What are the experiential and phenomenological processes over time involved in the recovery from violence against women?’

This study introduces an epistemological and methodological framework based on the foundations of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith 1996), rooted in hermeneutic phenomenology, as a means to disclose the experiential and phenomenological processes over time involved in adult women recovering from violence. It has a relational element where the researcher adopts a dual role of practitioner-researcher, using the key Rogerian (1951) principles of non-judgmental positive regard, empathy, and congruence. This was considered a prerequisite due to the traumatic nature of the experiences the participants had been exposed to, and the aim to explore their recovery processes without causing them further harm. The existentials described by Van Manen (1997) of lived body, lived time, lived space and lived relations, enables an understanding of the individual experiences, but also an appreciation of the phenomenon of recovery. Bringing recovery from violence into focus in this way, enables a fresh perspective on recovery, and a consideration of how others may respond to this knowledge. In this study, six adult female participants were purposively selected and invited to share their experiences of their recovery journeys to date. Interviews were carried out weekly for up to six months, but with the option of continuing up to 12 months if the woman chose. Sessions typically came to a natural conclusion when the woman moved on from the refuge. The participants’ accounts provided insights into the embodied experience of recovery, how they experienced time and space, and the significance of relationships, including the research relationship. The participants moved at their own pace from experiencing the body as threat, to experiencing the body as strength. Some of the processes involved in this included: managing fragmentation and destruction of the self; managing power and control; negotiating negative emotion; creating thinking space; finding positive emotion, and the emergence of positive activities and agentic functioning. The embodied experience of recovery overlapped with the existentials of lived time, lived, space and lived relations. Trauma was noticed to have a pervasive effect over time; time was experienced as waiting, but also as a need to persevere. There was a move towards taking ownership of time where new beginnings could be made. Space was experienced as solitary and threatening during the violence, and continuing after the abuse had ceased. Over time, participants were able to enjoy and create a positive space which contributed to positive emotion. There were perspectives on historical rejecting relationships, including overt rejection, perceived rejection, and absence of relationships, and the negative impact this had on the women’s identity. The benefit of supportive and enabling relationships was acknowledged by all participants. The research relationship was experienced positively by all the participants, with two women noting it was their first experience of an enabling relationship. Four women acknowledged a positive change in their sense of identity over time. Recovery was conceptualised as involving multiple areas, including: a spiritual relationship; facing and accepting the past, and creating a sense of meaning; knowing joy and happiness; engaging in positive friendships, as well as intimate and sexual relations; engaging in meaningful activities; having clear boundaries; being able to manage emotion; feeling safe; and being independent. Participants unanimously found the research relationship helpful, with an emphasis placed on the researcher being genuine and having depth of understanding, listening, and placing a value on the participant, being caring and taking time, and holding and accepting everything brought to the encounter. It is suggested that the importance of the spiritual, as well as the nature of the therapeutic relationship, should be given high consideration when engaging with women with similar presentations. This may have clinical significance when considering service design for women who have experienced chronic violence from childhood into adulthood

Radar scatterometer data validation Final report

Radar scatterometer system to measure radar reflectivity or scattering cross sections of various surfaces as function of incidence angl

What are the experiential and phenomenological processes over time involved in the recovery from violence against women?

