Significance of Informal Learning and Literacy in Health Promotion in Rural Kenya: Seeking Maasai Women’s Voices

Aiming to understand how Maasai women use informal learning and literacy to access to health information and improve well-being of their family at the village level, this qualitative study explores the significance of village based informal learning and literacy in maintain good health among village women and girls in the male-dominated community in rural Kenya. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and observations. 15 Village women, 12 women’s group leaders and 10 government officials were interviewed during an intensive six-month field study in Kenya. The information obtained from the interviews was analysed thematically and as narrative case studies. Results indicate that the village women initiate manageable health promotion activities to improve the well-being of their family and community via informal learning and literacy approaches. The study also concludes that the interviewed Maasai women developed their own effective communication mechanism to improve the situation of gender inequality in their community.

Capturing the Added Value of Participatory Evaluation

Narrative case studies have shown that, when people are involved in an evaluation of a program they are part of, it can change how they experience the program. This study used a quasi-experiment to test this proposition empirically in the context a participatory action research curriculum called Youth as Researchers. Half of all Youth as Researcher groups engaged in a participatory evaluation (PE) of their program experience through writing reflective essays, creating their own evaluation questions, and conducting peer interviews. The other half served as control groups and did not engage in the PE activities. Pre-/posttest surveys and focus group data were used to assess differences among the experimental and control groups. Study results show that participants in the experiment had important differences in their experiences in the program as a result of participation in the evaluation. Implications for future practice and research are also explored.

Telling tales of impact: as seen through the eyes of user assessors

In this chapter we turn our attention to those charged with the task of judging the 'reach' and 'significance' of impact claimed by academic researchers in narrative case studies in REF2014. Knowledge pertaining to how the societal and economic impact of scientific research is evaluated is sparse. This is especially true in the context of the UK's national system of research assessment, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), in light of the confidentiality and rules of non-disclosure enforced by Research England and the UK Research & Innovation (previously the Higher Education Funding Council for England - HEFCE).

Acceptance of Anxiety through Art Therapy: A Case Report Exploring How Anthroposophic Art Therapy Addresses Emotion Regulation and Executive Functioning

Anxiety is a major problem for many individuals, causing impairment in daily life. Art therapy is often deployed and although positive results are communicated in clinical practice, its effectiveness and working mechanisms have hardly been studied. Therefore, it is important to systematically describe the intervention process and to detect the working mechanisms to be able to evaluate them. Narrative case studies help to understand the intervention in more depth. A typical case file was selected for case reporting according to scientific (CARE & CARE-AAT) guidelines, with the aim to explore the therapeutic elements that contributed to the reduction of anxiety. The report describes the intervention process of a 54-year-old female, suffering from anxiety since childhood and diagnosed with panic disorder, agoraphobia, claustrophobia and hypochondria. After 14 sessions of anthroposophic art therapy, reduction of anxiety was shown, as well as improvements of emotion regulation and executive functioning. The client indicated that she became more tolerant and accepting towards her anxiety. She noted a softened attitude towards herself and her complaints, even one year after art therapy. The course of treatment suggests that aspects of emotion regulation and executive functioning were addressed through implicit learning processes in different art therapy assignments.

Insight Gains of Narrative Case Studies

The Editor provides an Editorial for the new issue.

Public Art, Digital Technology, and Building Teacher Capacity

Visual Art teachers of K-6 students are required to look at innovative ways to deliver and explore the elements of arts through creating and responding learning activities. They are also required to consider how digital technology can support these areas. This chapter presents an Australian project that invited 10 primary school visual art teachers to consider how they could integrate digital technology such as an interactive whiteboard and mobile devices while exploring an inquiry topic of public art. Narrative case studies are presented that highlight the teacher voice. Each narrative focuses on the building of capacity to meaningfully engage with digital technology while exploring visual art. The narratives provide insight into gaps in how some primary teachers engage with digital technology in the classroom, that is focusing more on the tuning in and evaluation stages of an inquiry unit.

MELUKISKAN AKUNTANSI DENGAN KUAS INTERPRETIF

This study departs from the domination of accounting studies using the paradigm of positivistic methodology. The aim in this study<br />provides an alternative approach in developing interpretive accounting research. Triyuwono (2013) says there are five paradigms in the social sciences: positivism, interpretivism, criticism postmodernism, and spiritualists. Interpretivis paradigm, critical, postmodernist and spiritualists using qualitative methods, which is the development of positivistic paradigm. This paradigm is not mutually exclusive, ideally an accounting researchers must be able to accept this paradigm, called“multiparadigma” (Triyuwono, 2013). Interpretive considers that truth, reality or real life does not have a one-sided, but it has many facets, can be examined from various viewpoints. Design research in interpretive research, phenomenology, ethnography, ethnometodology, narrative, case studies, and grounded theory.