Critical Realism Research Articles

A Case for Open Pedagogy in Nursing Education.

Open pedagogy increases access to equitable nursing education with its commitment to the scholarship of "teaching and learning" and critically framed, student-centered, relational, and open knowledge principles. This study examined the operation of and factors that nurture and challenge the practice of open pedagogy in an undergraduate digital distance nursing education program. An exploratory qualitative methodology was used to examine linkages between open pedagogy and a nursing education program in an open digital distance Canadian university. A critical realist research paradigm provided the framework for the study. Our findings shed light on how open pedagogy is practiced in relation to its 5 principles and delve into the major themes of nurse educator agency, course design, and institutional structure. The study addresses a dearth in the literature by exploring the potential of open pedagogy to increase access to meaningful and critically framed nursing education.

Multi-Dimensional Time and Innovation Ecosystems: A Critical Realist View

Multi-Dimensional Time and Innovation Ecosystems: A Critical Realist View

Rethinking Trans Trajectories via Life History

This article provides a life history analysis of Pepa Moreno, a transgender individual from Puebla, Mexico. The life events that she narrated in the interview conducted at her home and business—her move out of street sex work and her start as a business and property owner—offer a glimpse into the intertwining of personal/familial history and the processes unfolding in the spaces of society and economy. The article employs a critical realist framework around identity, based on life history as method, setting the scene around major restructurings of economy that private property regimes, urban transformation, morphing class realities, and capital investment (under neoliberalism) effected over her life: from adolescence into middle age. These transformations conjugate with changes across Pepa's own trajectory; key here are the meanings of “legitimate” work and moral worth that lie at the heart of the moral-legal economies that trans people in town, especially of working-class backgrounds, must confront. Labor status and class deeply intersect with a remaking of herself, which culminates with her naming herself as transgender once she has established herself as property owner and businessperson. However, even while invoking this category, she does not use it in line with the activist and sexological discourses that arose from the late 1990s on in Mexico City and which became prominent in Puebla in the early 2000s. The article thus maps the changing positions—and positionalities—of Pepa, examining the dialectics between lived experience and social structure, and the spaces of agency achieved through identity work.

Understanding how nurses can effectively utilise social media for increasing public involvement, recruitment and impact dissemination of Clinical Research Trials.

The methodologies for clinical research trials are evolving to greater usage of social media platforms, providing opportunities to incorporate smart technologies in their delivery. Research Nurses should consider how they can utilise platforms for public engagement in trials. To explore the experiences of social media platforms and clinical research trials in a healthy population group, to gain insight into how clinical researchers can utilise these platforms professionally and ethically. Using a critical realist qualitative focus group design with template analysis, we recruited 16 healthy members of the public aged 18-75 years. The data expands upon their thoughts and behaviours regarding social media platforms with their understanding of clinical research. Three main themes along with their specific subthemes (1) Design: Patient and Public Involvement (Subtheme: Understanding of clinical research, Diversity of social media users), (2) Implementation: Recruitment to active studies, (Subtheme: Motivators for volunteering, Trustworthy), (3) Dissemination: Impact and Awareness of Results, (Subtheme: Information overload, Motivations for users to share information). This study has highlighted the need to consider the way different population groups use social media platforms and the information they share when looking to engage them in clinical research trials.

Realising Person-Centredness: Transitioning to a Clustered Domestic Model of Aged Residential Care for People With and Without Dementia.

Many older people who cannot live independently live in aged residential care facilities to obtain support with social and healthcare needs. Despite old age being a precious time for people to live well, many facility residents have limited access to activities that promote their well-being and connectedness. In New Zealand, one provider of aged residential care developed a village inspired by de Hogeweyk in the Netherlands, where resident engagement in valued activities supports continuing lifelong identities. The study aimed to explain the transition from a traditional Aged Residential Care facility to a clustered domestic model of care. A critical realist theoretical perspective underpinned case study research. Data comprised transcripts of interviews with key informants, facility staff, residents and their families, records of observation of residents' daily lives, organisational documents, photographs and the first author's study journal. The intersection of philosophical workplace change to support delivery of person-centred care and a change in the physical environment enabled realisation of the organisational vision of residents living normal lives. Policy makers and practitioners must be aware that while a domestic-scale environment provides cues to normal living, staff who know residents and what is important to them enable participation in community and valued activities. Innovative living arrangements are a synthesis of philosophical aspirations, architectural and design vision, dedicated leadership and committed teamwork.