This study introduces an epistemological and methodological framework based on the foundations of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith 1996), rooted in hermeneutic phenomenology, as a means to disclose the experiential and phenomenological processes over time involved in adult women recovering from violence. It has a relational element where the researcher adopts a dual role of practitioner-researcher, using the key Rogerian (1951) principles of non-judgmental positive regard, empathy, and congruence. This was considered a prerequisite due to the traumatic nature of the experiences the participants had been exposed to, and the aim to explore their recovery processes without causing them further harm. The existentials described by Van Manen (1997) of lived body, lived time, lived space and lived relations, enables an understanding of the individual experiences, but also an appreciation of the phenomenon of recovery. Bringing recovery from violence into focus in this way, enables a fresh perspective on recovery, and a consideration of how others may respond to this knowledge. In this study, six adult female participants were purposively selected and invited to share their experiences of their recovery journeys to date. Interviews were carried out weekly for up to six months, but with the option of continuing up to 12 months if the woman chose. Sessions typically came to a natural conclusion when the woman moved on from the refuge. The participants’ accounts provided insights into the embodied experience of recovery, how they experienced time and space, and the significance of relationships, including the research relationship. The participants moved at their own pace from experiencing the body as threat, to experiencing the body as strength. Some of the processes involved in this included: managing fragmentation and destruction of the self; managing power and control; negotiating negative emotion; creating thinking space; finding positive emotion, and the emergence of positive activities and agentic functioning. The embodied experience of recovery overlapped with the existentials of lived time, lived, space and lived relations. Trauma was noticed to have a pervasive effect over time; time was experienced as waiting, but also as a need to persevere. There was a move towards taking ownership of time where new beginnings could be made. Space was experienced as solitary and threatening during the violence, and continuing after the abuse had ceased. Over time, participants were able to enjoy and create a positive space which contributed to positive emotion. There were perspectives on historical rejecting relationships, including overt rejection, perceived rejection, and absence of relationships, and the negative impact this had on the women’s identity. The benefit of supportive and enabling relationships was acknowledged by all participants. The research relationship was experienced positively by all the participants, with two women noting it was their first experience of an enabling relationship. Four women acknowledged a positive change in their sense of identity over time. Recovery was conceptualised as involving multiple areas, including: a spiritual relationship; facing and accepting the past, and creating a sense of meaning; knowing joy and happiness; engaging in positive friendships, as well as intimate and sexual relations; engaging in meaningful activities; having clear boundaries; being able to manage emotion; feeling safe; and being independent. Participants unanimously found the research relationship helpful, with an emphasis placed on the researcher being genuine and having depth of understanding, listening, and placing a value on the participant, being caring and taking time, and holding and accepting everything brought to the encounter. It is suggested that the importance of the spiritual, as well as the nature of the therapeutic relationship, should be given high consideration when engaging with women with similar presentations. This may have clinical significance when considering servic

'You were quiet - I did all the marching': Research processes involved in hearing the voices of South Asian girls

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2011 A B Academic Publishers.This article provides insights into the outcomes of reflection following two interview approaches used to explore narratives of the lived, individual experiences of South-Asian girls living in West London. In attempting to illuminate and re-present the cultural experiences as told by these girls, the choice of interview approach became critical in allowing the voices to be effectively heard (Rogers, 2005). This article therefore considers how a semi-structured interview approach offered valuable insights into the girls' experiences but became constraining for both researcher and participant in unveiling the complexity and depth of their lives. These constraints emerged through reflection by both participants and researcher. As a result of reflexivity during the research process, the researcher moved towards the use of research conversations during the second phase of the study. Ultimately the study revealed how the girls felt empowered by the opportunity to narrate their individual experiences and tell of their lives. In narrating their reflections on being part of the research, there was a clear recognition that the process facilitated the articulation of new voices and ‘multi-voicedness’ (Moen, 2006

Mapping Meaning : Critical Cartographies for Participatory Water Management in Taita Hills, Kenya

Participation of local people is often neglected in natural resource management, which leads to failure to understand the social aspects and historical construction of environmental problems. Participatory mapping can enhance the communication of local spatial knowledge for management processes and challenge the official maps and other spatial representations produced by state authorities and scientists. In this study, we analyze what kind of social meanings can be revealed through a multimethod participatory mapping process focusing on water resources in Taita Hills, Kenya. The participatory mapping clearly complicates the simplified image of the physical science mappings, typically depicting natural water supply, by addressing the impacts of contamination, inadequate infrastructure, poverty, distance to the sources, and restrictions in their uses on people's access to water. Moreover, this shared exercise is able to trigger discussion on issues that cannot always be localized but still contribute to place making. Local historical accounts reveal the social and political drivers of the current water-related problems, making explicit the political ecology dynamics in the area.Peer reviewe

An exploration of the use of infant observation methods to research the identities of severely learning disabled adolescents and to enhance relationship-based practice for professional social work practice

This paper considers how infant observation methods may be adapted to explore and research the identities of severely learning disabled adolescents, a group of young people whose experiences are poorly represented in the literature. Through focusing on emotion and relationship, this ‘practice-near’ research method also offers a way for social workers to develop their reflective capacity in relation to the often hidden, uncomfortable emotions aroused by experiencing impairment and difference, but without the defences usually involved in assuming the professional role. The importance of taking time to get on a disabled child’s ‘wavelength’ is illustrated through extracts from the research which show how a young person’s agency and identity can be appreciated. The method also has the potential to develop social workers’ awareness of the powerful undercurrent of emotions apparent at times within families of severely disabled young people and tentative suggestions are made about the projective processes and hidden hostilities at work within one of the families observed as part of the research project. Professionals may be able to use this knowledge to become resilient and reflective practitioners and the observation method itself has something to offer by way of a containing experience for families

