Composite Vignettes Research Articles

Combining crystallisation and creative non-fiction to develop new insights on the politically astute use of humour in sports coaching

ABSTRACT Through adopting a crystallisation approach, this paper provides original insights into the ways in which players and coaches used humour to astutely navigate the everyday challenges and opportunities of organisational life at Senghenydd City Football Club (pseudonym). Specifically, we revisited and re-analysed a previously existing ethnographic data set that focused on the use of humour in a semi-professional football club. Our analytical efforts were inspired by Ellingson’s (2009) four stage typology of ‘crystallisation’. This allowed us to generate new insights and different interpretations of a particular phenomenon (i.e. humour). Complementary dramaturgical and micropolitical concepts regarding the presentation of the self, protective and defensive acts, and the management of emotion, were employed to facilitate the iterative analysis that was undertaken. The findings are presented through creative non-fiction in the format of composite vignettes. The composite vignettes illustrate how humour was variously used as a defensive (for the self) and protective (for the other) strategy for dealing with numerous interactive challenges in the workplace, as well as how emotion such as embarrassment, anger, and frustration were inextricable features of these interactions. The paper concludes with a reflexive discussion on a) the social-cultural role of humour and the need for sport coaches, athletes, sports administrators to be more aware of how they develop, advance and deploy their social competencies (e.g. humour) to juggle the demands of their job; and b) the utility of using composite vignettes as a valuable means for critical reflection on the interactive and micropolitically challenging features of coaching practice.

Suicidal ideation among Chinese national team elite athletes

The present study reveals the subjective experiences of suicidal ideation among Chinese national team athletes. The two objectives were to situate the experiences of athletes’ suicidal ideation and to identify the common features of athletes’ suicidal ideation and their coping strategies in the Chinese sport system. Following a critical realist framework, 10 national team athletes were purposively recruited to share their experiences of suicidal ideation as they progressed in their national teams through in-depth semi-structured interviews. A reflexive thematic analysis followed by composite vignettes were undertaken to provide a rich description of suicidal ideation in relation to the athletes’ progressive careers. Three composite vignettes were generated: (a) suicidal ideation resulting from early overtraining, (b) difficulty in adjusting to a highly competitive environment post-transition, and (c) competition failures among established athletes. The manifestations, durations, reactions, and coping strategies of suicidal ideations varied as the athletes progressed in their careers. Age, athletic performance, social support, medal-orientation, and collectivism contributed to suicidal ideation.

“What Goes on Tour, Shouldn’t Stay on Tour”: Composite Vignettes of the Challenges of Being on Tour, Emotional Labor, and Self-Care for Sport Psychology Practitioners

Sport psychology practitioners (SPP) are often required to work unsociable hours and in atypical settings (e.g., during transport, in a gym or canteen). To maintain competence while facing the demands of their role, SPPs regulate their emotions and demonstrate emotional performativity in line with perceived role requirements. Grounded in the first author’s experiences, we critically reflect on how being on tour exacerbated these professional challenges wherein the demands became more prevalent and pervasive across time and settings, leading to negative emotional (e.g., burnout) and professional (e.g., poor quality of service delivery) outcomes. In two composite vignettes, we illustrate the impact the demands of touring can have in the face of significant emotional labor and the absence of adequate SPP self-care. Finally, we share several lessons learned, pragmatic self-care strategies, and implications for SPPs and supervisors, and offer our vignettes as a developmental resource to be used in education and training.

“We’re all in the same boat”: The role of group physical activity in community (re) development following a natural disaster

ABSTRACT After the 2018 Camp Fire decimated the town of Paradise, California, a group physical activity (PA) program was developed to support the community. The PARADISEU program (Physical Activity Reduces Anxiety and Depression Increases the Stress Response and Energizes You) was based on evidence that participating in PA has the potential to positively impact mental health. The current study explored the potential of PA programs to assist in individual and community growth and (re)development efforts following a natural disaster using a qualitative case-study method. Fourteen participants in the community PA program were interviewed. From their experiences, four themes emerged: benefits of physical exercise, a sense of place, social connection, and importance of leadership in the group PA classes for creating community. A composite vignette shares participants’ experiences surrounding these themes. This study provides valuable information for future community development in post-disaster recovery scenarios.

