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Posts from the ‘Editor’s Picks’ Category

Aug 23

Health and Peace


The current Editor’s Pick article, titled “Peace Through a Healing Transformation of Human Dignity Possibilities and Dilemmas in Global Health and Peace” addresses the challenges of the premise that health is a bridge for peace.  The author, Donna J. Perry, PhD, RN, uses her research within the Israeli-Palentinian conflict as an exemplar of these challenges.  She provided this commentary on her work:

We needn’t look far to see the devastating effects of collective violence.  The daily headlines are filled with tragedies of war across the globe.  Harder to find are the stories of countless acts of peacemakers, struggling to build communities of good relations.  These groups often do not receive the recognition or support that they deserve.  Their actions are sometimes unrecognized and even disparaged because they challenge the very paradigms that perpetuate violence. Yet they continue the struggle for peace, despite obstacles and risks.One such example is the group Combatants for Peace which I discuss in my article.  The Combatants for Peace movement was started by Israelis and Palestinians who had been actively involved in the cycle of violence and who chose to renounce violence and work for peace. These photos from the Combatants for Peace web site illustrate some of their activities.”  I conducted a qualitative study with members of this inspirational group a few years ago that is reported in the book, The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Movement: Combatants for Peace. 

The research study with Combatants for Peace illustrated that members of the group experienced their own transformation and the transformation of those around them.  It was in their personal experiences of change that hope was born and kept alive.  This awareness of the possibilities for human transformation for peace is expressed in the words of one of the Palestinian members of CFP (Perry, 2011, p. 233).

“If I changed . . . the way that I’m thinking, maybe I could change others. . . I feel more powerful.  Really.  Because the power of the human being is in his mind and his ideas. . . if you could change somebody maybe you give him more power . . . He could be a better person.”We in nursing need to be part of this human transformation to build a healthier society.  My doctoral studies were inspired by the conviction that the knowledge gained would help me to help others in a new way.  Led by a concern for the many social problems impacting health, such as violent conflict, social injustices and human rights abuses, I felt that it was important to bring a nursing lens to increase understanding of these issues.  Through research, solidarity and advocacy we, as nurses, can partner with communities to help them create change that advances human dignity.

You can download and read this article at no cost while it is featured on our web site!

Aug 12

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Translating Research to Reach for Peace


I am delighted to feature this article to introduce the current ANS issue focusing on “Health and Peace.”  The article, authored by Patricia Liehr, PhD, RN; Kate Morris, BA, MA; Mary Ann Leavitt, RN, BSN, CCRN and Ryutaro Takahashi, MD, PhD is titled “Translating Research Findings to Promote Peace: Moving From ‘Field to Forum’ With Verbatim Theatre.”  The background on this research, and the development of the theater play, is a fascinating story that Dr. Liehr has generously shared with us here:

Our manuscript, entitled “Translating research finding to promote peace: Moving from “field to forum” with verbatim theatre” began years ago when I began working with Japanese researchers. The research side of this story has merged with the creative arts side of the story to present With Their Voices Raised, which was first performed in November 2012. The Playwright/Dramaturg note and the Researcher note were in the program for the inaugural performances in 2012. They are included here to provide a context for understanding the origins of the manuscript.

Researcher Note

            The performance that we will watch tonight has its roots in research that began nearly two decades ago when Japanese and American researchers were studying blood pressure changes while talking to Japanese elders who had suffered a stroke. Our study purpose was to understand how the pathophysiology of stroke affected blood pressure recorded during talking. We asked our research participants to talk for four minute about their health; how they were managing the limitations imposed by their stroke…while we recorded blood pressure every two minutes.

Our participants took us down an unexpected path. The stories they shared while speaking wove in how they survived World War II, with the implicit and sometimes explicit suggestion that surviving a stroke was “nothing” compared to their World War II experience. As the research team considered what we were hearing, we decided that we needed to know more about surviving WWII for both Japanese and American elders. The bombings of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima were selected as points of comparison, where each participant would be called upon to recollect aggressive actions taken by the opposing country.