A Critical Realist Model for Organizational Sociology

Current discussions surrounding organizational sociology theories indicate a state of stagnation. This paper aims to invigorate theoretical innovation by drawing on contemporary social theories, particularly employing a critical realist perspective. Focused on addressing the theoretical convergence between organizational and collective action sociologies, as identified by Friedberg, the paper reinterprets his concept of organized collective action through the critical realist collective subjectivities theory, as proposed by Vandenberghe. The objective is to generate an original Critical Realist Model for Organizational Sociology. This initiative stems from critical realism’s critique of flat ontologies and epistemologies that tend to conflate different objects of reality. The proposed model takes the form of a trialectic generative sequence, highlighting driven objects configured in a specific ontological situation as the necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the emergence of organizations. This sequence includes (a) time-space co-presence and the embodiment process; (b) symbolic community sharing and the identification process; and (c) power dynamics and the processes of representation, delegation, and subordination. This model positions collective organized action as a fundamental intermediary concept for understanding organizations and collective action within a realistic social theory. It indirectly contributes to addressing the broader debate on agency and structure.

Covid-19 Döneminde Hemşirelerin Sosyo-Psikolojik Desteğe İlişkin Bakış Açıları

Within the scope of this research, the problematic of whether the health policies and contents of nurses as health workers are structured or not regarding the social-psychological support of nurses during the covid-19 period is emphasized. It is aimed to reveal the analysis of the functioning dynamics of the structures and mechanisms that produce the differences in nurses' perspectives through a grounded theoretical data analysis process based on a critical realist methodology. Accordingly, one of the basic assumptions of the research is based on the necessity of health policies and policies for health workers that will ensure that nurses are supported psycho-socially in accordance with changing conditions. On the axis of the research, it is aimed to examine the thoughts of nurses about receiving social-psychological support during the covid-19 period. In this context, nurses' opinions on whether they regularly participate in individual or group counseling during the epidemic and whether they consider the content of these supports sufficient were evaluated as a public health problem in terms of general health policies. The research was carried out within the framework of in-depth interviews as a data collection technique suitable for qualitative data analysis within the framework of the grounded theory design. The obtained data were analyzed in a critical realist methodological framework in accordance with the theory design based on the MAXQDA program. With a reasoning strategy based on the way individuals explain, the data were recontextualized and described, and health policies for the existing socio-cultural-economic-social structure components were associated with a reasoning strategy based on retroduction. Among the most important findings of the study, the emphasis of most of the participants on the need for psychological support draws attention. However, despite the participants' emphasis on the necessity of receiving social-psychological support, it was observed that they stated that they did not receive such support during the pandemic process. In addition, the participants emphasized the necessity of individual-group counseling. While receiving psycho-social support should be a normalized health parameter, it has been evaluated that even in terms of this normalization, there are significant gaps in terms of health policies, especially in terms of health workers, especially in extraordinary periods such as pandemics. Keywords: Psycho-Social Support, Nursing, Health Policies, Public Health.

Artificial intelligence and depth ontology: implications for intercultural ethics

Abstract Despite increasing concerns over the use of AI in surveillance, privacy, public health, climate change, global migration and warfare, the implications of its use in the field of intercultural communication are still not clearly defined. This paper critically examines the contemporary emergence of AI through the lens of a critical realist depth ontology to argue that AI, with its unending interplay of signs and symbols, is the ultimate simulacrum. As such, AI vacates the normative terrain of judgemental rationality in favour of the relativist terrain of endless simulacra and the fetish appearances of postmodernism. To illustrate this, it is argued that the inability of AI to make judgements based on judgemental rationality (or Ethics1) occludes the possibility of intervening in the world to ameliorate real injustice. Therefore, if intercultural ethics remains within the realm of judgmental relativism (or Ethics2) it abdicates the possibility to have an impact in the material world.

Critical realism in The Sound and the Fury

Academic research on Faulkner mostly focuses on the stream-of-consciousness technique, but fewer people pay attention to the connection between his creation and critical realism. Faulkner has a strong focus on reality, which can be seen from the three aspects of the timeline arrangement, character’s characteristics, and dimensions of the family-social history in his novel The Sound and the Fury. Obviously，the author has inherited traditional critical realism.

Enriching the evidence base of co-creation research in public health with methodological principles of critical realism

ABSTRACT With the popularity of co-creation research in public health and other fields, there is a need to strengthen its evidence-base by developing a framework based on meta-theoretical principles. The lack of applying meta-theoretical principles in co-creation research impedes the theory- and evidence building. Critical realism seems a promising candidate for providing meta-theoretical principles to enrich the evidence base of co-creation research in public health. To this purpose we searched for relevant papers on critical realism methodological principles, clarified and subsequently applied such principles to a co-creation public health case study. We provide explanatory steps to apply five principles; 1) focusing on understanding an event, like childhood overweight, 2) exploring the broader structure and context surrounding the event, 3) constructing hypotheses about the underlying mechanism(s) of an event, 4) empirical testing to corroborate those hypotheses, and 5) using multiple methods and triangulation. Further, this study shows that critical realism can enrich co-creation research in public health by iteratively building theory and evidence following the five proposed principles.

