Experiential Knowledge Research Articles

The French experiential knowledge resource center: strengthening and extending its scope of action

Abstract Issue The national committee for experiential knowledge in health promotion (EKHP) aims to promote EKHP and improve professional practices. Since 2017, the committee has created methods and toolkits formalizing the capitalization of EKHP. The levers to put the method into practice are in place, now comes the time to find the best means to foster promotion and appropriation of EKHP works. Description of the problem The national EKHP resource center has been launched in May 2022, online: www.capitalisationsante.fr. It acts as a database where HP practitioners can read, download and upload EKHP capitalization works (∼12-page documents detailing one HP intervention each) and cross-analyses reports. It is driven by three main objectives: 1/ promoting and disseminating HP practitioners’ experiential knowledge, 2/ building a community of practice to improve capitalization practices and 3/ making a useful and transferable data available to practitioners. Results The now two-year-old website has been visited by 32 000+ individuals. More than 120 works, 12 cross-analyses are published. They were submitted by trained HP practitioners and reviewed by an editorial board before publication. The national EKHP resource center offers insight on how HP interventions work from practitioners themselves who share knowledge on their implementation. Compared to best-practices portals, it offers an innovative bottom-up approach to knowledge transfer. The community of practice (CoP) now supports a network of 200+ trained practitioners. This CoP aims to improve knowledge management and ensure the quality of the works produced. Surveys and feedback show that both building up and accessing EKHP meet a high level of interest. Lessons The innovative bottom-up approach and the focus on knowledge management can serve as a model for other settings/countries. In 2024, levers of appropriation will be investigated and collaboration with other HP resource centers will be better identified. Key messages • The now two-year-old national NEKHPRC enhances EK’s part in the HP field by making otherwise unknown data available to the French-speaking HP community. • Building of a strong community of practice ensures the high quality of the bottom-up approach to the uploading of the works.

A realist change model for community-based perinatal mental health peer support from peer volunteers

ABSTRACT Aims To investigate what it is about community-based perinatal mental health peer support from trained volunteers that works, for whom, in what circumstances, in what respects, and why; and build a change model that includes positive and negative mechanisms and outcomes. Methods Realist evaluation methods based on semi-structured interviews were used to create a change model for a third sector programme in England. Results Mothers who received peer support (n = 20), peer support volunteers (n = 27), and programme staff (n = 9) were interviewed. Positive impact on mothers was primarily based on feeling understood and accepted, social comparison (including normalisation, hope, and gaining perspective) and sharing non-directive information from experiential knowledge. Negative impact on mothers was based on negative social comparison, or absence of key peer support mechanisms. Mothers were affected in different ways, depending on individual contexts: their backgrounds, personalities, social situations, resources, experiences, beliefs, and needs. Some different mechanisms were present in one-to-one and group situations. All participants considered the benefits of peer support to greatly outweigh the risks. Conclusion Individual contextual factors affect the multiple mechanisms through which mental health peer support can improve mothers’ emotional wellbeing and social participation. Peer support has potential risks as well as benefits, which can be mitigated. Programmes could use this understanding of how contexts and mechanisms interact to produce peer support outcomes to improve training for peer support volunteers and to design future evaluations that take into account diversity of peer support experience.

Diagnostic reasoning and cognitive error in emergency medicine: Implications for teaching and learning.

