A discursive approach to narrative accounts of hearing voices and recovery

Substantive objective: To research the range of discursive constructions ‘recovered’ voice hearers employ to describe hearing voices and the implications for positioning and subjectivity (what can be thought and felt) using each construction. Methodological objective and method: To explore a ‘sympathetic’ application of Foucauldian discourse analysis, adapting Willig’s (2008 Willig, C. 2008. Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology, Maidenhead: Open University Press. ) method, analysing two published accounts. Results and conclusions: Heterogeneous discursive constructions for talking about hearing voices were identified, including: ‘many-’selves’’, ‘taking-the-lead-in-your-own-recovery’, ‘voices-as-an-’imagined-world’’ and ‘voices-as-a-coping-strategy-for-dealing-with-trauma’. The discourse of the biomedical model was not prominent, suggesting alternate discursive constructions may create subjects with a greater capacity for ‘living with voices’ and create a subjectivity from which vantage point the experience holds meaning and value and can be integrated into life experiences. This research may have useful clinical applications for mental health services aiming to collaboratively explore service users’ ways of understanding hearing voices

Seeing the patient as a person in interprofessional health professions education

Increasing prevalence of chronic disease leads to an increased need for person-centered care. To prepare future health professionals for this need, educational institutions provide interprofessional education in which they actively involve patients (hereafter called experts by experience). The organization of inter-institutional, interprofessional education with the active involvement of experts by experience poses challenges. To overcome these challenges, a joint student- and expert by experience-led organization was established, named Patient as a Person Foundation. This organization functions as the linking pin between three educational institutions. Jointly, they enabled the involvement of 181 experts by experience in interprofessional education and 1313 students from nine study programs over the course of two curriculum years. To facilitate joint education involving patients, Patient as a Person Foundation realizes three main activities: (a) recruitment and instruction of experts by experience, (b) enabling the inter-institutional organization of education and facilitating its logistics and financing, and (c) universal training of teaching staff. This interprofessional Education and Practice Guide aims to provide lessons on how to sustainably organize interprofessional education involving experts by experience across multiple educational institutions. The key lessons provided in this guide, underpinned by research and key literature, aim to inspire and enable similar initiatives elsewhere

Effects of Fire on Landscape Heterogeneity in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

A map of burn severity resulting from the 1988 fires that occurred in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) was derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery and used to assess the isolation of burned areas, the heterogeneity that resulted from fires burning under moderate and severe burning conditions, and the relationship between heterogeneity and fire size. About 80% of the park is covered with coniferous forests dominated by lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia). The majority of severely burned areas were within close proximity (50 to 200 m) to unburned or lightly burned areas, suggesting that few burned sites are very far from potential sources of propagules for plant re-establishment. Fires that occurred under moderate burning conditions early during the 1988 fire season resulted in a lower proportion of crown fire than fires that occurred under severe burning conditions later in the season. Increased dominance and contagion of burn severity classes and decrease in the edge:area ratio for later fires indicated a slightly more aggregated burn pattern compared to early fires. The proportion of burned area in different burn severity classes varied as a function of daily fire size. When daily area burned was relatively low, the proportion of burned area in each burn severity class varied widely. When daily burned area exceeded 1250 ha, the burned area contained about 50% crown fire, 30% severe surface burn, and 20% light surface burn. Understanding the effect of fire on landscape heterogeneity is important because the kinds, amounts, and spatial distribution of burned and unburned areas may influence the reestablishment of plant species on burned sites

Influences of infrequent fire, elevation and pre-fire vegetation on the persistence of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) in the Flat Tops area, Colorado, USA

Aim: The recent concern that quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) has been declining in parts of western North America due to fire suppression is largely based on trends during the latter part of the 20th century. The aim of the current study was to compare the extent of aspen in the modern landscape with its extent in the late 19th century prior to fire suppression, and to assess the effects of elevation, late-19th century fires, and pre-fire forest composition on the successional status of aspen. Location: North-west Colorado, USA. Methods: We used a georeferenced 1898 map and modern maps to examine trends in aspen dominance since the late 19th century in a 348,586 ha area of White River and Routt National Forests in north-western Colorado. Stand age and structure were sampled in 30 stands. Results: We found no evidence of overall aspen decline over this period. In fact, aspen distribution has increased in parts of the study area following severe fires in the late 19th century in forests that were previously dominated by conifers. Aspen persistence and increase was especially pronounced at elevations below 3000 m a.s.l. Most 120-year-old post-fire stands that are presently being successionally replaced by conifers were dominated by conifers prior to the last severe fire. Main conclusions: Human perceptions of ecosystems are often on time scales that are shorter than the cycles of natural variation within those ecosystems. This disparity may lead to an underestimation of the range of natural variability of ecosystem patterns and processes. The appropriate temporal scale of inquiry is necessary for the correct understanding of natural variation in ecosystems. © 2006 The Authors