The Social Ecology of Caregiving: Applying the Social-Ecological Model across the Life Course.

Family caregivers provide care to people with disabilities, as well as ill and older adults, often with little to no outside assistance from the formal long-term care system. They are the backbone of long-term care, and it is a misconception that the majority of people institutionalize disabled people and older adults in the United States. Youth caregiving is under-examined in the field of public health and is in need of theoretical and practical attention. Building upon the work of Talley and Crews and Bronfenbrenner, we aim to broaden the scope of the discussion around caregiving through the application of the social-ecological model (SEM) to inform research and practice. This paper picks up where they left off, digging deeper into the ecological model to reimagine research, policy, and practices related to youth and young adult caregivers that are rooted in this framework. This application highlights care as embedded in social relations while allowing for an exploration of the ways structural barriers impact the caring unit. Looking holistically at the unit, rather than individuals as service users, provides an opportunity for understanding the interconnectedness of those giving and receiving care. It does so by rendering visible the interdependence of the caring unit, and the myriad structures, which bear down on care at the individual and household levels. This approach runs counter to dominant thinking, which focuses exclusively on the individuals involved in caregiving relationships, rather than considering them as interdependent units of care. This paper provides an analytic contribution, utilizing a narrative composite vignette based on literature and previous research.

Transitioning From Traditional Sport to Esport: Exploring Sport Psychology Practitioners’ Experiences

Sport psychology practitioners are increasingly operating in the esport domain. Yet it remains unclear how practitioners who have exclusively been trained in traditional sport develop a contextually grounded understanding of their practice in esport. This study, framed from an ontological relativism and epistemological interpretivism approach, involved semistructured interviews with 10 qualified practitioners (three female, seven male) who transitioned from traditional sport to esport. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and presented via three composite vignettes: (a) My wish was to feel a part of the team, but there’s no team; (b) To be honest, did I have assumptions going into esport? Absolutely!; and (c) Esport is the wild, wild west. Our findings offer insights on the hurdles associated with transitioning from traditional sport to esport, thus highlighting the important role that esport organizations, training routes, and educational institutions have in supporting practitioners to ethically and effectively work in this domain.

Who Coaches the Coaches? Exploring the Biographies of Novice Athletics Coach Education Tutors

Despite coach education being a focus of academic inquiry for over 20 years, coach developers (e.g., tutors) have been neglected from the literature until recently. In recognizing and understanding the role of the tutor in delivering quality learning programs for sport coaches, it is also important to consider who tutors are and how biographical factors influence their development toward expertise. This article utilizes Grenier and Kehrhahn’s Model of Expertise Redevelopment as a tool to aid understanding of the transition from sport coaching to tutoring. Narrative interviews were used with seven novice athletics coach education tutors embarking on a “fast-track” tutor development program. Data were subject to narrative thematic analysis and presented as composite vignettes. The vignettes portray six common themes highlighting that becoming a coach education tutor is a lifelong process of episodic experiences. The features of novice tutors’ biographies are a useful starting point in evidencing the development of expertise. These findings could be used to inform tutor recruitment and training. The current study adds to the emerging body of literature by providing one of the first empirical accounts exploring the developmental experiences of novice coach education tutors.

Mexican American Values and Therapeutic Alliance in Music Therapy

The process of building rapport with clients varies across cultures. There are roles, values, and social expectations that music therapists must be aware of to establish a meaningful therapeutic alliance. As music therapy becomes more accessible along the Texas-Mexico border, we must consider how cultural values present in this community may impact therapeutic alliance with clients and families. The purpose of this article is to describe how familismo, confianza and personalismo values have been observed in the context of music therapy in this Mexican American community and how they have shaped both the therapeutic relationship and the role of a music therapist. Through two composite vignettes, this article seeks to (1) recognize the cultural and psychosocial needs of thiscommunity; (2) initiate discourse for a culture-centered framework of music therapy practice in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas regions; and (3) provide clinical considerations for building therapeutic rapport with clients in this community.