Accurate diagnosis in emergency medicine (EM) is high stakes and challenging. Research into physicians' clinical reasoning has been ongoing since the late 1970s. The dual-process theory has established itself as a valid model, including in EM. It is based on the distinction between two information-processing systems. System 1 rapidly generates one or more diagnostic hypotheses almost instantaneously, driven by experiential knowledge, while System 2 proceeds more slowly and analytically, applying formal rules to arrive at a final diagnosis. We reviewed the literature on dual-process theory in the fields of cognitive science, medical education and emergency medicine. The literature reflects two prominent interpretations regarding the relationship between the fast and slow phases and these interpretations carry very different implications for the training of clinical learners. One interpretation, prominent in the EM community, presents it as a "check-and-balance" framework in which most diagnostic error is caused by cognitive biases originating within System 1. As a result, EM residents are frequently advised to deploy analytical (System 2) strategies to correct such biases. However, such teaching approaches are not supported by research into the nature of diagnostic reasoning. An alternative interpretation assumes a harmonious relationship between Systems 1 and 2 in which both fast and slow processes are driven by underlying knowledge that conditions performance and the occurrence of errors. Educational strategies corresponding to this alternative have not been explored in the EM literature. In this paper, we offer proposals for improving the teaching and learning of diagnostic reasoning by EM residents.

The citizens have participated – what now? An action research study of factors impacting the use of participatory citizen knowledge in planning processes

ABSTRACT Citizen participation is embedded into planning practice and policy, yet it remains unclear how the results of participation are shared in planning organisations and utilised to inform planning outcomes. This article examines barriers and enablers for systematic gathering, sharing and utilisation of participatory citizen knowledge and analyses the collaborative development of knowledge-sharing practices in two Finnish municipalities. The article focuses specifically on the collection and dissemination of local, experiential knowledge from two municipality-wide Public Participation GIS surveys. The study adopts an action research approach to deepen the understanding of planners' complex relationships with participatory citizen knowledge: how they gather and share it, how it informs their work and how they develop their everyday practice. The results suggest that a variety of practical, technical and cultural factors influence whether planners access and utilise gathered citizen knowledge. Planners' backgrounds, skills and personalities also influence how they perceive and utilise citizen knowledge. When provided with accessible and representative data about citizens' behaviours and preferences, adequate resources and a sense of agency through supportive organisation culture, officials from different sectors were eager to develop the use of participatory knowledge. These emergent practices can be used to inform wider iterative development to meet practitioners' needs.

Grensekryssing i yrkesfaglærerutdanningen: Betydningen av studentenes utviklingsprosjekter

This article aims to explore how vocational teacher students’ work with development projects can create coherence between learning in the university and learning in teaching practice. Previous research indicates that students often perceive a lack of coherence between the academic knowledge culture in the university and the experiential knowledge they encounter in teaching practice. The study uses boundary crossing as a theoretical approach, and the results are based on interviews with vocational teacher students. The results reveal that their work with development projects strenghten programme coherence by linking the learning arenas university and teaching practice. The development projects also acted as boundary objects, facilitating the integration of the different knowledge cultures and practices. This study contributes to understanding the potential of development projects to create coherence between university and teaching practice in vocational teacher education. The results suggest the need for closer collaboration between universities and schools in supporting vocational teacher students’ work on development projects to enhance boundary learning.

Dynamic control of cardboard-blank picking by using reinforcement learning

Abstract Standard packaging lines with high output rates often struggle when dealing with uncertainties in the conditions of the handled materials. This paper focuses on a piece of machinery in an automatic packaging line, namely an automated apparatus that extracts cardboard blanks from a buffer and transfers them to the next section through suction cups. In this context, the success of the operation depends on various controllable parameters, disturbances, and time-dependent variables, whose mutual relationships are not easily identifiable and whose understanding has so far been entrusted to the experiential knowledge of human operators. Currently, drops in picking success rates require the machine to be stopped and operators to intervene on-site, making use of their expertise to identify the issue and recalibrate the machine. To address the problem, this paper presents an artificial-intelligence-enabled controller, capable of continuously and autonomously recalibrating the apparatus and compensating for disturbances, in order to avoid missed or incorrectly picked cardboard blanks. In particular, this work exploits experimental data to build a model of the system, on which a reinforcement-learning algorithm is trained. The controller is tasked with regulating the controllable parameters while monitoring process variables. The developed agent is tested on the real apparatus to assess its performance.

Designing an Intervention to Improve Medication Safety for Nursing Home Residents Based on Experiential Knowledge Related to Patient Safety Culture at the Nursing Home Front Line: Cocreative Process Study.

