Exploration Of Self Research Articles

When a Child Dies in the PICU Despite Ongoing Life Support.

To examine the circumstance of death in the PICU in the setting of ongoing curative or life-prolonging goals. Multidisciplinary author group, international expert opinion, and use of current literature. We describe three common clinical scenarios when curative or life-prolonging goals of care are pursued despite a high likelihood of death. We explore the challenges to providing high-quality end-of-life care in this setting. We describe possible perspectives of families and ICU clinicians facing these circumstances to aid in our understanding of these complex deaths. Finally, we offer suggestions of how PICU clinicians might improve the care of children at the end of life in this setting. Merging curative interventions and optimal end-of-life care is possible, important, and can be enabled when clinicians use creativity, explore possibilities, remain open minded, and maintain flexibility in the provision of critical care medicine. When faced with real and perceived barriers in providing optimal end-of-life care, particularly when curative goals of care are prioritized despite a very poor prognosis, tensions and conflict may arise. Through an intentional exploration of self and others' perspectives, values, and goals, and working toward finding commonality in order to align with each other, conflict in end-of-life care may lessen, allowing the central focus to remain on providing optimal support for the dying child and their family.

T.Rex, Bowie and Foucault: Early glam rock’s influence on European youth culture

Abstract This article explores the impact and influence of early glamrock artists T.Rex (Marc Bolan) and David Bowie on the early 1970s’ European youth culture. Focusing on their lyrical representation, vocal presentation and visual theatrical performance techniques in the songs ‘Baby Strange’ and ‘Life on Mars?’, I analyse the artists’ impact through their relation to the theory of the madman put forth by Michel Foucault. Despite both Bolan and Bowie’s taboo physical and lyrical presentation, their music and performances present the truth of the youth culture concerning two of the main themes in glam music: sexual exploration and exploration of self. It is the artists’ representations of these themes that allow members of the early 1970s’ European youth culture to recognize their own sense of identity and self-realization as something that is beyond the taboo. T.Rex (Bolan) and David Bowie present their messages in a way that allows the younger generation to recognize that they are not alone and perhaps they are not the ‘madmen’ after all.

Urban space and the literary exploration of self – A rhetorician makes a mental tour through his city

AbstractA remarkable characteristic of the Testament Rhetoricael (Rhetorical Testament) (1562) by the Bruges rhetorician Eduard de Dene, one of the most important collections of lyrical texts to have come down to us from the sixteenth‐century Low Countries, is its combination of autobiography, and chorography. The author's persona provides the reader of that time with an unusual amount of information about his occupations, character, social world, and opinions. Most of it is given in the context of an evocation of specific places and spaces in the author's hometown. This essay analyses why, for a mid‐sixteenth century Netherlandish author such as Eduard De Dene, personal recollections seem to have been triggered in particular by specific urban places and spaces.

Selfies, Dance, and Performance: A Multimedia and Multidisciplinary Collaboration

ABSTRACTThis article discusses a pedagogical and creative approach to designing a mixed-media, live dance performance. By involving undergraduate students in the process, the authors were able to examine the contemporary phenomenon of selfies and the effect of the “online self” and “mediated self” on dance performance. The performance combined the work of dance and digital media design faculty members, self-reflective contributions from students, a music composer, and a costume designer. Even the audience participated, as the students’ selfies and images of audience members taken by the dancers early in the performance were then also projected onto a media screen. Some of the choreographed movements were developed by student dancers following journaling and small group explorations of self and identity as seen in the selfies. Postperformance interviews revealed the value of complicating more traditional dance-making practices through role interdependence and of teaching the creative integration of multimedia in performance design.