About the same time the research was launched, we knew that we wanted to share these findings in ways other than traditional scholarly venues, like scientific journals. We wanted to touch people who may never read a scientific journal; wanted to reach youth who may be experiencing aggression in their own lives. We have published our research findings in a scholarly journal. Now….tonight, you are joining our journey as With Their Voices Raised shares the wisdom of our participants through documentary theatre. With your guidance, we will move on to share this wisdom with young people. We thank you for being here.

The Research Team: Patricia Liehr, Chie Nishimura, Mio Ito, LisaMarie Wands, Ryutaro Takahashi

Playwright/Dramaturg Note

When I was first approached in the spring of 2010 by American and Japanese nursing researchers to develop a theatre presentation based on approximately fifty Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima survivor testimonies, I had only a general

Invitation to performance, Miami Dade College, November 13, 2013

Invitation to performance, Miami Dade College, November 13, 2013

understanding of the events leading to United States involvement in World War II. My knowledge of the Pacific theater was based upon a recollection of a grainy photograph in my American History high-school text book of the U.S. Arizona engulfed in smoke and flames at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. I had also read Hiroshima by John Hersey, but had no connection with the term hibakusha. I had a lot to learn.

In the winter of 2011 I traveled to Hiroshima, Japan and had my picture taken underneath the Memorial Monument for Hiroshima. Inside the Peace Museum I noticed a pocket watch, forever stopped at 8:15, tattered swatches of blackened clothing, and tiny pieces of concrete that were once buildings and homes. I watched video footage of the atomic bomb, its mushroom cloud of ash and debris rising high into the morning sky. I saw archaic clips of bald hibakusha, their faces covered with red dots, their teeth black and decaying. Finally, I signed the visitor’s book, along with countless others, in a pledge and plea for peace throughout the world.

In the spring of 2012 I visited Oahu, Hawaii. I climbed the steps of the control tower at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island and listened to the silence of the salt air. I rode a ferry over to the USS Arizona and saw the oil-slick ‘tears’ on top of the water while the ship’s turrets remained below. I took the “Home of the Brave” bus tour and drove past the countless headstones at Punchbowl National Cemetery, all decorated with an American flag. Finally, I signed the visitor’s book, along with countless others, thanking our brave servicemen and women for their sacrifice and service to our country.

Needless to say, working with the Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima survivors’ stories opened up a whole new path to my studies and the way I viewed the world. It also introduced me to documentary or verbatim theatre as a way to disseminate history and perpetuate research outside the textbook and classroom. By presenting With Their Voices Raised it is my hope that together we may learn by listening, by sharing, and by thoughtfully exploring our cultural differences and similarities in the hopes of a more peaceful future for us all. With that thought in mind, I welcome any comments or questions you may have in the talk-back following the performance and written in the survey.

Thank you, Kate Morris

Where do we go from here?

With Their Voices Raised will be performed in Miami on November 13, 2013.  The announcement for the performance has been included above in this blog message, as has a photo from the Florida Atlantic University performance (11-11-2012), capturing a

Voices of Nurses

Voices of Nurses

segment where the script focused on the stories of nurses. (Download a PDF copy of the performance invitation). Also included below is a video clip from the end of the performance at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens on December 6, 2012. Some important terms that are used in the script and will occur in the video clip are:

Genbaku – short for Genshi-bakudan, the Atomic bomb

Hibaku – A-bomb exposed. Being subjected/exposed to the bomb/radiation

Hibakusha – A-bomb survivor. One who was subjected/exposed to the bomb/radiation.

Our next efforts will be directed to taking the script to high school students who will assume the roles of the 8 actors, perform the play, and engage with classmates in a discussion of the meaning of living through aggression. With this research-based creative experience, young people will have a history lesson as well as a lesson about the human spirit that calls for peace.

Patricia Liehr, Katy Morris, Mary Ann Leavitt, Ryutaro Takahashi

To download your copy of this article while it is featured, visit our ANS web site now!  Watch the video clip here!

Liehr: Promoting Peace with Verbatim Theater from Peggy L Chinn on Vimeo.

