Becoming a researcher: An auto-ethnographic account of a doctoral researcher re-presented in poetry

Poetry creates new ways of knowing and is increasingly being used in qualitative research. Although few researcher-poets integrate poetry as the primary method for their inquiry, many researchers use poetry to synthesise and re-present data. In this paper, I establish the importance of reflexivity and use poetry to re-present my experience of becoming a researcher. Drawing upon my experience as a doctoral researcher, I explore my fear of “non-production”, my relationship with the Ph.D., transitions and relationships following fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, and my fear of being an academic imposter. As a researcher using the art of poetry, I have expanded my understanding of research and the researcher role. © 2015 National Association for Poetry Therapy

Pacific women, HIV, and me: A positioned critical poetic inquiry

In this article, poetic inquiry is introduced, the author’s standpoint explicated, and a critical poetic inquiry from the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea reported. Auto-ethnographic, narrative, and found (transcription) poems are included re-presenting observational and qualitative data. Impacts of violence, poverty, and stigma, along with life-affirming actions of individuals, families, and their communities, are explored. This critical poetic inquiry encourages the reader toward critical thinking and positive action for improved sexual health and well-being. © The Author(s) 2020

Transformational grounded theory: Theory, voice, and action

© 2015 Redman-MacLaren and Mills.Grounded theory has been evolving methodologically since Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss first described it in the late 1960s. Initially underpinned by modernist philosophy, grounded theory has had recent turns including the adoption of both constructivism and postmodernism. This article explores ontological offerings of critical realism as a basis for transformational grounded theory informed by participatory action research and decolonizing research methodologies. The potential for both theory and action to result from this critical grounded theory methodology, which promotes greater participation and equity of power for positive change, is the transformational in transformational grounded theory

Strengthening research capacity in the Pacific: An example from the Atoifi Health Research Group, Solomon Islands

© The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015.OBJECTIVE: To provide an example of one model of research capacity building for mental health from a remote setting in Solomon Islands.METHODS: The Atoifi Health Research Group is building health research capacity with a health service on the remote east coast of Malaita, Solomon Islands. The group uses a 'learn-by-doing' approach embedded in health service and community-level health projects. The group is eclectic in nature and deliberately engages a variety of partners to discover culturally informed methods of collecting, analysing and disseminating research findings.RESULTS: Key successes of the Atoifi Health Research Group are: that it was initiated by Solomon Islanders with self-expressed desire to learn about research; the learn-by-doing model; inclusion of community people to inform questions and socio-cultural appropriateness; and commitment to ongoing support by international researchers.CONCLUSIONS: Given different social, cultural, economic, geographic, spiritual and service contexts across the Pacific, locally appropriate approaches need to be considered. Such approaches challenge the orthodox approach of centralized investment to replicate specialist driven approaches of funder nations. Increasing expertise at all levels through participatory capacity building models that define and address local problems may be more sustainable and responsive to local mental health contexts

Evaluation of a leadership in mental health course for Pacific Island nation delegates

OBJECTIVE: We report the background to and preliminary evaluation of the Leadership in Mental Health: Island Nations course, run for the first time in Cairns in conjunction with Creating Futures 2015. CONCLUSION: The course was well attended and well received, with increased confidence in key areas demonstrated and concerns regarding local application identified. In addition to positive comments, content and delivery issues were raised. Future opportunities for expanding upon this initial course are discussed. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015

Meeting in the middle: Using lingua franca in cross-language qualitative health research in Papua New Guinea

With words as data, qualitative researchers rely upon language to understand the meaning participants make of the phenomena under study. Cross-language research requires communication about and between linguistic systems, with language a site of power. This article describes the use of the lingua franca of Tok Pisin in a study conducted to explore the implications of male circumcision for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention for women in Papua New Guinea. Utilizing a transformational grounded theory methodology, researchers conducted an analysis of data from an HIV prevention study. Researchers then facilitated individual interviews and interpretive focus groups to explore preliminary categories identified during the analysis. Most focus groups and interviews were conducted in the local lingua franca Tok Pisin, which is neither the researchers’ nor most participants’ first language. Audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed. Researchers returned to research participants to discuss research findings and recommendations. Following critical reflection by the authors and further discussions with participants, it was evident that using Tok Pisin enriched the research process and findings. Using the lingua franca of Tok Pisin enabled interaction in a language closer to the lived experience of participants, devolved the power of the researcher, and was consistent with decolonizing methodologies. Participants reported the use of Tok Pisin, em i tasim (pilim) bun bilong mipela, “it touches our bones,” and enabled a flow of conversation with the researchers that engendered trust. It is critical researchers address hierarchies of language in order to enable cogeneration of quality research findings. © The Author(s) 2019

