Identity as a causal power : contextualising entrepreneurs' concerns

We propose a critical realist-informed conception of entrepreneurial identity – the personal power to create a new venture. Although most people have the power to become an entrepreneur, not everyone can, or is motivated to, realize that potential. Other countervailing powers – personal, material and social – can constrain, or discourage, action. Utilizing a stratified, emergent ontology, we contextualize entrepreneurial identity within three analytical orders – natural, practical and social. We distinguish personal identity, the set of concerns in the three orders that motivate action, from social identity, the roles we commit to in society. While entrepreneurial identity is a type of social identity, the underlying concerns that motivate commitment to an entrepreneurial role cannot be reduced to social interaction alone. The concept of internal conversation is used to theorize the connection of entrepreneurial motivation, context and behaviour. We draw on qualitative data from three UK-based disabled entrepreneurs to demonstrate the value of our framework

Exploring the implementation of cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis using the Normalization Process Theory framework

Objective: Evidence suggests that only a minority of service users experiencing psychosis have access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for psychosis (CBTp). Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) is a theoretical framework which focuses on processes by which interventions are implemented and normalised in clinical practice. This study explored the views and experiences of mental health professionals regarding the implementation of CBTp. Barriers and facilitators to implementation were explored using the NPT framework. Design: A qualitative methodology was adopted involving semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews. Methods: A total of 14 members of staff working in the community and crisis mental health teams were recruited. Thematic analysis was used to generate initial themes. The Framework approach was utilised to map initial themes to the NPT framework. Results: Inductive coding generated five overarching themes consisting of 15 individual subthemes which captured the perceived barriers to engagement; contextual barriers to implementation; optimisation of implementation; positive attitudes towards implementation; and expectations of implementing CBTp. All but two subthemes mapped on to the NPT framework. The deductive analysis suggested that difficulties in making sense of CBTp among professionals were reflected as service level barriers which impeded wider implementation. Conclusion: The results of this study suggested a mixture of barriers and facilitators to CBTp implementation. Interpreting our findings within an NPT framework indicates the importance of strong clinical leadership to address difficulties in sense-making and service investment in CBTp

“That little doorway where I could suddenly start shouting out”: barriers and enablers to the disclosure of distressing voices

Hearing distressing voices is a key feature of psychosis. The time between voice onset and disclosure may be crucial as voices can grow in complexity. This study investigated barriers and enablers to early voice disclosure. Interviews with 20 voice hearers underwent Thematic Analysis. Beliefs about the effect of disclosure on self and others acted as a barrier and enabler to voices being discussed. Voice hearing awareness should be increased amongst young people, the public and care services. To support earlier disclosure measures need to increase skill amongst those likely to be disclosed to

Developing mixed methods research in sport and exercise psychology: potential contributions of a critical realist perspective

Notwithstanding diverse opinions and debates about mixing methods, mixed methods research (MMR) is increasingly being used in sport and exercise psychology. In this paper, we describe MMR trends within leading sport and exercise psychology journals and explore critical realism as a possible underpinning framework for conducting MMR. Our meta-study of recent empirical mixed methods studies published in 2017–2019 indicates that eight (36%) of the 22 MMR studies explicitly stated a paradigmatic position (five drew on pragmatism, two switched paradigms between qualitative and quantitative elements of the study, and one was situated in relativist-interpretivism). The remaining 14 (64%) studies did not report their underpinning research philosophical assumptions. Evaluating the merits and limitations of these positions against critical realist assumptions suggests that several paradigmatic disagreements are potentially reconcilable. These include (a) maintaining that ontological and epistemological concerns are important for methodological integrity of a mixed methods study; (b) switching between paradigms in the same study is problematic; and (c) refuting the qualitative-quantitative incommensurability thesis, therefore allowing mixed methods research without compromising philosophical coherence. From a critical realist position, we suggest that both quantitative and qualitative designs are justifiable in a mixed methods study because (1) they help corroborate, refine, or refute plausible explanations of phenomena (epistemological), but (2) with different methodologies utilised to perform different tasks in the same research design related to different psycho-social system features (ontological). We call for a collaborative engagement by researchers across paradigmatic positions to work towards the advancement of methodological pluralism in our research community