“A Bit Like You’re Going to therapy”: Reflective Practice Provision at the Mulberry Bush School

ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from a qualitative case study of staff participating in the reflective practices and processes available at an English children’s home and specialist school. Researchers conducted a thematic analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews, 2 focus groups and 16 journal-based training assignments. Key themes identified in the data are outlined and a composite vignette conveys the lived experience of participating in the organization’s reflective practice provision. Staff highlight the personal intensity of their ongoing reflective work, which is “like therapy but not therapy,” and the challenges and benefits of learning to use and contribute to a reflective milieu. The concluding discussion widens findings by Heine Steinkopf and colleagues concerning the need for a regulating working environment and trustworthy theoretical model and suggests that “epistemic trust” in an organizational culture is key to effective teamwork and personal growth in role.

Battling the unknown: Using composite vignettes to portray lived experiences of COVID-19 and long-COVID.

Understanding the day-to-day lived experiences of individuals who have had or are still recovering from Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19), whilst a complex challenge, presents the opportunity to listen and learn. Composite vignettes provide a novel approach to explore and present descriptive portrayals of the most commonly derived experiences and recovery journeys. The thematic analysis of 47 shared accounts (semi-structured interviews with adults aged ≥18 years; 40 females; 6-11 months post-COVID-19 infection) produced a series of four intricate character stories written through the lens of a single individual. Each vignette gives a voice to and captures a different experience trajectory. From the point of initial symptom development onwards, the vignettes depict how COVID-19 has affected everyday lives, focusing on the secondary non-biological socio-psychological effects and implications. The vignettes highlight in participants' own words: i) the potential negative implications of not addressing the psychological effects of COVID-19; ii) the lack of symptom and recovery linearity; iii) the ongoing 'lottery' of access to healthcare services; and iv) the highly variable, yet generally devastating, impacts that COVID-19 and consequent long-COVID has had across multiple facets of daily living.

Integrating Spirituality and Religious Beliefs in a Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for PTSD with Latinx Unaccompanied Immigrant Children

Purpose: Unaccompanied immigrant children (UIC) experience significant mental health concerns, particularly posttraumatic stress. This is a vulnerable population, yet little systematic research has examined the effectiveness of evidence-based models such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to meet their needs. Integrating religious beliefs and spirituality into therapy could elucidate better understandings of traumatic stress, and posttraumatic cognitions when working with UIC with strong faith traditions/beliefs. Methods: We report on modifications made to a pre-existing treatment, consisting of integrating religious and spiritual themes, to engage and work with UIC participants in a pilot study of Mindfulness-Based CBT. Thematic analysis of therapy notes evaluated the implementation process for integrating religious and spiritual themes. Three composite vignettes illustrate how religiosity and spirituality were salient for UIC participants in this pilot study, and how these were integrated into therapy to address posttraumatic cognitions and symptoms. We assessed changes in PTSD symptom severity and posttraumatic cognitions for UIC and in comparison, to non-UIC participants using the Child PTSD Symptom Scale and the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory. Results: Religiosity and spirituality were important for coping and conceptualizations of trauma, served as facilitators for engaging UIC in therapy, and related to improving posttraumatic cognitions and symptoms. Conclusion: Religious identity and spirituality can be important for meaning making, trauma cognitions and symptoms, and can be important to explore in therapy with unaccompanied immigrant children and adolescents. Clinical Trial Registration: Not applicable.

Experiences of adults living with a kidney transplant-Effects on physical activity, physical function, and quality of life: A descriptive phenomenological study.