Jul 31

Recognizability: Assessing External Validity


This week’s “Editor’s Pick” article is titled “Recognizability: A Strategy for Assessing External Validity and for Facilitating Knowledge Transfer in Qualitative Research” by Hanne Konradsen, PhD; Marit Kirkevold, DrEd; and Karin Olson, PhD.  Dr. Konradsen sent this message for our blog:

Dear ANS and readers

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Hanne Konradsen

When you sit and type on your computer, you often wonder “will anyone ever read this?”, “will anyone else think this is interesting?” and “will this in any way help improve lives or situations for patients?”

In debates external validity has been an issue that has divided qualitative researchers in many different groups. We argue in this article, that recognisability could serve as a strategy for quality assessment in relation to grounded theory. And for facilitating knowledge transfer. This implies that the researcher must be active in the scientific as well as public debate. Hopefully some will read the conclusions from the research. But it is equally important that the researcher must present the results in different forums. This gives the possibility for a wide variety of people to give their opinion regarding the results, and assess the recognizability of the findings. From these responses the researcher can then collect and paint a picture of whether others find the results important and whether the results of the research can contribute to future patient care.

You can download your copy of this article while it is featured!  Visit the ANS web site now!

 

Jul 23

Conversational Interviewing


This week’s Editor’s Pick article is titled “Making Meaning in Qualitative Research With Conversational Partnerships: A Methodological Discussion” by Susan M. Hunter Revell, PhD, RN.  In this article, Dr. Revell describes the interviewing method she uses in her research.  This is a 3-part approach to interviewing that facilitates a deep understanding of a person’s experiences.  I highly recommend this article for anyone interested in qualitative methods, because Dr. Revell provides a rich description of the method, and discusses some of the challenges she encountered in using the method.  She uses an example of her own approach to this type of interview with a person who has experienced a traumatic spinal cord injury.  By using a 3-part interview, she was able to reflect on the person’s words, the messages that Revell-wheelchair_smwere conveyed in both verbal and non-verbal elements of the interview, and plan subsequent interviews to explore meanings of the person’s experience in greater depth.  Dr. Revell starts her discussion of the example as follows:

 When using the responsive interviewing method, it is the conversational partnership that becomes the instrument in the study. The following discussion reflects on this perspective including the importance of establishing trust and rapport in the conversational partnership, challenges faced regarding the researcher role, and some unexpected findings from using the method.

To read more of her insights in this discussion, visit the ANS web site now!  Her article is available for download at no cost while it is being featured!

Jul 9

Grounded Theory and the Literature Review


The current Editor’s Pick article addresses a methodological issue that remains controversial – the timing of the literature review in the grounded theory method.  This article, titled  “The Timing of the Literature Review in Grounded Theory Research: An Open

Tracey Giles

Tracey Giles

Mind Versus an Empty Head” is authored by Tracey Giles, MNg, MACN, RN; Lindy King PhD, BN, DippAppSc, RN; and Sheryl de Lacey, PhD, MA, BAppSc, RN.  Ms. Giles describes their work, and invites you to respond with your perspectives on this issue:

What an absolute pleasure it is to have our article published in Advances in Nursing Science and featured as the editor’s article of the week on the ANS blog. I am a nursing lecturer and PhD candidate at Flinders University School

of Nursing and Midwifery. The aim of my PhD research is to explore decision making by health care professional and family members around family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in an acute care setting using a constructivist grounded theory method (GTM).

I wrote this article with the support and guidance of my PhD supervisors in response to the often confusing advice I

Lindy King

Lindy King

encountered around the timing of the literature review in GTM research. My initial reading of methodological texts and articles revealed inconsistent and conflicting recommendations, many of which were to delay the literature review until analysis begins, or even until codes begin to emerge. However this advice was not compatible with my constructivist approach to GTM research. A constructivist approach actively repositions the researcher as a co-constructor of experience and meaning and takes into account their past and present perspectives, experiences and knowledge. This often includes an extensive knowledge of the existing literature.

A critical examination of the methodological literature was therefore undertaken in order to clarify and justify my use of the literature, and to offer recommendations to other researchers who are considering GTM as a potential research approach. We found that previous recommendations to delay the literature review are out-dated and that preconceptions are not only unavoidable but can enhance creativity,

Sheryl deLacey

Sheryl deLacey

theoretical sensitivity and rigour. We concluded that any bias that could potentially distort data analysis can be addressed by using correct, GTM transparent techniques and by ensuring the researcher openly acknowledge the influence of previous work in their perspective of what is emerging from their own data. We believe that if used reflexively, a preliminary literature review can enhance GTM research.

