The hardest part is knowing I will survive: The use of music and creative mediums to enhance empathy and facilitate life-long distance learning in professionally qualified clinicians

© Redfame Publishing Inc.Music is an experience that can cross personal and professional domains alongside cultural, gender, age and generational boundaries; it can also enhance the learning process through emotional processing and connection. This paper focuses on the learning experience of qualified clinical psychologists (CPs) working in the United Kingdom. This group of CPs had experience of undertaking experiential learning and reflective writing during their professional training. It considers the potential to continue a learning process, 3 years post qualification, through long distance methods using vignette-based material. Empathising with, and understanding, the position of others from differing backgrounds is an important competency within the therapeutic work of CPs and this comes alongside acknowledging and understanding ones‟ own experiences, both past and present. CPs work with difficult life experiences and complex issues; connecting constantly can be exhausting and, perhaps, unrealistic. Yet, to truly empathise one must connect with, and understand, the lived experiences of others. We will consider what helps and hinders this process, and how music and other creative mediums can be effectively used in learning even via long distance methods. We will further consider how CPs may be well placed to enhance the learning about, and processing of, difficult emotional experiences for themselves, other clinicians and the people they might work with.Peer reviewe

Healthy ageing and home: The perspectives of very old people in five European countries

This paper reports on in-depth research, using a grounded theory approach, to examine the ways in which very old people perceive healthy ageing in the context of living alone at home within urban settings in five European countries. This qualitative study was part of a cross-national project entitled ENABLE-AGE which examined the relationship between home and healthy ageing. Interviews explored the notion of healthy ageing, the meaning and importance of home, conceptualisations of independence and autonomy and links between healthy ageing and home. Data analysis identified five ways in which older people constructed healthy ageing: home and keeping active; managing lifestyles, health and illness; balancing social life; and balancing material and financial circumstances. Older people reflected on their everyday lives at home in terms of being engaged in purposeful, meaningful action and evaluated healthy ageing in relation to the symbolic and practical affordances of the home, contextualised within constructions of their national context. The research suggests that older people perceive healthy ageing as an active achievement, created through individual, personal effort and supported through social ties despite the health, financial and social decline associated with growing older. The physicality and spatiality of home provided the context for establishing and evaluating the notion of healthy ageing, whilst the experienced relationship between home, life history and identity created a meaningful space within which healthy ageing was negotiated

Hospital staff experiences of their relationships with adults who self-harm: a meta-synthesis

Purpose This review aimed to synthesize qualitative literature exploring inpatient hospital staff experiences of their relationships with people who self-harm. Methods Nine studies were identified from a systematic search of five research databases. Papers included the experiences of physical health and mental health staff working in inpatient settings. The studies employed various qualitative research methods and were appraised using an adapted quality assessment tool (Tong, Sainsbury, & Craig, 2007). A meta-synthesis was conducted using traditional qualitative analysis methods including coding and categorizing data into themes. Results Three main themes derived from the data. ‘The impact of the system’ influenced the extent to which staff were ‘Fearing the harm from self-harm’, or were ‘Working alongside the whole person’. A fear-based relationship occurred across mental health and physical health settings despite differences in training; however, ‘Working alongside the whole person’ primarily emerged from mental health staff experiences. Systemic factors provided either an inhibitory or facilitative influence on the relational process. Conclusions Staff experiences of their relationship with people who self-harm were highlighted to have an important impact on the delivery and outcome of care. Increasing support for staff with a focus on distress tolerance, managing relational issues, and developing self-awareness within the relationship may lead to a more mutually beneficial experience of care. Equally, structure, clarity, and support within inpatient systems may empower staff to feel more confident in utilizing their existing skills. Practitioner points •Working with people who self-harm can be emotionally challenging and how staff cope with this can significantly impact on the engagement of staff and patients. •Increasing the skills of staff in managing relational issues and tolerating distress, as well as providing support and reflective practice groups may be useful in managing emotional responses to working with people who self-harm. •Refining the supportive, procedural, and environmental structures surrounding the caregiving relationship may help enable better integration of physical and mental health care

SenseCam intervention based on cognitive ctimulation therapy framework for early-stage dementia.

Estimates suggest that Ireland will have 50,000 people with dementia by 2016 and over 100,000 by 2036. Combined with European total costs estimated in 2005 at €130 billion. In the absence of a cure for dementia there is a real need to develop pervasive, user-centered technologies to enhance the well-being and quality of life of people with dementia. This study explores the use of Microsoft SenseCam images within the principles of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) to engage people with early stage dementia in meaningful discussion. The SenseCam intervention, like the CST approach, is aimed at general enhancement of quality of life and global cognitive and social functioning

Visual art-making as a resource for living positively with arthritis: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of older women’s accounts

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Journal of Aging Studies. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2010 Elsevier B.V.This study explored whether and how visual art-making, as a leisure activity, provided a coping resource for older women affected by arthritis. Twelve older women (aged 62–81) were interviewed. They had lived with arthritis for many years, and engaged in arts and crafts regularly. Transcripts were explored through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three main themes were identified. Firstly, most participants experienced art-making as a powerful means of controlling arthritis pain, through deep concentration, and through use of color and imagery. Secondly, participants experienced art-making as encouraging sustained attention to the outside world, offering psychological escape from the confines of the body and home. Thirdly, art-making protected and promoted identity, for example, through integrating current and former selves, enabling participants to express and re-experience certain valued memories, and engage in personal development. Some participants felt able to celebrate positive difference from others, on the basis of their art rather than their illness

Cultural Transformation in Health Care

Describes the role of organizational culture in healthcare organizations. Recommends strategies for innovative approaches to improve the overall performance of the U.S. healthcare system

Attachment Matters for All - An Attachment Mapping Exercise for Children's Services in Scotland

As part of the first phase of the Looked After Strategic Implementation Group (LACSIG), the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) undertook research into care and permanence planning for younger children in care.1 They focused on 100 children all aged under four years old when they first came to the attention of services and examined how long it took from that point to achieve permanence. For over 90% of children this process took longer than two years and more than half had still not achieved a permanent placement four years after first contact with services. Several children had also experienced multiple placements, with transitions between carers often occurring at critical developmental points. The research highlighted the negative impact on long-term outcomes of such continued disruption of children’s attachments

Mindful Stitch: Generating dialogue in and around the threads of wellbeing

This article investigates wellbeing and mindfulness within contemporary art and craft practice, exploring initial introductions by Jon Kabat-Zinn of mindfulness practices into modern westernised medicine as a group or independent outlet. 21st Century sociological observations suggest we are infected by the ‘Hurry Virus’ (Kickbusch, 2012). Studies into mindfulness practices through established services such as the NHS and Arts and Minds show how crafts can be used as a tool for slowing down pace of making/doing, influencing overall wellbeing. Mindful Stitch is a community derived workshop exploring hand embroidery as a mindful practice, using methods of social inclusion and outrospective empathy. Independent mindful craft practitioners, Kathryn Vercillo and Tara Jon Manning, show the benefits of mindfulness knit and crochet practices. Mindful Stitch addresses the gap in the research regarding hand embroidery as a mindful craft practice, catering for a wide audience, additionally welcomed to the 2013 conference The Subversive Stitch: Revisited, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London