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.

Examining authorial agency in elementary children’s narratives

ABSTRACT This paper investigates stories written by children and aims to reveal how children resist or neutralise the social and cultural conditions in their writing. We draw on Archer’s critical realist theory of agency and structure and Stephens’ conceptualisation of agency as a relational experience that involves intersubjectivity. Looking at 8 stories written by year 5 and year 6 children, we explore how children exercise agency and challenge the sociocultural conditions. Our analysis explores children’s authorial choices about discourse (language), story (characters, action, and settings) and significance (values and worldviews) and how these choices shape the author’s agency or portray the agency of the characters. Overall, positioning against the sociocultural conditions is achieved and exercised through the child’s position as the author or through the child’s depiction of the characters and the use of ‘subject positions’ in stories. Findings suggest that agency is exercised in relation to a range of conditions including the laws of nature, normative social relations, interpersonal relationships, authoritative or passive parenting, and the socio-political context. The results shed light on narratives as spaces for children to practice agency and calls for pedagogical approaches that position children as active and capable participants of a classroom. Implications are discussed for education.

A qualitative exploration of perceived challenges and opportunities in the implementation of injury prevention and management in amateur female sport.

Coaches, practitioners, and leadership in amateur female sport must navigate many obstacles in the pursuit of athlete availability and optimal performance. The present study aims to evaluate opportunities and challenges to both injury prevention and management in amateur female sport, as experienced by mixed-gender coaches, allied healthcare professionals, and general practitioners. Semi-structured virtual interviews of coaches, allied healthcare professionals, and general practitioners (N = 25), recruited via convenience snowball sample. Data transcribed verbatim with reflexive thematic analysis through a critical realism framework. Female-specific issues, education, and resource capital were challenges to the implementation of injury prevention and management in amateur female sport, thus negatively impacting on performance, prevention, and rehabilitation. Opportunities for improved care for female athletes were developing communication and relationships, outsourcing responsibility, and providing greater education, in response to desires for such, and lastly exposure to elite sport and national governing bodies' protocols. In amateur female sport, developing communication pathways and relationships, along with upskilling coaches, can help better support female athletes, coaches, and healthcare professionals. Leaders and stakeholders must advocate for and support greater education, resourcing, and an understanding of female-specific issues in amateur female sport. It is intended that these findings will provide evidence and opportunities for discourse between stakeholders in amateur female sport to improve standard of supports for female athletes, coaches, and healthcare professionals. These findings may also help practitioners better exploit opportunities and circumvent challenges to improve the welfare and performance of amateur female athletes.

“It’s like building a new person”: lived experience perspectives on eating disorder recovery processes

BackgroundDeeply engaging with the expertise of those who have experienced or supported someone with an eating disorder can add to a growing body of knowledge about recovery processes. In this qualitative study, we sought to explore and generate nuanced understandings of recovery experiences of people with a lived ED experience (first hand or as a caregiver) who were working as mentors in the field. To do this, we focused on changes that occur in personality, traits, and interests over the course of an eating disorder and into recovery.MethodWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 people with an eating disorder history, either through personal lived experience (n = 14) or as a caregiver of a loved one with an eating disorder (n = 13). We undertook a reflexive thematic analysis of the data through a critical realist lens.ResultsWe developed three themes, which illustrate the nonlinearity, relationality, and systemically linked nature of changes across experiences of having and recovering from an eating disorder. The first theme focuses on expansion; participants described how their worlds got bigger as they explored who they were becoming and discovered new ways of living in line with their values. The second theme emphasizes the balance between support and autonomy participants described as important for enabling change to occur across the recovery process. The last theme highlights the ways in which changes throughout the recovery process entwined with systemic factors, including actively pushing back against diet culture and weight stigma.ConclusionsParticipants’ stories highlight interactions between individual, relational, and societal shifts that occur throughout the course of an ED and into recovery. They support ongoing calls to orient to ED recovery as situated within a broader social milieu, which invites us to build supportive environments to enable expansion and flourishing.