Thank you for the opportunity to share our ideas about GTM research. We look forward to your feedback about our recommendations.

Visit the ANS web site now to download your copy  of the article, and contribute your comments and feedback here!

Jul 2

Creativity and Quality: Qualitative research with people with aphasia


beritabr-1

Berit Arnesveen Bronken

The authors of the current Editor’s Pick article in ANS provide an inspirational example of overcoming a research challenge that may seem impossible!  The challenge: to understand the experience of people with aphasia, despite their limitations in being able to convey their experience in spoken or written language.  The authors, Berit Arnesveen Bronken, MNS and Marit Kirkevold, EdD, provide thought-provoking explanations to address this challenge.  In addition, their approaches and their conclusions provide creative and rigorous approaches for conducting qualitative studies with all populations.  This article, titled “Between the Lines: Generating Good Qualitative Data in Studies Involving Persons With Aphasia” is a “must read” for anyone who is planning and conducting qualitative research.  Here is a description of their work:

maritk

Marit Kirkevold

Studying experiences of persons with aphasia following stroke challenge traditional norms of generating data of good quality because the research methods are based on abilities to produce and understand oral and written language, read and write. A longitudinal design, using a combination of research methods contributed to generate relevant and important data from a dialogue-based nursing intervention which included persons with moderate to severe aphasia.

To get your copy of this article, visit the ANS web site while it is being featured, and you can download it at no cost!

Jun 25

Improving outcomes of care transitions


I am delighted to post our first author video for this current “Editor’s Pick” article from the current issue of ANS! The article titled “Comorbidities in the Context of Care Transitions” is authored by  Janet H. Van Cleave, PhD, RN; Rebecca L. Trotta, PhD, RN; Susan Lysaght, PhD, RN; Melinda R. Steis, PhD, RN; Rebecca A. Lorenz, PhD, RN; and Mary D. Naylor, PhD, RN. In this article the authors  present the findings of their Dimensional Analysis approach that resulted in a schematic that can be useful for future nursing research studies that focus on evaluating outcomes of programs designed to improve health of vulnerable populations involved in care transitions.  Watch the video, in which Janet Van Cleave describes the study!

To download your copy of this article, visit the ANS web site.  Featured articles are free to download for a limited time, so do not delay!

Jun 18

Developing Compentency Assessment Tools


The featured article by Shoa-Jen Perng, PhD and Roger Watson, PhD titled “Psychometric Testing of an Instrument Measuring Core Competencies of Nursing Students: An Application of Mokken Scaling” provides a report of a study  developing a tool to measure 8 core competencies of nursing students in Taiwan.  The authors propose that one way to bridge the gap between nursing education and practice is to competency-based approaches that prepare nursing students for practice.  Dr. Perng describes their work here:

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Drs. Perng and Watson

It is an honor to have our manuscript published in Advances in Nursing Science. As a nurse educator I have strived to find an instrument that is useful to measure students’ learning outcomes. Previous literature has offered a lot of significant works, but some of the content or items in the existing instruments were not suitable for my needs. I needed an instrument that is not only valid for varied types of students, but also one that shows the strength and weakness of the students. The use of Mokken scaling analysis seemed suitable to expand the possibilities of assessment outcomes. In my role as a Director, Department of Nursing I hope that the results of assessing nursing students using this approach can provide information for further educational improvement. My co-author, Dr. Watson is a respected scholar and also a wonderful mentor for my research career. We are grateful for this opportunity to share our work in ANS and in this blog post. I hope you find our work is helpful to develop a new measure, and I look forward to your comments.

To examine their work further, visit the ANS web site now, and you can download a copy at no cost while the article is featured!

Jun 11

Practical Guidelines for Feminist Research


The current “Editor’s Pick” article is by Eun-Ok Im, PhD, MPH, RN, CNS, FAAN, who has published a number of articles that focus on feminism and nursing.  As a feminist scholar in nursing, she is well qualified to offer to the discipline her article titled “Practical Guidelines for Feminist Research in Nursing.”  Dr. Im provided this message, and an invitation for readers to engage in discussion of this article with her on this blog!

