role Fulfilment: a study of approved mental health practice

Role over or roll over? Dirty work, shift and Mental Health Act Assessments

Social work education through distance learning: the challenges and opportunities

Picturing social work, puzzles and passion: exploring and developing transnational professional identities