Inside the research-assemblage: new materialism and the micropolitics of social inquiry

This paper explores social inquiry in terms of the ‘research-assemblages’ that produce knowledge from events. We use the precepts of new materialism (and specifically DeleuzoGuattarian assemblage ontology) to develop understanding of what happens when social events are researched. From this perspective, research is not at root an enterprise undertaken by human actors, but a machine-like assemblage of things, people, ideas, social collectivities and institutions. During social inquiry, the affect economies of an event-assemblage and a research-assemblage hybridise, generating a third assemblage with its own affective flow. This model of the research-assemblage reveals a micropolitics of social research that suggests a means to interrogate and effectively reverse-engineer different social research methodologies and methods, to analyse what they do, how they work and their micropolitical effects. It also suggests a means to forward-engineer research methods and designs to manipulate the kinds of knowledge produced when events are researched

The Reframing of Methodology: Revisiting a PhD Study

The paper draws on a PhD study to explore some methodological dilemmas associated with the execution of qualitative research when framed within positivist study design. The PhD was linked to an externally funded research project which evaluated the implementation of a custody-based intervention in the secure estate. While the PhD was conceived as a qualitative study, informed by interpretivist methodology and associated epistemology, the wider funded study was informed by positivist tradition and used a quantitative method. This led to dilemmas of both practical and methodological nature. The author revisits her study's methodological position to review issues raised by the research design and suggests an alternative proposal informed methodologically by critical realism which may better serve the study's interests. In doing so, the paper suggests how revisiting previous research may assist us in gaining methodological understanding and allow us to reframe our future endeavours to more useful end

Transitions from healthcare to self-care: a qualitative study of falls service practitioners' views on self-management.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to understand the views of falls service practitioners regarding: their role in supporting self-management of falls prevention; and a transition pathway from National Health Service (NHS) exercise-based falls interventions to community-run exercise programmes. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with physiotherapists, nurses, and rehabilitation assistants (n = 8) who worked in an NHS falls service. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Certain aspects of supporting patients in self-management were deemed to be within or beyond the scope of falls service practitioners. Challenges in supporting transition to community-run programmes included: practitioner awareness and buy in; patient buy in; and patient suitability/programme availability. CONCLUSION: Practitioners sought to be patient-centred as a means to engage patients in self-management of falls prevention exercises. Time-limited intervention periods and waiting list pressures were barriers to the promotion of long-term self-management approaches. A disconnect between falls service interventions and community-run programmes hindered willing practitioners from supporting patients in transitioning. Unless falls risk and prevention is seen by healthcare providers as a long-term condition which requires person-centred support from practitioners to develop self-management approaches, then falls services may only be able to offer short-term measures which are potentially not long lasting. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Falls rehabilitation practitioners need to take a person-centred approach to engage patients in self-management of falls prevention exercises. Providing information and signposting to exercise opportunities such as community-run programmes following falls service interventions should be viewed as being within the scope of the role of falls service practitioners. Rehabilitation practitioners should consider viewing falls risk as a long-term condition, to promote longer-term behavioural change approaches to ongoing engagement of exercise for falls prevention

Improving the Nutritional Quality of Charitable Meals for Homeless and Vulnerable Adults: A Mixed Method Study of Two Meals Services in a Large English City

Inadequate nutrition may contribute to poor health in homeless and vulnerable adults. Charitable meals are critical to this group’s nutrition. The nutrient content of charitable meals at 2 organizations was assessed. Ethnography investigated organizational practice; semistructured interviews explored influences on meal provision. Meals were adequate for energy and the majority of nutrients but exceeded thresholds of saturated fat, salt, and sugars and lacked vitamin D and selenium in both organizations. Organizations were constrained by budget, equipment, food donations, volunteer capabilities, and time. Organizational values influenced meal provision; strategies to reduce fat, salt, and sugar content may be resisted because of an ethos of hospitality and overprovision