The Authentic Voice: Digital stories and the organization

The cultivating compassion project set out to represent and celebrate compassionate practice within local NHS Trusts by creating compassion digital stories for educational purposes. A key project aim was to capture and build on existing practice in order to develop compassionate culture within the organization. The project took an appreciative inquiry approach, which considers that the creative process of storytelling can facilitate a ‘collective imagination’ that can become constructive in making possible change and improvement within and for the organization. Six stories from three separate NHS trusts were created for the toolkit and have successfully been used to raise awareness of compassion. However, these stories are very different from other digital stories. This paper asks why? It explores the impact on the choice of story, the narration of the story and the images used when the stories are specifically created for educational purposes and are considered to represent examples of compassionate care for professional practice development. The paper suggests that the authentic voice can be lost when stories become incorporated into the organizational discourse. Thus, rather than the stories enabling a ‘collective imagination’ they can become representative of prescribed organizational norms. However, the paper argues that despite this, the value of the stories in facilitating discussing and learning remains because within the organizational context when these prescribed norms are brought to life through the medium of the digital stories, they can be challenged.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Developing and using a toolkit for cultivating compassion in healthcare: an appreciative inquiry approach

This article describes the process of developing and evaluating a ‘cultivating compassionate care’ toolkit of evidence-based training resources designed to be cascaded through a ‘train-the-trainer’ approach in three healthcare organisations in Southern England. The purpose of the project was to develop an awareness of compassion, and to investigate how compassion can be recognised, developed, and sustained within the healthcare workforce. The study was based on appreciative inquiry and a train-the-trainer model, using focus groups to generate evidence-based training tools designed with the staff in the participating organisations. Questionnaires evaluated the first wave of Cultivating Compassion workshops delivered by trainers, while semi-structured interviews and focus groups evaluated the experiences of those using the toolkit. The findings demonstrated that a cultivating compassion toolkit, co-created with the healthcare workforce, can develop confidence in engaging in discourse on the meaning of compassionate care, and provoke a focus on self-compassion and compassion towards colleagues. Thematic analysis of interviews and focus group data with participants involved in cascading the toolkit activities revealed the value and usability of the toolkit resource, and the leadership factors influencing its implementation. We conclude that cultivating compassionate practices requires leadership to clearly articulate their values and vision for compassion, ensuring these are clearly supported and integrated throughout the organisation as part of changing culture and practices to support compassionate care. The limitation of the study was that we were unable, due to the project timeline, to measure impact of the project on patients, their families, and carers. Keywordsappreciative inquiry; compassion; healthcare workforce; train-the-traine

Using appreciative inquiry to develop, implement and evaluate a multi-organisation ‘Cultivating Compassion’ programme for health professionals and support staff

The ‘Cultivating Compassion’ project was developed in response to a research and innovation call relating to compassion training for National Health Service staff in the South East of England. The project aims included the following: the use of Appreciative Inquiry to develop, implement and evaluate a sustainable and evidence-based programme of compassion awareness training through engaging with a diverse group of health professionals and support staff; an evaluation of a ‘train the trainers’ approach; and an evaluation of ‘compassion lead’ roles and a multi-modal compassion toolkit. The project team included academics from two universities and one medical school, NHS staff from three separate organisations and service users. The participants recruited to the study included doctors, nurses, receptionists, chaplains and others working in close contact with service users from within four NHS organisations in the South East of England. The main findings from the project using thematic analysis from participant focus groups and interviews identified project enablers and inhibitors, the value of project resources, and shifts in perspectives. Project conclusions highlighted the importance of effective senior-level support and organisational leadership in cultivating compassion within a healthcare organisation and the importance of the integration of compassion-promoting resources within existing staff development initiatives