scholarly journals Power in research relationships: Engaging mothers with learning difficulties in a parenting programme evaluation

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 951-967
Author(s):  
Beth Tarleton ◽  
Pauline Heslop
Keyword(s):  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Service Evaluation ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Asymmetrical Power ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Therapeutic Space

There are significant ethical considerations when engaging with the participants of a service evaluation study. These include the potential impact of the findings of the evaluation on the lives of those in receipt of the service. The importance of researcher reflexivity in these circumstances is vital. This paper describes one researcher’s reflections about their own engagement with participants of an evaluation of a parenting course. The potential contributors to the evaluation of the course, that are the focus of this paper, were 18 mothers with learning difficulties. All had been referred to the course because of concerns about their parenting capacity or the welfare of their child. The power dynamics in the interactions between the researcher and the participants existed on a number of levels. The starting point was an asymmetrical power relation with the researcher defining the scope, content and conduct of the evaluation. Efforts to engage with the participants included trying to remodel some of this power and minimise the distance and separateness between each party. The parents too had some power, by using the interviews as a therapeutic space, providing socially desirable accounts or ultimately jeopardising the evaluation of the programme by refusing to participate. In this unique context, the power relationships were dynamic and inter-linked, feeling like a dance between active agents within the negotiations. Elements of Tew’s (2006) conceptual framework of ‘productive’ and ‘limiting’ modes of power were both in evidence and likely to have influenced the findings of the evaluation.

The Riddle of Freedom

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Power Relationships ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Personal Status ◽  
Asymmetrical Power

This chapter looks at the concept of freedom and its articulation in ancient Greek texts. It shows that in the Homeric period, the terminology of slavery and freedom was used only for personal status. In the centuries that followed, these terms were appropriated and applied metaphorically to a variety of asymmetrical power relationships. However, Greeks were able to maintain clear distinctions between slavery as a legal concept and slavery as a metaphor. The chapter concludes with critiques of the methods of M. I. Finley and R. Zelnick-Abramovitz, who do not make clear distinctions between law and metaphor when analysing this terminology, and whose methods have led to convoluted analyses of aspects of Greek slavery.

scholarly journals Reassessing the value of gastroscopy for the investigation of dyspepsia

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hey-Long Ching ◽  
Melissa F Hale ◽  
Reena Sidhu ◽  
Mark E McAlindon
Keyword(s):  
Patient Management ◽  
Diagnostic Yield ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Service Evaluation ◽  
Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy ◽  
Endoscopic Examination ◽  
Teaching Hospitals ◽  
Outpatient Basis ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Royal Hallamshire Hospital

ObjectiveTo evaluate the diagnostic yield of investigating dyspepsia with oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) with or without mucosal biopsy.DesignRetrospective service evaluation study.SettingTwo teaching hospitals: The Royal Hallamshire Hospital and Northern General Hospital, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK.Patients500 patients, 55 years of age and over, who underwent OGD to investigate dyspepsia were included. The study period included a 3-month window. All OGDs were performed on an outpatient basis.InterventionsData were extracted from electronic OGD records within the study period.Main outcome measuresDiagnostic yield provided by endoscopic examination and histological assessment.Results378 patients (75.6%) were reported to have some form of endoscopic abnormality, and 417 patients (83.4%) had biopsies taken. The most common findings at OGD were gastritis (47.2%) and oesophagitis (24.4%). Oesophagogastric malignancy was seen in 1%. Diagnoses made endoscopically or histologically that would not have been appropriately managed by empirical therapies were seen in 16.2%.ConclusionOGD in dyspepsia influences patient management in approximately one-sixth of cases. However, the majority of patients are sufficiently managed with Helicobacter pylori testing and eradication and/or a trial of proton pump inhibitor therapy. Further non-invasive approaches are needed to identify patients who need endoscopy for biopsy or therapy.

scholarly journals Changing operating lists on the day of surgery: a service evaluation

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 238-242
Author(s):  
T Walmsley ◽  
G Schmitgen ◽  
S Carr ◽  
P Mortimer ◽  
J Garside ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Patient Satisfaction ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Service Evaluation ◽  
Operating List ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Significant Change

This study aims to explore how often the operating list is changed on the day of surgery and the reasons why this may occur. The purpose was to analyse the wider potential impact that changing the list on the day of surgery may have on patient safety, patient satisfaction and theatre efficiency. Survey data was collected across a multi-specialty elective operating department. The findings demonstrated that a significant change in operating lists occurred in 37.3% of sessions, for a variety of potentially avoidable reasons. We concluded that improved organisation and communication before the planned session could reduce the occurrence of changes, thereby increasing patient safety, theatre efficiency and potentially reducing incidents.

