scholarly journals Developing an Educational Course in Spiritual Care: An Action Research Study at Two Danish Hospices

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 827
Author(s):  
Dorte Toudal Viftrup ◽  
Kenneth Laursen ◽  
Niels Christian Hvidt
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Training Course ◽  
Theater Workshop ◽  
The Individual

Further improvement of spiritual care in palliative care is warranted. Particularly reducing barriers and enhancing spiritual care competencies among the healthcare professionals is needed. The aim was to develop a training course in spiritual care in close collaboration with patients and staff from two Danish hospices. We applied an action research design to ensure that the training course was rooted in everyday practice of patients and staff. The methodology applied was based on philosophical hermeneutics and existential phenomenology. The action research process enabled the division into three topics on how a training course can reduce barriers towards spiritual care among the healthcare professionals. These three topics functioned as a theoretical framework for educating staff at a hospice in spiritual care. The three topics were: (1) the vulnerable encounter; (2) self-reflection concerning spiritual needs, thoughts, beliefs, and values; and (3) shared professional language for spiritual care. We operationalized the three topics into a flexible course design that could be adaptable to the practical possibilities and limitations of the individual hospice. The curriculum includes theoretical teaching, reflection exercises, and an improvisation theater workshop with professional actors. Educating staff led to the improvement of spiritual care at the hospices involved in the study.

scholarly journals Four aspects of spiritual care: a phenomenological action research study on practicing and improving spiritual care at two Danish hospices

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 263235242110506
Author(s):  
Dorte Toudal Viftrup ◽  
Ricko Nissen ◽  
Jens Søndergaard ◽  
Niels Christian Hvidt
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
Action Research Study ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Relational Abilities

Background: In Denmark and internationally, there has been an increased focus on strengthening palliative care by enhancing spiritual care. Dying patients, however, do not experience their spiritual needs being adequately met. Methods: Through an action research study design with four consecutive stages, namely, observation in practice, reflection-on-praxis, action-in-praxis, and evaluation of the action research process involving patients and hospice staff from two hospices in Denmark, two research questions were explored: (1) How do patients and staff perceive, feel, live, practice, and understand spiritual care at hospice? and (2) How can spiritual care be improved in hospice practice? The data material presented comprised 12 individual interviews with patients and nine focus group interviews with the staff. Results: We found four aspects of spiritual care through which patients and staff seemed to perceive, feel, live, practice, and understand spiritual care at hospice, and from where spiritual care may be improved in hospice practice. These aspects constituted four themes: (1) relational, (2) individualistic, (3) embodied, and (4) verbal aspects of spiritual care. Conclusion: Staff realized immanent limitations of individual aspects of spiritual care but learned to trust that their relational abilities could improve spiritual care. Embodied aspects seemed to open for verbal aspects of spiritual care, but staff were reluctant to initiative verbal dialogue. They would bodily sense values about preserving patients’ boundaries in ways that seemed to hinder verbal aspects of spiritual care. During action-in-praxis, however, staff realized that they might have to initiate spiritual conversation in order to care for patients’ spiritual needs.

scholarly journals Using Art as a Medium to Enhance Social Responsibility and Citizenship

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmarie Costandius
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Effective Medium ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Learning Module ◽  
Whole Class ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sensitive Issues

Abstract The aim of this research is to consider the impact of a Service-Learning module aiming at enhancing social responsibility and citizenship by using art as a medium for learning and reflection. It involves an explicit and designed programme that includes Socratic discussions and self-reflection projects through art. Action research was used as a methodology, ensuring that the whole class and the researcher were involved in the research process. The results of the project demonstrated that art is an effective medium to address sensitive issues because it functions on a symbolic and metaphorical level. Art that uses metaphors involves participants both consciously and sub-consciously and encourages possibilities for a diversity of interpretations.

scholarly journals Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care of Health Professionals Working in a State Hospital

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 312
Author(s):  
Kerem Toker ◽  
Fadime Çınar
Keyword(s):  
State Hospital ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Specific Care ◽  
The Individual

Background: The determination and fulfillment of the spiritual needs of the individual in times of crisis can be realized by the health care professionals having the knowledge and skills to provide individual-specific care. This research was conducted to determine the perceptions of health professionals about spirituality and spiritual care. Methods: The study of 197 health professionals working in a state hospital was performed. This study is a descriptive study which was conducted between December 2017 and January 2018. Data in the form of an “Introductory Information Form” and “Spirituality and Spiritual Care Grading Scale” was collected. In the analysis of the data, the Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis tests, frequency as percentage, and scale scores as mean and standard deviation were used. Results: It was determined that 45.7% of the health professionals were trained in spiritual care, but that they were unable to meet their patients’ spiritual care needs due to the intensive work environment and personnel insufficiency. The total score averaged by the health professionals on the spirituality and spiritual care grading scales was 52.13 ± 10.13. Conclusions: The findings of the research show that health professionals are inadequate in spiritual care initiatives and that their knowledge levels are not at the desired level. With in-service trainings and efforts to address these deficiencies, spiritual care initiatives can be made part of the recovery process.