Although kidney transplantation is the best treatment for kidney failure, scarce research has examined its effects on physical activity, physical functionand quality of life. To investigate the experiences of a group of adults living with advanced kidney disease focusing on quality of life, physical activityand function and to see how findings differ in a group of kidney transplant recipients. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with adults with advanced kidney disease (n = 10; 70.5 ± 8.9 years) and adults who had received a kidney transplant (n = 10; 50.7 ± 11.5 years; transplant age: 42.7 ± 20.9 months). Interviews were transcribed verbatim, thematically analysedand composite vignettes developed. Individuals with advanced kidney disease described a sense of loss and alteration to their life plans. Kidney transplant recipients reported increased freedom, independenceand a return to near normality, with improved quality of life, physical activityand function compared with their pre-transplant lives. However, transplant recipients also described living with anxiety about the health of their transplant and fear it may fail. Whilst adults living with advanced kidney disease often experience a reduced quality of life, physical activity and function, kidney transplantation can help facilitate a return to pre-disease levels of physical activity, physical function and quality of life. However, transplant recipients also reported living with anxiety around their new kidney failing. This study demonstrates the variability in the lived experiences of adults living with advanced kidney disease or a kidney transplant and highlights the need for patient-centred care.

Caregivers' experiences and perceptions of suicidality among their children and youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) experience a range of biopsychosocial vulnerabilities that can increase the possibility of adverse life outcomes, including a heightened risk of suicidality. In this study, we explored the lived experiences of caregivers of children and youth with FASD and suicidality, including their perceptions of their child and youth's suicidal experiences. Between March and June 2021, six comprehensive, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five caregivers of children and youth with FASD (Mage = 14.5 years, range 11–22) who were currently experiencing suicidality or had a history of suicidality. Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and then developed into a composite vignette informed and organized by the social-ecological suicide prevention model (SESPM). The composite vignette revealed the narratives of families living with and caring for children and youth with FASD who experience suicidality in relation to the complex and intersectional individual, relational, community, and societal level contextual and protective factors. Findings from this study highlight the critical need for comprehensive FASD-informed suicide prevention and intervention approaches to promote the mental health and wellbeing of children and youth with FASD and their caregivers.

Profiles and Vignettes of Adolescent Physical Activity to Promote Workable Participation Solutions

This study examined how to achieve the recommended daily time, effort, and variety challenges for adolescents from the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). Adolescents (n = 126) from an urban high school in a mid-western state of the United States participated in the study. In the quantitative phase of an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design, two composite measures of weight status-fitness and effort-involvement physical activity were developed and cross-tabulated to create nine lifestyle physical activity participation profiles. In the qualitative phase, qualitizing of survey data for each profile initiated comparative narratives that were qualitized into composite vignettes. The purpose of the vignettes was to highlight the types of challenges adolescents face as they meet or miss the daily physical activity recommendations. The vignettes provided alternative perspectives and approaches for workable and meaningful physical activity interventions. The discussion considered the effectiveness of the composite variables and potential workable solutions in universal physical education, inclusive of physical activity, and for agencies that advocate for the benefits of daily physical activity of those represented in the profiles and by the vignettes.

Love in the Time of Covid: Reflections on Retaining Attunement Through a Period of Shared Trauma

ABSTRACT The treatment room for mental health practitioners has transformed drastically since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the complications of moving therapy online further compounded by the stressors of a public health emergency and, in many cases, increasing racist rhetoric and violence toward minority communities. For many LGBTQ+ clients, feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and shame were already exacerbated by a contentious political climate in place well before the pandemic. No one was untouched by the effects of the spread of the virus; individual emotional and behavioral responses vary as we know from trauma research and the clinician’s subjective experience of the pandemic will likely affect their practice in several ways. Though each clinical encounter is uniquely affected, the intersubjective dynamics created by a shared trauma put an onus on the clinician to adapt frequently to stay empathically attuned with a client. This paper will draw on concepts from motivational systems theory to help understand a composite case vignette involving a gay Asian American client with a history of relational trauma and a gay white therapist. Motivational Systems theory will be used to help elucidate how the client may be affected by the current moment, the affected intersubjective, gay-affirmative therapeutic dynamic, and how clinicians can maintain their attunement to clients in a way that allows them to respond effectively.

Exploring patients' experiences of the impact of dialysis therapies on quality of life and wellbeing.

