Experiences of Veterans Transitioning to Postsecondary Education

An increasing number of U.S. military veterans are entering postsecondary education with problems attributed to deployed military service. The primary objective of this research was to describe the lived experiences of student veterans transitioning from active military service to postsecondary education. Phenomenological interviews were performed with 13 student veterans who had transitioned from military deployment to postsecondary education. An overall essential meaning of “emerging in college culture” was manifested from three themes, supported by rich textural and structural descriptions of student veterans’ experiences: (1) repurposing military experiences for life as a student veteran, (2) reconstructing civilian identity, and (3) navigating postsecondary context and interactions. These findings highlight implications that may facilitate occupational therapists’ efforts in supporting the needs of student veterans

Elder Women Making Family through Celebratory Foods: Kentucky, New Zealand, Thailand

This study, which describes how older women of three counties experience the preparation of annual celebratory foods, is uniquely responsive to the theme of EKU’s 2011-2012 Chautauqua Lecture Series, “Living with Others: Challenges and Promises.” How women of different countries lead their families in preparing traditional foods together each year demonstrates how, although each culture is unique, the challenges and promises of living with others are fulfilled and managed in many similar and little-examined women’s ways in countries around the globe

Occupation and archetype: Occupation as the agent of transformation and healing in myth and story

The journey toward health and well being, for individuals, populations and systems, is considered transformational by many disciplines. Occupation is an essential and powerful agent in this transformative experience. Occupational scientists have begun to look deeper into the historical and prehistorical meanings of occupation. Evidence for the ancient views of occupation and health often comes in the form of stories and myths of transformation, from oral tradition. The objective of this paper is for listeners to appreciate the transformative role of occupation as told in myth and stories through time and cultures. Scholars of myth and history consider the myths of a culture as ways that the culture is preserved and handed down through generations. These myths contain what we might today call explanatory models, giving meaning to who we are and what we do. Myths and the figures that populate them are archetypal, that is, they are the original patterns on which other similar persons, objects or concepts are modeled, what archetypal psychologists consider the deepest patterns of psychic functioning, the roots of the soul governing ourselves and the world. Occupation is archetypal as well, patterns and metaphors abound, as is richly illustrated in story over centuries and cultures. Myths are told through actions and occupations. Some are more obviously occupation driven, such as the labors of Hercules in the Greek myths and the many stories of weavers and weaving, by humans, spiders, and other beings, that occur in many cultures. Some of the occupational content may be subtler, such as the Greek Psyche\u27s journey away from, and then back to, true union. Occupation is central to all of these stories. This paper suggests that as occupational scientists we can benefit from a longer, deeper view into the historical and prehistorical understanding of human occupation that will enable us to bring wisdom and creativity to our transformative interactions with clients, populations and systems. This paper will be illustrated with a story. Keywords: occupation, archetype, stor

The Unfolding of an International Study of Valued Food-Centered Occupations in Older Women

This study examined older women’s experiences of preparing the Christmas meal in rural Kentucky and urban New Zealand, and preparing Songkran (Thai New Year) food to offer at temple in Chiang Mai. Data was collected through multiple focus group interviews in all three countries. Being true to the perspective of older women of three very different cultural regions, yet finding a way to contrast those perspectives, requires a continual and shared reflexive awareness of inherent methodological challenges. Those of a purely constructivist bent would say it is not even possible to do this in a rigorous way. Yet, for occupational science, the potential of such studies is significant. Examining multi-site international data on occupational experience and meaning uncovers and challenges Western assumptions rooted deep in occupational science’s theoretical constructs. The data is evocative and thought-provoking, but the analysis can raise more questions than it answers. Is the derived etic method sufficient to make internationally comparative studies trustworthy? This study demonstrates the unfolding of methods and results over a long-term internationally collaborative research project. Previously presented at SSO meetings were: results of analysis of the Kentucky data alone (2002), the epistemological and cross-disciplinary basis for the planned derived etic method for the internationally comparative analysis (2003), and results of the initial comparative analytic theme, tradition (2004). At this point, the international team will report on the unfolding of this collaboration, the shift from initial coding categories to current themes emerging from the nearly completed international analysis, and the development and potential of the derived etic methods used. The research team anticipates a lively discussion, and poses to attendees the following question: What type of occupations, compared across cultures, would best serve the development of occupational science

Research as relationship: engaging with ethical intent

This international research collaborative undertook what became a decade long process to look at meanings of celebratory food related occupations of elder women across three cultures in New Zealand, Thailand and the United States. Cross-cultural research comes with inherent ethical issues related to cultural lenses, use of instruments and potential biases of investigators. The many views of what cross cultural research is and how it might be done and the very general ethical codes from professional institutions provided guidance for protections of participants, however, gave little direction regarding ethical interaction amongst researchers. The team was committed to open, interpretive and unbiased engagement with each other, study participants and data. Critical engagement supported this, including the development of methodology to assure trustworthiness of data interpretation and creation of in person and virtual communication strategies to give all cultures voice. We found ways to negotiate language barriers and collaborated to deal with inequity in resources. We consciously addressed issues of equitable distribution of labor and authorship. We educated each other about our cultures by design and circumstance. Our satisfaction with the research process and outcomes is directly related to our adherence to its basic integrity