What’s in a name? A psychoanalytic exploration of self and identity in transgender individuals who were assigned female at birth

This study explores the development of self and gender identity within the lived experience of transgender individuals who were assigned female at birth and now identify as male or male spectrum. A psychoanalytically informed interview technique was employed here, involving six participants, aged 20–37 for 3–4 one-hour interviews. Alongside close attention to the content and the manner of representation of self and other across interviews, the analysis was also informed by counter-transference processes. Three core themes emerged from the data: ‘What’s in a Name?’; ‘Rejected, Bullied, Ignored and Forgotten’; and ‘I’m a Boy (not a Girl)’. Recollections of traumatic experiences and the use of laughter were other notable details that appeared across participants. Links are made between the emerging themes and concepts of incongruent mirroring and the development of a false self. Directions for further research and clinical implications for working with transgender clients in a psychotherapeutic context are also outlined.

Visualizing Caribbean Performance (Jamaican Dancehall and Trinidadian Carnival) as Praxis: An Autohistoria of KiKi’s Journey

ABSTRACTI discuss my journey in the construction, pedagogy, and philosophy of the dance technique CaribFunk™. CaribFunk fuses Afro-Caribbean (traditional and social dance), classical ballet, modern, and fitness elements. It also encourages exploration of self while investigating identity, citizenship, and culture through a kinesthetic expression of the rhythmic gestures of the pelvis. The technique visualizes Caribbean performance (Jamaican Dancehall and Trinidadian Carnival) as a celebration of bodily truths, history, and desire. I argue that this expression is a (re)imagination of culture, destabilizing and decentering order in social spaces (curriculum), illustrating how this ideology can serve as praxis, how these ideas of bodily narratives and social and political expression find their way in CaribFunk technique, and how CaribFunk as a transcultural dance technique serves as a model and catalyst for change.

A Teaching Model for Health Professionals Learning Reflective Practice

Abstract The aim of this work was to use the theory and concepts of critical reflection in the development of a teaching model to enhance the learning approach to reflective practice for health professionals. The results of this initial stage of a larger project have identified the key challenges for health professionals learning about reflective practice. From the literature a model for teaching critical reflection was conceptualized. It begins with an exploration of self and values, moves students through a dialogue with peers, and explores the social and historical contexts of practice. Conclusions drawn from this work show that despite the agenda in healthcare to bridge the theory-practice gap, when focusing on critical reflection students struggle with professional, legal and ethical issues much more than they do with empirical ones. Our work has aimed to design a course of study that facilitates students’ development in critical reflection in order to promote their empowerment and capacity for change. We believe that reflective practice that is aimed at empowering individuals within their own practice has the potential to engage the learner, as well as provide improved health outcomes.

A meditation on boredom: re-appraising its value through introspective phenomenology

ABSTRACTBoredom is almost universally regarded as a dysphoric mental state, characterised by features such as disengagement and low arousal. However, in certain quarters (e.g., Zen Buddhism), boredom is seen as potentially having great value and even importance. The current study sought to explore boredom through a case study involving introspective phenomenology. The author created conditions in which he would experience boredom for an hour and recorded his experience in real-time using a variant of the Experiencing Sampling Method. The data were analysed using an adaptation of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The results indicated that the state of boredom contained three main sources of value: altered perception of time, awakened curiosity about the environment, and exploration of self. Consequently, the article offers a re-appraisal of boredom, suggesting that rather than necessarily being a negative state, if engaged with, boredom has the potential to be a positive and rewarding experience.

