Nordic College of Caring Sciences in the years to come

Abstract

Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences is, as you may know, published on behalf of Nordic College of Caring Science (NCCS). According to the rules § 1 the aim for NCCS is: ‘Nordic College of Caring Science is an association promoting the scientific development and advancement of caring science, basic to all caring practice. The study of human caring is related to health, well-being, illness and alleviation of human suffering, in different life situations, contexts and cultures, with emphasis on human dignity and integrity. The purpose of NCCS is to develop, support and contribute to new scientific knowledge on a national and an international level. The endeavour is to represent the interests of all researchers of the caring field in the Nordic countries.’ (http://www.nccs.nu/). Nordic College of Caring Science is led by a board consisting of inter-Nordic representation. According to § 2 in the rules membership can be granted to active researchers and/or teachers connected with postgraduate studies/preparatory research studies or something similar related to human caring and health, well-being, illness and alleviation of human suffering. Members of NCCS receive a free paper copy of Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences and reduced prices at the conferences arranged by NCCS. Nordic College of Caring Science arranges annually a conference with themes related to caring sciences. The conferences are held in the different Nordic countries. Last year it was held in Borås together with Borås University College in Sweden with the theme: ‘scientific development in caring sciences: ethics, evidence and aesthetic’. This year the conference was held in Oslo together with Oslo University College, Norway with the theme: ‘elderly persons, caring and dignity: diversity and function’. The conferences have key-note speakers, symposiums and parallel sessions. Our experience is that there are a qualitative high level on the papers and posters. Next year the board of NCCS together with ‘Department of Caring Science at Åbo Akademi University’ and ‘Novia University of Applied Sciences’ have planned the conference to be held in Vasa, Finland and the theme to be: ‘methodological innovations on caring science terms’. We think that methodological issues are important contributions to the development of the caring sciences. There are several analytical tools both for quantitative and qualitative analysis. The challenge is to further develop our use and understanding of how analysis can be done in a systematic way. I think especially of qualitative methods which continuously are discussed and developed. How can qualitative data material be analysed so it is theory generating in the best way? How to do a grounded theory properly – is it emerging vs. forcing and is this really two different ways of doing grounded theory? What is it to have a constant comparative analysis with an emerging process until a grounded theory is developed? What about hermeneutics? What challenges does the researcher meet after an inductive – deductive process and there is a necessity to be abdicative to develop the analysis further? What is the difference between phenomenology, hermeneutics and qualitative content analysis? What is the requirement of each analysis methods, what is equal and what differs? Such questions may be raised about all methodologies. What is the best way of data sampling given the different aims of the studies? How should the researcher approach the problem when facing a multitude of methods to choose among? The problem decides the methods, we often say. Is it always the truth or do researchers choose methods according to tacit criteria as well? May be criteria such as convenience samplings are chosen due to practical problems in the recruiting process rather than due to this being the best sampling. And may be this is necessary in order to have the opportunity to do research. ‘The best is the worst enemy of the good’ and may be we have to be pragmatic in research. But may be there is a danger to be too pragmatic. We have to be sure that the quality of the research process and results are so systematic and rigorous as it can be in order to be as sure as possible that we have a valid result to present. In these processes, the senior researcher and the reviewers in the journals are essential. We in NCCS is thankful to all the voluntarily reviewers for SJCS. They all do a tremendous job in assuring the quality of the articles and thus the journal. As a caring journal SJCS also require commitment to the Vancouver convention for author contribution. About contribution the convention says: ‘Authorship credit should be based on: (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.’ (http://www.icmje.org/). Another aspect in the research process is ethical issues during the process in addition to authorship credit. It is mandatory that the researchers apply to ethical guidelines. The Nurses associations in all the Nordic countries have agreed upon ethical guidelines for nursing research (http://www.vardinorden.org/ssn/etikk.pdf). And we all are committed to the Helsinki declaration which is ethical guidelines for all medical and health care research. These guidelines require that an independent ethical committee has approved the protocol ahead of starting the research. There are some differences in each country on how these guidelines are organized when it comes to the ethical committee. In some countries, these committees are Institutional Review Boards and in other countries they may be Regional Ethical Committees and not linked to the institutions. But the point is that an independent group of qualified ethicists and researchers have evaluated the protocol in advance. Informed consent is a key point in all caring research. § 24 in the Helsinki declaration states about informed consent that when medical research involves ‘competent human subjects, each potential subject must be adequately informed of the aims, methods, sources of funding, any possible conflicts of interest, institutional affiliations of the researcher, the anticipated benefits and potential risks of the study and the discomfort it may entail, and any other relevant aspects of the study. The potential subject must be informed of the right to refuse to participate in the study or to withdraw consent to participate at any time without reprisal. Special attention should be given to the specific information needs of individual potential subjects as well as to the methods used to deliver the information.’ (http://www.wma.net). It is the researchers’ obligation to give all the information necessary for the subject in order for him/her to give an informed consent, preferably in writing. The researcher has to evaluate how much information and the conditions when it is proper to give it. Not all information that is given is understood. There will always be a danger of ‘therapeutic misconception’ where the subject thinks they are entitled to better care due to the research project and they in fact are not. Issues as confidentiality and respecting the research subjects’ integrity are vital for caring research. We often deal with sensitive issues as health condition and experiences of illness and there is a need to reflect upon what we are doing to our respondents when approaching such issues. It is a dilemma whether one should neglect sensitive issues and vulnerable respondents in order not to inflict harm on them because of research interests. At the same time it is important to do research on both sensitive issues and on issues related to vulnerable research subjects because research could improve caring and treatment for these subjects. Researchers should follow ethical guidelines which still recommend research in these cases. But extended precaution should be taken in order to achieve a high ethical standard towards the research subjects. As well known both fraud and research with limited ethical consciousness has been done towards the last century and it is important to remind us all on ethical standards which take care both of the research subjects as well as on securing ethical standard during the whole research process. Nordic College of Caring Science wants to address these methodological and ethical research issues in caring science in the years to come. We want to be a society which discuss methodological issues, development of methodologies and methods, and have a focus on ethical aspects regarding research within the caring sciences. In order to do this we have both earlier and also the forthcoming conference in Vasa and we want articles for SJCS with high standard both on theoretical, methodological and empirical research. We welcome all researchers within caring sciences to apply for a membership in NCCS and regardless of profession or nationality to submit articles to SJCS with the intention to develop knowledge and practice in caring sciences for the next century. Nordic College of Caring Science Research Foundation announces one research stipend and one travel grant. Deadline for the receipt of applications is December 15th 2009. More information at http://www.nccs.nu