scholarly journals The affordances and limitations of collaborative research in the TESOL classroom

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-61
Author(s):  
Yvette Slaughter ◽  
Julie Choi ◽  
David Nunan ◽  
Hayley Black ◽  
Rebecca Grimaud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Education Centre ◽  
The Individual

The diversity of learning needs within the TESOL field creates inherent tensions between the need for targeted professional learning for TESOL teachers, the more generalist nature of tertiary TESOL courses, and the varied research interests of teacher educators. This article describes a collaborative research project between university-based teacher educators and TESOL teachers working in an adult education centre. With a range of aims amongst the research participants, this article reports on the ‘fluid’ and ‘messy’ process of collaborative research (Burns & Edwards, 2014, p. 67) as we investigate the use of identity texts (Cummins & Early, 2011) as a mediating tool for professional learning. In acknowledging the practice of teaching as highly situated, the data presented focuses on the individual experience of each teacher, voiced through an action research frame, before we discuss the achievements and challenges which emerged through this collaborative research process. In the findings, we argue for the importance of championing the case for the messy processes of collaborative research within the broader research academy.

scholarly journals Shifting Gears: Lessons Learnt From Critical, Collaborative, Self-Reflection on Community-Based Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lulza Olim de Sousa ◽  
Emerentia Antoinette Hay ◽  
Schalk Petrus Raath ◽  
Aubrey Albertino Fransman ◽  
Barend Wilhelm Richter
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Self Reflection

This article reflects the learning of five researchers in higher education in South Africa who took part in a participatory action research project to educate teachers how to integrate climate change issues into their teaching and learning. It was the first time any of the researchers had used participatory action research. We are all from natural science backgrounds and now involved in education for sustainable development. We had been trained in more traditional, objective, and researcher-driven methodologies grounded in a positivist paradigm. The purpose of this article is to share our learning about the changes we had to make in our thinking and practices to align with a participatory paradigm. We used reflective diaries to record our journey through the action research cycles. A thematic analysis of our diaries was supplemented by recorded discussions between the researchers. The analysis revealed that, while it was challenging to begin thinking in a different paradigm, we came to appreciate the value of the action research process that enabled teachers to integrate climate change issues into their teaching in a participatory way. We also concluded that we require more development to be able to conduct participatory research in a manner true to its values and principles. The conclusions we came to through our collaborative reflections may be of value to other researchers from similar scientific backgrounds who wish to learn what shifts in paradigm, methods, and processes are needed to be able to conduct community-based research in a participatory way.

scholarly journals Transference and Subjective Implication: Psychoanalytic Reflections on an Action Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (99) ◽  
pp. 944-968
Author(s):  
Mariana Mayumi Pereira de Souza ◽  
Ana Paula Paes de Paula
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Self ◽  
Organizational Studies ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Psychoanalytic Approach ◽  
Reciprocal Influences ◽  
Waste Pickers

Abstract This paper aims to use the Freudian psychoanalytic approach to explain the process of interaction between researchers and subjects participating in action research, bringing a new contribution to organizational studies. It is hoped that this research will promote the self-reflection of researchers in this research process, highlighting the complexities of the transferential dynamics and subjective implication of field interactions. With this objective in mind, key psychoanalytic concepts are explored and definitions of action research are presented. This is achieved by describing how it was carried out in a waste pickers’ association, as well as how the reciprocal influences between the subjects participating in the research are constituted and the constituents of the research and its results, through an analysis of the transferential dynamics and subjective implications between those involved.

scholarly journals Verbalizing spiritual needs in palliative care: a qualitative interview study on verbal and non-verbal communication in two Danish hospices

2022 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Stage Voetmann ◽  
Niels Christian Hvidt ◽  
Dorte Toudal Viftrup
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Professional ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Verbal Communication ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Spiritual Nature ◽  
Spiritual Communication ◽  
The Way

AbstractDenmark is considered one of the World’s most secular societies, and spiritual matters are rarely verbalized in public. Patients report that their spiritual needs are not cared for sufficiently. For studying spiritual care and communication, twelve patients admitted to two Danish hospices were interviewed. Verbal and non-verbal communication between patients and healthcare professionals were identified and analysed. Methodically, the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used, and the findings were discussed through the lenses of existential psychology as well as philosophy and theory of caring sciences. Three themes were identified: 1. When death becomes present, 2. Direction of the initiative, and 3. Bodily presence and non-verbal communication. The encounter between patient and healthcare professional is greatly influenced by sensing, decoding, and interpretation. A perceived connection between the patient and the healthcare professional is of great importance as to how the patient experiences the relationship with the healthcare professional.The patient’s perception and the patient’s bodily experience of the healthcare professional are crucial to whether the patient opens up to the healthcare professional about thoughts and needs of a spiritual nature and initiates a conversation hereabout. In this way we found three dynamically connected movements toward spiritual care: 1. From secular to spiritual aspects of care 2. From bodily, sensory to verbal aspects of spiritual care and 3. From biomedical to spiritual communication and care. Thus, the non-verbal dimension becomes a prerequisite for the verbal dimension of spiritual communication to develop and unfold. The behaviour of the healthcare professionals, characterised by the way they move physically and the way they touch the patient, was found to be just as important as verbal conversation when it comes to spiritual care. The healthcare professional can create a connection to the patient through bodily and relational presence. Furthermore, the healthcare professionals should let their sensing and impressions guide them when meeting the patient in dialog about matters of a spiritual nature. Their perception of the patient and non-verbal communication are a prerequisite for being able to meet patient’s spiritual needs with care and verbal communication.