Grounded theory as systems science: Working with Indigenous nations for social justice

Twenty-seventeen marks the 50th anniversary of Glaser and Strauss’s seminal text on The Discovery of Grounded Theory (1967). Grounded theory has stood the test of time as an inductive, interactive, emergent method with purposeful explanatory intent in the field of qualitative research (Charmaz, 2008b). Its various iterations, such as Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory and Clarke’s postmodern situational analysis, attest to its epistemological flexibility (Clarke, 2005; Charmaz, 2006). Our phronetic grounded theory approach and transformational grounded theory contributed a decolonizing variation of grounded theory methods and demonstrated its use in the Indigenous Australian and Pacific contexts (Bainbridge, Whiteside, & McCalman, 2013; Redman-MacLaren & Mills, 2015). In a phronetic grounded theory approach, reflective practice informs morally- oriented action that leads to change (Flyvberg, 2001; Bainbridge, Whiteside, & McCalman, 2013). With the exception of Charmaz (2017a), for instance, few theorists have explicitly taken up the proposition and utility of grounded theory as decolonizing tool in research

What attributes make an alternate model of education for remote indigenous adolescents: A systematic literature review

Education provides opportunities for adolescents to make developmental gains. Remote Indigenous adolescents not engaged in education programs need alternate learning opportunities to reach developmental goals. This review identifies attributes that contribute to an alternate model of education within the existing literature and reports on the quantity and nature of evidence. Thirty-seven databases and grey literature were canvassed using strict search criteria. Analysis of papers was conducted to find the enablers of alternate models by identifying the conditions, strategies and outcomes the intervention produced. Papers were categorised according to their nature by Canada’s Hierarchy of Evidence and the Sanson-Fisher model. There was limited literature on alternate models of education for Indigenous adolescents in settings outside a school environment. Three papers were classified as descriptive and ten as intervention research. All papers were described as “emerging” and “promising” practices. The five attributes embedded within a model included 1) cultural connectedness and awareness; 2) being contextually designed; 3) fosters relationships with peers and adults; 4) specific teaching and learning strategies and; 5) holistic outcomes. The findings will contribute to the co-design of an alternate model of education for remote Indigenous communities. Gaps identified in the literature included examples of “best practice” models and highlighted the need for further research of innovative models that move from descriptive research to form an evidence base

Community first responders: A missing key to reducing the impact of injury and illness in low- and middle-income countries in the Western Pacific?

The higher burdens of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the Western Pacific Region (WPR) could be reduced if there were community first responders qualified in first aid and trained according to the local context. In the WPR, the leading causes of death of people aged 5–49 years are violence and injury, which claim the lives of 1 million people each year.1 Emerging data highlight the burden of violence and injury in the Region,1 but there are no reliable data to indicate the potential benefits of having community first responders. Community first responders might make a significant difference in the rates of mortality and morbidity associated with injury and with other health issues for which timely, effective first aid could help

Women and HIV in a moderate prevalence setting: An integrative review

Background: Almost 32,000 people are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The primary route of transmission in this moderate prevalence setting is through heterosexual sex. Thus a gendered understanding of HIV is required to inform HIV prevention, treatment and care options. The aim of this review is to investigate understandings specifically about women and HIV in PNG and to identify gaps in the literature to inform future HIV research. Methods. An integrative review of literature about women, HIV and PNG was conducted using a systematic search of online databases, including book chapters and grey literature. Prior to inclusion, literature was assessed using inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) appraisal tool. Selected articles, book chapters and reports were coded and a constant comparative method of analysis used to construct a series of themes. Results: The 26 articles, book chapters and reports included in the review were predominantly descriptive, original research (23/26 pieces of literature). Six themes were identified in the literature: economic, social and cultural factors (including mobility); gender issues (including violence against women); knowledge about HIV (including perception of risk of HIV); religious beliefs about HIV; women perceived as responsible for HIV transmission; and prevention of HIV. Literature about women and HIV in PNG is predominantly focussed upon women who sell sex, women as mothers or young women. Women are usually represented as either victims of HIV or responsible for transmitting HIV. Anthropological and social research has described the economic, social and cultural context along with the lived experience of HIV in PNG, but there is limited operations research or implementation research available. Conclusions: The literature reviewed has highlighted the importance of a gendered analysis of HIV prevention, care and treatment in PNG. There is an opportunity for operations, implementation and health systems research about HIV in PNG to shift research from description to action. © 2013 Redman-MacLaren et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd