0000000000138981
AUTHOR
Kjell Kristoffersen
Bodily cleanliness in modern nursing
Why are bodily washing practices the way they are in nursing? Michel Foucault argues that modern democratic societies discipline human bodies in accordance with political interests. In the extension of that argumentation we will show that bodily cleanliness in modern nursing may have been used as a disciplining tool. The first part of our discussion takes as its point of departure the second half of the 19th/the beginning of the 20th centuries, the period in which modern nursing emerged. At that time scientific theories on hygiene seem to have legitimized the political effort to produce a clean, pleasant-smelling, decent, obedient, and productive population. Doctors, nurses and teachers pla…
Shared Sequences from Network Therapy with Adolescents Only the therapist Finds Meaningful
As part of a larger research project, this qualitative study explores sequences from six network therapy sessions. We focused on these sequences because only the therapists found them to be meaningful; the other participants did not think they were significant. The aim of this study was to explore the therapists’ inner dialogues, the degree to which these inner dialogues consist of professional and personal voices, and what this means for the dialogical process. We used a multi-perspective methodology that combines video recordings of network therapy sessions, participants’ interviews, and text analysis. We found that the outer dialogue and the therapists’ inner dialogues are strongly relat…
How can movement quality be promoted in clinical practice? A phenomenological study of physical therapist experts.
Background In recent years, physical therapists have paid greater attention to body awareness. Clinicians have witnessed the benefits of supporting their patients' learning of movement awareness through the promotion of their movement quality. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate how physical therapist experts promote movement quality in their usual clinical settings. Design A phenomenological research design that included a sampling strategy was devised. Using specific criteria, 6 lead physical therapists nominated a group of physical therapist experts from the fields of neurology, primary health care, and mental health. Fifteen informants, 5 from each field, agreed to parti…
Change is an ongoing ethical event: Levinas, Bakhtin and the dialogical dynamics of becoming
In this article, we use the intersubjective ethics of Bakhtin and Levinas and a case illustration to explore change in therapy as an ethical phenomenon. We follow Lakoff and Johnson in their emphasis on the way our conceptions of change seem permeated by metaphors. Bakhtin and Levinas both suggest through a language in which metaphors play a crucial role, that human existence—the consciousness and the subject—emerge within the dialogue of the encounter. They both describe the dynamics of human existence as ethical in their origin. Following this, we argue that change may be seen as an ongoing ethical event and that the dynamics of change are found in the ways we constantly become in this ev…
‘Through speaking, he finds himself … a bit’: Dialogues Open for Moving and Living through Inviting Attentiveness, Expressive Vitality and New Meaning
Studies exploring the experiences of recovering from mental health difficulties show the significance of social and relational aspects. Dialogical practices operate within the realm of social relations; individual perspectives are not the primary focus of attention. The present study is part of a series of qualitative studies from southern Norway, exploring dialogical practices and change from the perspective of lived experience and in relationship with network meetings. Two co-researchers, who themselves had experienced mental health difficulties, were part of the research team. Material from qualitative interviews was analysed through a dialogical hermeneutical process where ideas from Em…
New quality regulations versus established nursing home practice: a qualitative study
Published version of an article from the journal: BMC Nursing. Also available from Bio Med Central:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6955-11-7 Open Access Background Western governments have initiated reforms to improve the quality of care for nursing home residents. Most of these reforms encompass the use of regulations and national quality indicators. In the Norwegian context, these regulations comprise two pages of text that are easy to read and understand. They focus particularly on residents’ rights to plan their day-to-day life in nursing homes. However, the research literature indicates that the implementation of the new regulations, particularly if they aim to change nursing practice, …
Being in transit and in transition The experience of time at the place, when living with severe incurable disease - a phenomenological study
The aim of this study is to describe the experience of time as it presents itself at the place being situated when living with severe incurable disease and receiving palliative care. The empirical data consist of 26 open-ended interviews with 23 patients receiving palliative care at home, at a palliative day care; in a palliative bed unite in hospital or in a nursing home in Norway. A common meaning of a shifting space for living emerged from the analysis and was revealed through three different aspects: (i) Transition from a predictable to an unpredictable time: To live with severe incurable disease marks a transition to a changed life involving an ongoing weakened and altered body with bo…
“She Offered Me a Place and a Future”: Change is an Event of Becoming Through Movement in Ethical Time and Space
Published version of an article in the journal: Contemporary Family Therapy. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10591-014-9317-3 Within mental health research, the promise of exploring the lived experience of those affected is increasingly acknowledged. This research points to the significance of social aspects. The present study is part of a series of qualitative studies exploring network-oriented practices in southern Norway. The aim of this study was to explore the social dynamics of change related to adolescents in psychosocial crises. From the perspective of lived experience the study focused changes related to the adolescents’ ways of existing in various …
The double embarrassment: Understanding the actions of nursing staff in an unexpected situation
A nursing home is a complex multifactorial environment that influences the decisions and actions of nursing staff. Many of the actions performed by nursing staff appear to be straightforward or simple because they are repetitive, encompassing everyday activities such as helping a resident to get up in the morning, shower or get dressed. These daily activities are usually performed smoothly as part of normal care. This article draws on ethnographic data from a study of caring practices in a nursing home with the aim of investigating how a seemingly ordinary, but unexpected, event can develop into a chaotic situation. Staff appeared to have difficulty managing the situation, and they seemed t…
A Study of a Network Meeting: Exploring the Interplay between Inner and Outer Dialogues in Significant and Meaningful Moments
The present study is part of a series of qualitative studies focusing on dialogic practice in southern Norway. In this article, we present a qualitative study of a network meeting focusing on the interplay between the participants' inner and outer dialogues. The network meeting is between an adolescent boy, his mother and two network therapists, the same adolescent case discussed previously in this journal by Boe et al. (2013). The aim of this study is to explore how the interplay between inner and outer dialogues contributes to significant and meaningful moments for the interlocutors. A multiperspective methodology is used that combines video recordings of a network meeting and participant…
Hverdagslivet til foreldre som har barn med utviklingsmessige funksjonshemninger
Published version of an article in the journal: Vård i Norden. Also available from the publisher at: http://www.artikel.nu/Bob/GetBob.aspx?bobID=3544 Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe and illuminate the daily life of parents who have children with developmental disabilities. Background: Up to the 1980’s most children with disabilities were institutionalized. Today these children live with their families supported by public health care services and the family’s social network. Parents experience extreme strain due to unpredictability, sleep deprivation, multiple hospitalizations and demanding caregiving procedures. Method: Semi structured interviews of four couples of parent…
Entering a World with No Future: A phenomenological study describing the embodied experience of time when living with severe incurable disease
This article presents findings from a phenomenological study exploring experience of time by patients living close to death. The empirical data consist of 26 open-ended interviews from 23 patients living with severe incurable disease receiving palliative care in Norway. Three aspects of experience of time were revealed as prominent: (i) Entering a world with no future; living close to death alters perception of and relationship to time. (ii) Listening to the rhythm of my body, not looking at the clock; embodied with severe illness, it is the body not the clock that structures and controls the activities of the day. (iii). Receiving time, taking time; being offered - not asked for - help is …
When care situations evoke difficult emotions in nursing staff members: an ethnographic study in two Norwegian nursing homes
Background Caring practice in nursing homes is a complex topic, especially the challenges of meeting the basic needs of residents when their behaviour evokes difficult emotions. Cognitive and physical changes related to aging and disability can contribute to behaviours considered to be unacceptable. For example, resident behaviours such as spitting, making a mess with food or grinding teeth are behaviours that most people do not want to see, hear or experience. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how nursing home staff members deal with such behaviours in care situations. Methods This article draws on ethnographic data to describe how nursing home staff members manag…