Despite years of attention, avoiding medication-related harm remains a global challenge. Nursing homes provide essential health care for frail older individuals, who often experience multiple chronic diseases and polypharmacy, increasing their risk of medication errors. Evidence of effective interventions to improve medication safety in these settings is inconclusive. Focusing on patient safety culture is a potential key to intervention development as it forms the foundation for overall patient safety and is associated with medication errors. This study aims to develop an intervention to improve medication safety for nursing home residents through a cocreative process guided by integrated knowledge translation and experience-based codesign. This study used a cocreative process guided by integrated knowledge translation and experience-based co-design principles. Evidence on patient safety culture was used as an inspirational source for exploration of medication safety. Data collection involved semistructured focus groups to generate experiential knowledge (stage 1) to inform intervention design in a multidisciplinary workshop (stage 2). Research validation engaging different types of research expertise and municipal managerial representatives in finalizing the intervention design was essential. Acceptance of the final intervention for evaluation was aimed for through contextualization focused on partnership with a municipal advisory board. An abductive, rapid qualitative analytical approach to data analysis was chosen using elements from analyzing in the present, addressing the time-dependent, context-bound aspects of the cocreative process. Experiential knowledge was represented by three main themes: (1) closed systems and gaps between functions, (2) resource interpretation and untapped potential, and (3) community of medication safety and surveillance. The main themes informed the design of preliminary intervention components in a multidisciplinary workshop. An intervention design process focused on research validation in addition to contextualization resulted in the Safe Medication in Nursing Home Residents (SAME) intervention covering (1) campaign material visualizing key roles and responsibilities regarding medication for nursing home residents and (2) "Medication safety reflexive spaces" focused on social and health care assistants. The cocreative process successfully resulted in the multifaceted SAME intervention, grounded in lived experiences shared by some of the most important (but often underrepresented in research) stakeholders: frontline health care professionals and representatives of nursing home residents. This study brought attention toward closed systems related to functions in medication management and surveillance, not only informing the SAME intervention design but as opportunities for further exploration in future research. Evaluation of the intervention is an important next step. Overall, this study represents an important contribution to the complex field of medication safety. RR2-10.2196/43538.

The lived experience of patients with bipolar disorder with adapting their lifestyle to their condition

BackgroundAn important element of self-management strategies for people with bipolar disorder is adapting their lifestyle to their condition, since this improves their quality of life. However, not all people with bipolar disorder succeed in lifestyle adaptation. Knowledge about their lived experience with adaptation would enhance understanding about how healthcare providers optimize support. Research questionWhat is the lived experience of people with bipolar disorder with adapting their lifestyle to their condition? MethodA qualitative, descriptive phenomenological design was used. Individual, open interviews were conducted with 16 people with bipolar disorder. The data were analyzed according to the seven-stage process by Colaizzi. FindingsThree main themes were identified: (1) struggling to adapt lifestyle; (2) mixed feelings about lifestyle adaptation; and (3) supporting lifestyle adaptation. ConclusionParticipants reported that adapting their lifestyle to bipolar disorder is a struggle. Adaptation is influenced by factors such as the fluctuating nature of the disorder and differing levels of experiential knowledge and can evoke both positive and negative feelings. Lifestyle adaptation is also interrelated with other strategies for staying well, such as accepting the diagnosis and being open with others. It can be enhanced by support from other people and by making use of practical tools. RecommendationsHealthcare providers should support people adapting their lifestyle to bipolar disorder by being attentive to the interrelatedness of lifestyle aspects and other strategies for staying well with bipolar disorder.