Radiographer-led breast boost localisation – A service evaluation study

Radiography ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Smith ◽  
C. Comins
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Service Evaluation

scholarly journals Remote clinical consultations in restorative dentistry: a clinical service evaluation study

BDJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (6) ◽  
pp. 441-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Martin ◽  
Shirin Shahrbaf ◽  
Ashley Towers ◽  
Christopher Stokes ◽  
Claire Storey
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Service Evaluation ◽  
Clinical Service ◽  
Restorative Dentistry

scholarly journals EULAR provisional recommendations for the management of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases in the context of SARS-CoV-2

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (7) ◽  
pp. 851-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert BM Landewé ◽  
Pedro M Machado ◽  
Féline Kroon ◽  
Hans WJ Bijlsma ◽  
Gerd R Burmester ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Musculoskeletal Diseases ◽  
Task Force ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Eular Recommendations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Prevention Of Infections

The provisional EULAR recommendations address several aspects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus, and the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 and are meant for patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) and their caregivers. A task force of 20 members was convened by EULAR that met several times by videoconferencing in April 2020. The task force finally agreed on five overarching principles and 13 recommendations covering four generic themes: (1) General measures and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. (2) The management of RMD when local measures of social distancing are in effect. (3) The management of COVID-19 in the context of RMD. (4) The prevention of infections other than SARS-CoV-2. EULAR considers this set of recommendations as a ‘living document’ and a starting point, which will be updated as soon as promising new developments with potential impact on the care of patients with RMD become available.

Commercialization of Creative Videos in China in the Digital Platform Age

2020 ◽  
pp. 152747642095358
Author(s):  
Zhongxuan Lin
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Product Placement ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Digital Platform ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
Asymmetrical Power ◽  
Depth Interviews

With a special focus on the commercialization of creative videos, this article explores the research question of how digital platforms’ affordances simultaneously allow and constrain video producers’ commercialization activities in the platform era. This study adopts a case study design that focuses on the Chinese digital video producer Zheng Yun, founder of Zheng Yun Studio, using ethnographic participant observations and in-depth interviews. It explains how creative producers such as Zheng Yun struggle to survive in the context of intensified platformization and how they benefit from the digital platforms by employing various commercialization mechanisms, including the Revenue Sharing Program (RSP), Embedded Product Placement (EPP), Franchise Chains, Agent-commission, and Crowd-funding. This research also demonstrates the asymmetrical power relationships between platforms and video producers, which prompt us to rethink the political nature of platforms and the diversified nature of platformization in the digital platform age.

scholarly journals Caught up in power: Exploring discursive frictions in community research

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy Hanson ◽  
Adeyemi Ogunade
Keyword(s):  
Research Process ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Research Outcomes ◽  
Power Asymmetries ◽  
Research Relationships

This article outlines the debate around the emancipatory claims of community-based research (CBR) and identifies discursive frictions as a pivotal point upon which much of CBR practice revolves. Using a Foucauldian theoretical lens, we suggest that CBR is neither inherently emancipatory nor repressive, but that research outcomes are more often a product of power asymmetries in CBR relationships. To illustrate how power asymmetries in research relationships produce discursive frictions, several studies from our work and the literature are presented. The article provides examples of CBR relationships between the researcher and community members and relationships within the community to illustrate how power asymmetries and discursive frictions in these relationships dynamically influence research outcomes and thus alert researchers to the need to address power asymmetries not just before initiating CBR projects, but during CBR projects as well. We interrogate how power asymmetries and discursive frictions operate and are constructed in CBR in an attempt to highlight how research might be conducted more effectively and ethically. Finally, we indicate that some of the tensions and challenges associated with CBR might be ameliorated by the use of participatory facilitation methodologies, such as photo-voice and story circle discussion groups, that draw attention to power asymmetries and purposefully use more creative participatory tools to restructure power relationships and ultimately address the inequities that exist in the research process. Because CBR is continually caught up in power dynamics, we hope that highlighting some examples might offer an opportunity for increased dialogue and critical reflection on its claims of empowerment and emancipation.Keywords: discursive friction, Foucault, participatory methodologies, power asymmetries, research relationships, emancipatory research  

The ‘dark side’ of the LEAP CCT programme in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-41
Author(s):  
Dennis Puorideme
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Cultural Discourses ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Governmental Intervention ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
Social Transfer ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency

Studies of social transfer targeting practices and mechanisms, including the proxy means test (PMT) instrument, have often assumed that the essential purpose of these mechanisms is to ensure fairness, cost-effectiveness and efficiency, yet there is limited consensus on their optimal performance. This article builds on recent studies of social transfer targeting practices in developing countries by providing a better interpretation of the power dynamics involved in ‘translating’ the PMT instrument at the intersection of official, public and cultural discourses. It is a Foucault-based study that combines ethnography and discourse studies to analyse the everyday actions and practices of programme officials and caregivers. This study demonstrates that officials legitimise and translate the PMT instrument, separate individuals from families, and constitute them as objects for governmental intervention to achieve efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The re-categorisation of family members into households ‘outside’ of everyday sociocultural relations and practices is contested and resisted, creating a complex system of power relationships around the PMT. 

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