When people with chronic kidney disease reach kidney failure, renal replacement therapy is usually required to improve symptoms and maintain life. Although in-centre haemodialysis is most commonly used for this purpose, other forms of dialysis are available, including home haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. We aimed to explore the experiences of adults living with chronic kidney disease who were either approaching the need for dialysis or had reached kidney failure and were receiving a form of dialysis. In particular, we explored how different forms of dialysis affect their quality of life, wellbeing, and physical activity. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with 40 adults with kidney failure, comprising four groups (n = 10 each): those receiving in-centre haemodialysis, home haemodialysisor peritoneal dialysis, or predialysis. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, thematically analysed, and then composite vignettes were subsequently developed to present a rich narrative of the collective experiences of each group. Compared with adults who were predialysis, quality of life and wellbeing improved upon initiation of their home haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. Conversely, minimal improvement was perceived by those receiving in-centre haemodialysis. Low physical activity was reported across all four groups, although those receiving home haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis reported a greater desire and ability to be physically active than those in-centre. These findings highlight that dialysis modalities not requiring regular hospital attendance (i.e., home haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis) improve independence, quality of life, wellbeing, and can facilitate a more physically active lifestyle.

The experiences of trans and non-binary participants in residential and non-residential outdoor programmes

The degree to which policy, practice, and facilities accommodate trans and non-binary participants in outdoor programmes has been subject to limited research. The outdoors can be a heavily gendered space, demonstrative of both heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity. This research explores current practices and the awareness, confidence and desire for inclusivity amongst outdoor practitioners. It adopts a bricolage approach involving composite vignettes with qualitative data obtained through questionnaires and interviews, and reports on the lived experience of trans and non-binary outdoor practitioners and participants, and expert inclusivity trainers in the UK. The data indicate that aspects of outdoor programming policy in respect of gender are unsuitable, outdated and incongruent with the opinions and aspirations of many practitioners and participants. The findings should encourage outdoor providers to review their policies in relation to gender and to strive for explicit inclusivity in respect of accommodating and welcoming gender variant participants.

University leadership as engaged pedagogy: A call for governance reform

Responses to COVID-19 impacts have shown how quickly universities can change, given the impetus. However, global disruptions to university learning and teaching have not yet been matched by any significant change to university leadership. Taking gender equity as our focus, we argue that pedagogical disruption should extend beyond the classroom to reshape academic leadership. In this commentary we critically reflect on the question ‘How can university leaders share power to nurture caring and ethical academic leadership’? Taking some cues from disruptions to university learning and teaching, we call on the work of bell hooks to propose a holistic vision of university leadership as a form of critical pedagogy — ‘engaged pedagogy’. We draw on combined experience in professional and academic roles at six universities in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to share composite vignettes of holistic leadership practices grounded in integrity, collaboration and personal wellbeing. Our commentary concludes with practical suggestions for changing university governance in a time of disruption so that leadership as engaged pedagogy can be practised more widely.

An Autoethnography of the Artist as a Young Woman? Susanna Paine's Roses and Thorns (1854)

ABSTRACT Roses and Thorns, or Recollections of an Artist (1854), the autobiography of American painter Susanna Paine (1792-1862) has been overlooked despite its historical value, due to its alleged affinity to fiction. In this article I argue that Paine’s narrative should be read instead as an early attempt to write in the autoethnographical mode; I demonstrate my argument by focusing on one such “fictional” element, her use of composite vignettes. I find that exploring Paine’s narrative style and the dynamics between the personal and the social offers a new path to trace the impact of early nineteenth-century socio-economic changes had on American women artists; second, it highlights the difficulties in rendering that life into a narrative, and last it calls attention to the intertwining of “truth,” memory and imagination in autobiographical writing.

Significant Moments in Improvisational Music Therapy

Four composite case examples are presented and discussed as they relate to emotional expression, significant moments in the therapeutic process, and communication using a variety of modalities in music therapy with adults diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Building on therapeutic awareness through discussing musical elements, body movement and posture, countertransference, and interactional patterns, the implications of deep emotional connection and processing are approached using primarily nonverbal methods. Composite vignettes from the author’s clinical work demonstrate awareness of these factors in the moment as they impacted the session, therapeutic relationship, and other professionals’ understanding of music therapy in this population. Implications for emotional processing in clinical practice are presented as they relate to the concepts presented in this paper.