scholarly journals Transferência e Implicação Subjetiva: Reflexões Psicanalíticas a partir de uma Pesquisa-Ação

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (99) ◽  
pp. 944-968
Author(s):  
Mariana Mayumi Pereira de Souza ◽  
Ana Paula Paes de Paula
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Self ◽  
Organizational Studies ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Psychoanalytic Approach ◽  
Reciprocal Influences ◽  
Waste Pickers

Abstract This paper aims to use the Freudian psychoanalytic approach to explain the process of interaction between researchers and subjects participating in action research, bringing a new contribution to organizational studies. It is hoped that this research will promote the self-reflection of researchers in this research process, highlighting the complexities of the transferential dynamics and subjective implication of field interactions. With this objective in mind, key psychoanalytic concepts are explored and definitions of action research are presented. This is achieved by describing how it was carried out in a waste pickers’ association, as well as how the reciprocal influences between the subjects participating in the research are constituted and the constituents of the research and its results, through an analysis of the transferential dynamics and subjective implications between those involved.

scholarly journals “Let my Spirit Always Sing”: a Descriptive Study of How Four Elderly Rest Home Residents View Spirituality and Spiritual Care at the End of Life

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Judith Anne Brown
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Rest Home

<p>Over the last twenty years spiritual care has become recognised increasingly as an important component of holistic care, care that nurtures the spirit as well as addressing the person’s physical and psychosociocultural needs. This descriptive, qualitative study, believed to be the first of its kind conducted in a New Zealand setting, focuses on spirituality issues of a spiritually vulnerable group of people, older people in residential care. From this group of people I recruited four Rest Home residents who were prepared to talk to me about their spirituality, spiritual needs and how their spirits were nurtured, the role of care staff in providing spiritual care, and their satisfaction with the spiritual care they were being offered. They were also asked to predict their spiritual needs as they were dying, their wishes for spiritual care in the perideath period, whether they had communicated these wishes to anyone, their views on advance planning to ensure these wishes would be met, and their comfort with the research process. The research data was collected from semi-structured, audiotaped interviews that were later transcribed. The spirituality of all participants had a strongly Christian focus that was revealed in the ten themes to emerge from a modified application of Colaizzi’s analysis technique. The first themes to emerge were God as the focus of spirituality, God in control, the importance of relationship, and the purpose in life: serving God. Changes in spirituality with age, spirituality and residential care, and spiritual care: whose responsibility? were also identified as themes, as were end of life spirituality, planning for spiritual care, and the participants’ satisfaction with the research process. All were able to articulate their spirituality, were generally satisfied with the spiritual care they were receiving, and had views on the spiritual care they wished to receive in the perideath period. Moreover, the participants trusted their families and the care staff to ensure that these wishes would be honoured.Recommendations are made for improving the spiritual dimension of care, and for further research. Similar research, for example, should be carried out in different residential care settings, especially in the “for profit” sector. Research should also be undertaken to gauge the awareness care staff have of residents’ wishes for spiritual care in the perideath period.</p>

scholarly journals CHOPPED-POT SITUATION IN TEACHERS DEVELOPMENT VIA ACTION RESEARCH TECHNIQUES IN CYBER ERA

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 349-362
Author(s):  
Jiří Kropáč
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
School Environment ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Personal Contact ◽  
Classical Action ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Virtual Classes ◽  
The Individual

Chopped-pot (chop pot) is a poker term and a critical opening metaphor for this article. Applied action research steps and these extensions are necessary for practice during a pandemical situation in unstable and challenging teaching at universities in Czechia. Forms of teaching, personal contact and process of monitoring students’ results have changed dynamically. Mass influence of pandemic situation stopped actions at schools and many institutions all over the world. In Czechia, there has been transferred all practical and cognitive (theoretical) subjects to cyberspace. Due to the lack of government information, public fear and low digital literacy level, students have been learning in virtual classes and individual consultations. Many of them have lost contact with their critical practice and opportunities to transfer their knowledge into the school environment. We tried to modify classical action research approaches to new conditions in cyberspace and use it for pre-service and teachers’ innovation from an innovative perspective. In the methodological part, there is research presented from a full semester of gradual teachers’ development. The constructed research tool was tested in virtual conditions and monitored activities and the progress of development in teachers’ self-reflection for their future daily practice. The mixed design of research tools and a combination of the postproduction process of data open scientific feedback for their subjective inquiries in the individual personal development of educational staff in Czechia via action research model.

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