Foundations of experiential knowledge: recovering a forgotten resource for social work

This article explores the conceptual and theoretical foundation of experiential knowledge. A scoping review shows that limited studies have so far been published about experiential knowledge in the context of social work. Although the value of personal experiences is commonly acknowledged, these are generally not considered ‘real knowledge’. Two main problems are identified, the first being that in dominant positivist scientific conceptions, experiential knowledge is not seen as scientifically relevant. The second is that, epistemologically, it seems problematic to turn personal experiences into collective knowledge. Regarding the first issue, it is argued that from a social-constructivist angle, experiential knowledge is valid knowledge. Not only can denying the value of knowledge based on lived experiences be considered an epistemic injustice, but it also ignores it as a valuable resource for professional education and practice. The second issue needs to be further explored considering the complex processes of experiential knowledge production, using the opportunities that narrative and participative social work research methods offer.

Towards a New Integrated Model for Taking Into Account the Experiential Knowledge of People With Chronic Diseases, Integrating Mediation, Therapeutic Education and Partnership: The Expanded Chronic Care Patient-Professional Partnership Model.

The Chronic Care Model (CCM), the Expanded Chronic Care Model (ECCM) and the eHealth Enhanced Chronic Care Model (eCCM) focus on how healthcare teams and eHealth support can offer effective care and relevant solutions for patients facing chronic care conditions. However, they do not consider how patients can help these teams in their work, nor do they promote ways in which patients can help themselves. However, in the last decade, three different models have emerged that can complete our capacity to design and deliver integrated care for people with chronic diseases. In this article, we propose a revised version of the model that integrates the patient perspective and patients' experience-based knowledge. It integrates three different ways of engaging patients that complement the other patient engagement point of view: the experience of care and mediation in healthcare, therapeutic patient education and patient learning pathways, as well as patient-professional partnership. For each of the three models, we conducted a review of the literature using CINAHL, Medline, OVID, EMBASE PsychINFO, Science Direct and government reports on patient engagement and partnership with their healthcare providers, to integrate the different components of these models into the ECCM and eCCM. The goal is to create a model that better takes into account the experiential knowledge of patients and citizens throughout its different dimensions. We identified 129 papers based on their framework, design, sample, measures and fit with patient engagement and chronic illness and added our own research when relevant. Integrating the three models provides an opportunity to amplify the role played by the patient perspective in the management of chronic disease. The Expanded Chronic Care Patient-Professional Partnership Model (E2C3PM) is intended to rebalance power relations between healthcare professionals and patients (and their caregivers). This new model is based on recognizing patients' experiential knowledge and their roles as caregivers and as full members of the care team. Integrating patient empowerment into the E2C3PM underscores the importance of coproduction care with patients at the clinical, organizational and system levels within a supportive environment. Applying this new model should make it possible to better take into account the complexity of chronic diseases, improving the integration not only of care, services and eHealth support but also the various determinants of health and reaching a mutually beneficial settlement among all actors involved. A patient-researcher contributed to the development of the protocol, the data collection and the preparation and writing of this manuscript.

Towards a ‘transformative relationship’: Evans‐Pritchard, mysticism and anthropological fieldwork

Ongoing attempts to develop a ‘transformative’ relationship between anthropology and theology have exhorted anthropologists to look to theology to ‘unsettle’ existing understandings of the discipline's goals and potential. This article explores the ‘transformative’ relationship between anthropology and theology by examining E.E. Evans‐Pritchard's perspective on fieldwork, influenced by his Catholic faith and mysticism. Evans‐Pritchard saw both fieldwork and mysticism as rooted in shared experiential knowledge, challenging the discipline's secular foundation and reframing the relationship between anthropology and theology as grounded in a shared concern for experiential knowledge. Refiguring participant observation fieldwork in this way – as sharing a fundamental aspect with something as profoundly religious as mysticism – not only disrupts anthropology's understanding of its secular constitution but also reframes the relationship between anthropology and theology. This shift moves the relationship from one barred by a lack of shared beliefs to one potentially grounded in joint attention to and care for experiential knowledge.

The role of patients in clinical and associative research: developments and challenges

In 2002, the Kouchner law made it possible to position patients as healthcare players. In particular, itrecognizes the existence of experiential knowledge, giving them a role as experts in their illnesses. In this article, we'll look at how this expertise is put to good use in clinical research, and then in associative research. We will show that, while patient involvement in research has never been so important, there is still a long way to go.

Integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine massage therapy with machine learning: A new trend in future healthcare

The growing demand for healthcare has brought Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) massage therapy into the spotlight in academic circles. Numerous studies have underscored the effectiveness of TCM massage in health promotion, disease amelioration, and quality of life enhancement. However, the field faces challenges such as inconsistent training and inadequate transfer of experiential knowledge. Recently, machine learning has shown potential in the medical field and its application in TCM massage therapy offers new developmental opportunities. This paper reviews key research areas exploring the synergy between machine learning and Chinese massage therapy, including acupoint localization and identification, massage practice, and personalized treatment plans. It summarizes progress and identifies the challenges in integrating these technologies. Despite potential risks, merging these technologies is poised to be a trend in future healthcare, driven by advances in computer technology and the needs of TCM practitioners.

Artificial intelligence as a mode of ordering. Automated-decision making in primary care

ABSTRACT This paper examines the process of organizing primary care from the increasing production of digital data and algorithms, leading to decision-making being delegated to automated processes. Based on a case study of primary care in Catalonia (Spain), we develop an interpretative framework to analyze the effects and controversies of the introduction of AI in primary care, stressing the need to understand these technologies as historically situated trends, as part of a growing automation process of ordering frontline clinical care. To foster a nuanced discussion on the mode of ordering of automation, we replace the notion of AI with Automated Decision-Making (ADM) and use the conceptual distinction between striated and smooth spaces, as developed by Deleuze & Guattari. With the analysis we identify four dynamics that order and organize health, illness, and public health systems: (1) The capacity of Electronic Health Records and associated software to shape the daily routines of primary care; (2) The dual role of healthcare professionals, who serve as both data users and data collectors; (3) The system of values and priorities configured by the network of classification systems in use and; (4) The emerging tensions during the progressive automation processes. These dynamics configure a mode of ordering characterized by diminishing the importance of experiential knowledge, the reduction of patient negotiation capacity, the professionals’ discomfort with being constantly monitored and controlled, as well as the gradual neglect of factors related to socio-economic determinants of health.

Circles of port sustainability: A novel method combining global comparability and local relatability in performance assessment

Ports are increasingly ‘greening’ operations to protect their ‘license to operate’ by integrating social-environmental considerations into their management and reporting on their sustainability performance. In this research, we develop a novel method for port sustainability performance (PSP) assessment that combines science-based knowledge with place-based contextualisation. Specifically, we address a recognised challenge of combining global (‘top-down’) techno-scientifically oriented indicators with place-based locally relatable (‘bottom-up’) contexts in sustainability performance, in addition to addressing limitations encountered in empirical verification. First, a critical evaluation of the international literature on port sustainability assessments is undertaken to distil commonalities in global performance indicators, and to identify typical frames used in the design of sustainability performance indices. We apply this learning, together with place-based experiential knowledge, to develop a science-based framework for a Port Sustainability Performance (PSP) Index that is explicitly aligned with the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). We then apply a co-design process to demonstrate local customisation of the index to derive place-based quantifiable measures and targets. Further, for easy-to-use empirical verification, a simple spreadsheet is applied to develop a flexible weighted scoring matrix. The matrix uses place-based rating systems for selected measures and associated targets, and aggregates allocated scores into informative outputs. Finally, the concept of Circles of Sustainability is adapted for ports to visually display sustainability performance, in alignment with related SDGs. This research contributes to bridging the science-practice divide in reporting on port sustainability performance.

The inclusive mindset transformation needs of teachers working in challenging conditions: An examination from the perspective of Activity and Attribution Theory

The study examines the professional transformation and support required by teachers in challenging conditions, particularly those with students affected by forced migration, to implement inclusive pedagogy. Through a case study involving three primary school teachers, data were gathered using individual and focus group interviews, and observations. The study, framed within Activity Theory and Attribution Theory, identified the teachers' needs and the difficulties they face in applying inclusive pedagogy. Findings emphasize the need for mindset transformation and professional development in three areas: internalising inclusive education, recognizing personal empowerment, and gaining experiential knowledge. The study recommends supporting teachers to overcome systemic challenges and promoting a growth-oriented mindset. Future research should include other stakeholders' perspectives and further explore theoretical relationships.