MODERN FRENCH AND AZERBAİJANİ POETRY AT THE LEVEL OF COMPARATİVİSTİCS

In the article, the stages of development of Azerbaijani poetry from the 19th century to the 20th–21st centuries, which were accompanied by fundamental changes, were reviewed. It has been noted that the wars that took place at the beginning of the 20th century and the strict rules and regulations applied by the Soviet regime had an undeniable influence on our literature. It was at that time, during the years of Repression, prominent representatives of Azerbaijani poetry were subjected to political oppression and persecution, exiled and shot. The names of the poets who played a special role in the development of Azerbaijani poetic thought during the Soviet period were mentioned, and at the same time, the genre and form innovations they brought to our poetry were shown. Starting from the 60s, poets and writers began to deepen their view of man and his spiritual world. This movement, which began in literature for the sake of freedom of speech and thought, political thought, pluralism, national independence, and social justice, was continued in the 70s and 90s, and finally achieved its prospective goals with the acquisition of political sovereignty and state independence of Azerbaijan. The trend of critical realism that prevailed in Azerbaijani poetry in the 19th century was replaced by socialism- realism in the 20th century. The names of the leading representatives of this current have been mentioned. The article compares the similarities and differences of both French and Azerbaijani poetry of the 20th century in terms of literary trends, form, content, and genre, citing the names of poets and showing examples. In particular, the poems of the French surrealist poet Jacques Préver are compared to the poems of Rasul Rza and Huseyn Javid and Adil Mirseyid. The article also examines the form and content of the newest poets distinguished by their innovation in 21st century Azerbaijani poetry.

An Imaginary Predicament

Abstract This review article discusses key arguments from Social Imaginary and the Metaphysical Discourse by Christoforos Bouzanis, defending critical realism against criticisms made in the book.

Real Democracy: A Critical Realist Approach to Democracy and Democratic Theory

This article presents an alternative general model of democracy to traditional minimalist (electoral and liberal) and deliberative theories by drawing from critical realist philosophical thought. Realist or real democracy is proposed as a societal system where preconditions exist to fully empower all citizens to realize their individual capabilities. This includes empowerment opportunities at the ballot box - but also other preconditions such as health, educational and living standards. Real democracy also separates democratic preconditions from democratic outcomes. Democratic outcomes require the absence of inequalities in power as result from the contingent interaction preconditions and human agency. The new approach is argued to provide a more holistic and dynamic concept of democracy which is also more grounded in the everyday experience of the citizen compared to traditional approaches. It reconnects democracy with theories of human development and enables a new classification of political regimes and conception of democratic politics. An initial empirical mapping of patterns of global real democracy shows evidence of rising preconditions since 1990 – but stagnation since 2010 and some signs of decline. Democratic outcomes by socio-economic position saw the most notable decline.

Health citizenship reveals ‘extra’ work managing biopolitical risk for immigrants in Canada during COVID‐19: A qualitative study

AbstractOne's health security (i.e., the ability to minimize risks and respond to public health threats) is a conferred right of citizenship but individuals construct identities during the process of securing their health. However, how this occurs, in relationship to the state, remains largely implicit or taken‐for‐granted. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19)' provided a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between oneself and governing social norms of health citizenship. We drew on secondary analysis of data from a previous (published) qualitative descriptive study that was conducted during May to September 2020 of COVID‐19, to explore 72 immigrants' experience (from 21 countries) of health security in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews and analysed using critical realism. The majority of participants were women. We demonstrate how individuals implicitly engaged in ‘extra’ work—gendered and driven by mechanisms of good citizenship—connected to the will to health, against ethopolitical work to regulate risks, of and for themselves, in public discourse. Public discourse tended to follow racialized hegemonic norms, which also reproduced systemic cultural racism. We argue that empathetic understanding of this process is conducive to enhancing one's resistance to stereotypes, and to bolstering immigrants' resilience to seeking health security during public health emergencies.

Embracing Paradigmatic Diversity in Nursing: The Stadium Model in Nursing.

Arguably, the quest for a central, unifying paradigm in nursing has distracted from moving disciplinary knowledge forward in an accessible, meaningful manner. In this discursive philosophical article, we uphold that multiparadigmatic research teams and diverse approaches inform effective nursing praxis. We provide an overview of our worldviews (dialectical pluralism, critical realism, humanism, and pragmatism) and their philosophical assumptions and describe how they are commensurate with nursing. We present the Stadium Model in Nursing as a metaphor to illustrate how various worldviews function like different sections of a stadium to offer diverse, yet important vantages of our nursing phenomena of interest.

Person‐centred research supervision: Facilitating encounter with researchers and enquiry

AbstractAimsDrawing upon Schmid's invitation to develop congruence in practice, training and research within the person‐centred approach, this study presents a theoretical model for counselling and psychotherapy research supervision. This is contextualised through the author's early‐career academic experiences, particularly a lack of training, literature or guidance in pedagogical frameworks underpinning research supervision for psychotherapists.MethodThis study conceptualises research supervision using person‐centred theories, in line with critical realist methodologies. Two case studies are presented in which person‐centred research supervision model is implemented.FindingsThemes emerged that corroborated the person‐centred research supervision model proposed and its underpinning literature, which had growthful and challenging dimensions. This highlighted the aspects of vulnerability in supervisory relationships, abdicating expertise as research supervisor and integral congruence between researcher and research project.ConclusionThese findings indicate there is merit in further research being conducted evaluating this person‐centred research supervision model, in order to further develop or challenge its efficacy in practice.