Patterns of HIV prevalence among injecting drug users in the cross-border area of Lang Son Province, Vietnam, and Ning Ming County, Guangxi Province, China

BACKGROUND: To assess patterns of injecting drug use and HIV prevalence among injecting drug users (IDUs) in an international border area along a major heroin trans-shipment route. METHODS: Cross-sectional surveys of IDUs in 5 sites in Lang Son Province, Vietnam (n = 348) and 3 sites in Ning Ming County, Guangxi Province, China (n = 308). Respondents were recruited through peer referral ("snowball") methods in both countries, and also from officially recorded lists of IDUs in Vietnam. A risk behavior questionnaire was administered and HIV counseling and testing conducted. RESULTS: Participants in both countries were largely male, in their 20s, and unmarried. A majority of subjects in both countries were members of ethnic minority groups. There were strong geographic gradients for length of drug injecting and for HIV seroprevalence. Both mean years injecting and HIV seroprevalence declined from the Vietnamese site farthest from the border to the Chinese site farthest from the border. 10.6% of participants in China and 24.5% of participants in Vietnam reported crossing the international border in the 6 months prior to interview. Crossing the border by IDUs was associated with (1) distance from the border, (2) being a member of an ethnic minority group, and (3) being HIV seropositive among Chinese participants. CONCLUSION: Reducing the international spread of HIV among IDUs will require programs at the global, regional, national, and "local cross border" levels. At the local cross border level, the programs should be coordinated on both sides of the border and on a sufficient scale that IDUs will be able to readily obtain clean injection equipment on the other side of the border as well as in their country of residence

Prisoners of the Capitalist Machine: Captivity and the Corporate Engineer

This chapter will focus on how engineering practice is conditioned by an economic system which promotes production for profit and economic growth as an end in itself. As such it will focus on the notion of the captivity of engineering which emanates from features of the economic system. By drawing on Critical Realism and a Marxist literature, and by focusing on the issues of safety and sustainability (in particular the issue of climate change), it will examine the extent to which disasters and workplace accidents result from the economic imperative for profitable production and how efforts by engineers to address climate change are undermined by an on-going commitment to growth. It will conclude by arguing that the structural constraints on engineering practice require new approaches to teaching engineers about ethics and social responsibility. It will argue that Critical Realism offers a framework for the teaching of engineering ethics which would pay proper attention to the structural context of engineers work without eliminating the possibility of engineers working for radical change

Advanced Nurse Practitioners’ (Emergency) perceptions of their role, positionality and professional identity: a narrative inquiry

Aims To explore Advanced Nurse Practitioners' (Emergency) perceptions of their role, positionality and professional identity. Background Advanced nursing practice was formally established in the Republic of Ireland in 2001 with 336 Advanced Nurse Practitioners currently registered increasing to a critical mass of 750 by 2021. Advanced practitioners (Emergency) provide full emergency care for a specific cohort of clients with unscheduled, undifferentiated and undiagnosed conditions. Design Qualitative narrative inquiry using Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field and capital as the theoretical framework was undertaken. Methods Data were collected in ten in‐depth interviews and thematic analysis applied. Results Five key themes emerged: participants' career pathways, personal and professional transitions, role dimensions and core concepts, position in the organisation and emergent professional identity. Role‐transitioning and a change in habitus, field and capital revealed the uniqueness of their nursing role. Minimising waiting times, timely patient care and patient satisfaction were key performance indicators. A heightened awareness regarding higher‐level decision‐making, autonomy and accountability are integral to advanced practice. Conclusion This study presents unique insights into the advanced nurse practitioner role covering recruitment, organisational culture changes required and support to ease transition emerged. Impact Better understanding the motivation to undertake the role, the transition experience and use of advanced practice skills‐sets will inform the targets for the future recruitment and retention of Advanced Nurse Practitioners are met nationally and internationally. Dissatisfaction with previous management roles and wanting to be clinically‐close to patients were motivations to follow an advanced practice clinical career trajectory. Positionality and emergent professional identity are key enablers ensuring advanced practitioners' roles demonstrate the attributes of advanced practice. Educators could use the findings to develop recruitment, retention and progression strategies. Disseminating the role and scopes of practice could positively influence collaborative models of service delivery and policy development