Feeling–living–fighting the housing crisis: testimonio as methodology in geographic housing research

ABSTRACT While advocates and urbanites regard the housing crisis as a major challenge, federal and city officials seldom act with the urgency demanded of them by their constituency, of which a growing number is either unhoused or housing insecure. The aim of this paper is to study this crisis from the perspective of those most affected and contribute to a debate mostly dominated by economic and policy-oriented approaches. My use of testimonios collected in Washington, DC, between 2019 and 2022 reworks how knowledge on the housing crisis is constituted and highlights both the relational and collective knowledge production by those most affected by changes in the real estate economy. The goal of this paper is to stress the political potential and agency of people who tell their stories as they fight to (re)claim lost and threatened places and battle to protect their homes and neighbourhoods. On a broader scope, this paper sees value in everyday experiential knowledge and questions whose narratives of place are valued, in an effort to bring forth a new methodology in geographic housing research.

Beyond Academia: A case for reviews of gray literature for science-policy processes and applied research

Gray literature is increasingly considered to complement evidence and knowledge from peer-reviewed literature for science-policy processes and applied research. On the one hand, science-policy assessments need to consider a diversity of worldviews, knowledge types and values from a variety of sectors and actor groups, and synthesize policy-relevant findings that are salient, legitimate and credible. On the other hand, practitioners and scholars conducting applied research are affected by the time lag and biases of academic publication processes. Gray literature holds diverse perspectives informative for science-policy processes as well as practical evidence unfiltered by commercial publication processes. However, its heterogeneity has made it challenging to access through conventional means for a literature review. This paper details one endeavor within the Values Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to review gray literature using Google’s Programmable Search Engine. In the absence of a standardized approach, we build on the limited experiential knowledge base for reviewing gray literature and report on the potential applicability of our strategy for future reviews. Gray literature review results contrast findings of our parallel review of academic literature, underlining the importance of mobilizing different knowledge bases in science-policy assessments, evidence-based practices, and applied research.

Margherita Sarrocchis La Scanderbeide (1623)

Abstract The contribution focuses on the staging of experiential knowledge as a resource for the characterization of the warriors Rosmonda and Silveria in Margherita Sarrocchi’s „poema eroico“ La Scanderbeide (Roma: Andrea Fei 1623), with additional references to Lucrezia Marinella’s L’Enrico, ovvero Bisanzio acquistato (Venezia: Ghirardo Imberti 1635). The analysis is based on the thesis that the value of experience for the „excellence“ of women, which is clearly stated in L’Enrico, is also already present in La Scanderbeide. Furthermore the article aims to show how Sarrocchi, in her letters to Galileo Galilei, enhances her position as an adept authoress of epic poetry by referring both to her practical experience as well as to her erudition.

Improving access in medical physics residency programs for physicists with disabilities.

Within the landscape of medical physics education, residency programs are instrumental in imparting hands-on training and experiential knowledge to early-career physicists. Ensuring access to educational opportunities for physicists with disabilities is a legal, ethical, and pragmatic requirement for programs, considering that a significant proportion of the United States population has a disability. Grounded in conceptual frameworks of competency-based medical education and the social model of disability, this work provides an introduction to some practical recommendations for medical physics residency programs. Strategies include embracing universal design principles, fostering partnerships with disability service offices, using inclusive language, developing and publicizing clear procedures for disclosing disabilities and requesting accommodations, and maintaining an overall commitment to equitable access to education. This work urges medical physics residency leadership to proactively move towards training environments that support the needs of residents across the spectrum of disability, highlighting why disability inclusion fundamentally enriches diversity.