First of all, thanks a million to you, Dr. Chinn, editor of  ANS!!!  Thanks for choosing my article as the “Editor’s Picks” so that I could have scholarly discussion with all my respectable colleagues throughout the world.

To explain the background of the article…  The article was motivated by questions from my own doctoral students.  In my doctoral classes, I have frequently been asked about “how to conduct” a feminist study.  As all of us would agree, there is no one way to conduct a feminist study, but the students were eager to hearN753-April-2013 about my previous experience in feminist studies and some advice for their future feminist studies. That was the start point when I re-collected all my previous research notes from three feminist studies that I had conducted and re-analyzed to identify what would be essential components in feminist research.

Through the process, I have extracted a total of 10 idea categories, and I have proposed guidelines for these idea categories. Yet, these guidelines would not be new to feminist scholars/researchers who have been conducting feminist research. Rather, these are the ones that feminist scholars/researchers have taken for granted. However, for our novice feminist scholars/researchers, these kinds of explicit guidelines would be helpful (my hope!!!).

As noted in the article, there are several major limitations of the article.  I simply took a pragmatic approach to provide tangible guidance for feminist research. Also, the guidelines are from only three Internet-based studies with limitations in generalizability.

Anyway, I think we could further develop the guidelines for our future generation through our future collective efforts.  So, please feel free to add absent components that you found in your studies.  Thanks for all your attention to this article and thanks again to Dr. Chinn for this opportunity to dialogue with other scholars!

I invite you to download your copy of this article now at no cost, and engage in this dialogue!

Jun 5

Storytelling, narrative inquiry, health inequities and health outcomes


These four “topics” do not often appear in the same context together, but that is exactly what authors Nicole Y. Pitre, PhD, RN; Kaysi E. Kushner, PhD, RN; Kim D. Raine, PhD and Kathy M. Hegadoren, PhD, RN have accomplished in their featured article titled “Critical Feminist Narrative Inquiry: Advancing Knowledge Through Double-Hermeneutic Narrative Analysis.”  This article describes an innovative approach to research that holds great potential for creating sustainable social change that supports positive health outcomes, especially for those whose “voice” is rarely heard.  Dr. Pitre shared this message about her work:

Critical feminist narrative inquiry is a research methodology that evolved from Dr. Kaysi Kushner’s work on theoretically triangulated critical feminist grounded theory (also published in ANS in 2003). I developed this approach to narrative inquiry through my doctoral work under the supervision of Dr. Kushner and Dr. Hegadoren, and with the support of Dr. Raine, all members of my supervisory committee and co-authors of this article. I am particularly grateful to them for their guidance as I developed this method of narrative analysis. We are delighted that this article is published in ANS.

My work was inspired from my reflections on the following assertion: “Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this” (Anonymous). Narrative inquiry is known to be a method designed to give voice to participants through the stories that they wish to share. While I found that during the interview process narrative inquiry approaches were consistent with a feminist agenda, I soon realized that existing methods of narrative analysis did not provide a foundation or strategies to examine stories from a theoretically triangulated critical feminist perspective. I concluded that current approaches did not allow for participant’s voices to be fully heard, nor did these permit an explication of the constraining and silencing social, structural, and ideological conditions and practices that shaped their experiences. This integration is the aim of critical feminist narrative inquiry.

Critical feminist narrative inquiry constitutes a means for participants’ voices to be heard and to influence social action toward change. Through critical feminist narrative inquiry, it also is possible to uncover women’s or men’s strengths, challenges, and reflexive choices and decisions as they strive to manage adverse conditions. The use of critical feminist narrative inquiry ultimately allows the researcher to reveal the conditions that create and perpetuate marginalization, vulnerability, and stigmatization and that limit agency and identity in a person’s life.

We believe that this evolving methodological innovation has the potential to support the work of nurse researchers who are dedicated to expose and to act upon health inequities and social injustice. We greatly appreciate this opportunity for dialogue and we welcome your comments and thoughts.

While this article is featured, it is available for free download!  So visit the ANS web site now!

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