Sounding grief: The Severn Estuary as an emotional soundscape

This paper explores sound infused creative responses to grief and related emotions of loss and landscape in the context of the tidal Severn Estuary (UK) and its particular sonic qualities. We draw principally on the practice of artist Louisa Fairclough, linking to wider discussions of emotion, sound and the body, in shared autotopological explorations of self and family in landscape. Like other estuaries, the Severn Estuary is a deeply rich (in socio-ecological terms) landscape which includes the tidal liminalities of the lower reaches of the Severn river, the mid estuary, and the lower areas which merge into open sea. The whole estuary, in geomorphological, ecological, and related social terms, is particularly dynamic as it has the second highest tidal range in the world. This means that vast volumes of brackish water wash up and down the estuary in a series of rhythmic cycles which play across and between day, month and season, mixing physical spaces and processes (e.g. land-sea; salt-fresh water). This ceaseless ebb and flow brings marked spatial, visual and aural richness to the estuary and places along its shores. This includes the Severn bore which, when at maximum height, is a powerful tidal wave washing up the upper estuary and tidal river with a loud sonic richness. Owain Jones (geographer) has previously written on this landscape and its memorial emotional qualities in relation to his family history and challenged geographical self. Louisa Fairclough (artist) has re-turned to it as performative art practice, to sleep by the River Severn, and produces a series of works consisting of field recordings, drawings and a series of installations of expanded films. These use river sounds and vocal recordings to interact with the tidal landscape and its margins in creative expressions of grief. This paper sets out these works, their background, shared responses to the estuary, and explores in particular the sonic registers of the landscape which, for us, listen, and speak to, loss and trauma.

Networked idiots: Affective economies and neoliberal subjectivity in a Russian viral video

Idiot is usually a term of derision. In this article, we reconsider the common meaning as designating a stupid person and return to an earlier etymology as signifying a private and independent individual. In ancient Greece, being idiotic meant engaging in the contemplative process of becoming an individual. At times, this pursuit of individuation differentiated such individuals as their acts occurred in public and were seen as absurd, out-of-the-ordinary and, frankly, idiotic, as most now know the term. With the widespread use of social media and digital video, these once private or semi-public acts of individuation often become explicitly public acts for others to see, critique and mimic. Social media has made it possible for these explorations of self to circulate where their emotional intensities resonate with or are rejected by viewers, are captured for profit by media corporations, and leveraged by their producers into media careers. Using a case study from Russian social media, this article describes the affective economy of idiotic videos and how the history of one Internet video illustrates the circulation, capture and self-capitalization attendant with neoliberalism.

Adult life stage and crisis as predictors of curiosity and authenticity

During periods of developmental crisis, individuals experience uncomfortable internal incongruence and are motivated to reduce this through forms of exploration of self, other and world. Based on this, we inferred that being in a crisis would relate positively to curiosity and negatively to a felt sense of authenticity. A quasi-experimental design using self-report data from a nationally representative UK sample (N = 963) of adults in early life (20–39 years), midlife (40–59 years) and later-life (60+) showed a pattern of findings supportive of the hypotheses. Three forms of curiosity (intrapersonal, perceptual and epistemic D-type) were significantly higher, while authenticity was lower, among those currently in crisis that those of the same age group not in crisis. Crisis was also related to curiosity about particular book genres; early adult crisis to self-help and spirituality, midlife to self-help and biography, and later life to food and eating.

Seselelame: Reflective team approach to practice

Abstract: This paper focuses on an awareness of self through the integration of Seselelame Reflective Team Approach to Practice (SRTAP), a model I develop that was adapted from Anderson’s systemic reflective team approach. An understanding of how SRTAP enhances the quality of practice of social workers is explored. Approaching this task from a practice-based standpoint I draw from my experience and practice. I explore how the concept of SRTAP was embedded in a local social work context; I explain and illustrate the value of bringing forth an awareness of self through the use of feeling in the body to practice, inviting an appreciation of the value of practical wisdom through SRTAP.The narratives of practitioners offer examples of the effectiveness of the SRTAP on casework (that is, tasks involving plans or ideas, solving problems or making decisions). I discuss conditions, rationale and guidance needed to achieve and sustain the benefits of SRTAP.Taking feedback from practitioners, my experience and observation I suggest that SRTAP creates a blend between intuitive and analytical ways of being in practice, contributing practice competence through an exploration of self as a resource when dealing with complex relational dynamics. When I use the word ‘self’ in this paper, I refer to felt responses in terms of feelings in the body.

A Critical Hermeneutic Analysis of Presence in Nursing Practice

Nursing presence, although it involves action at times, is a humanitarian quality of relating to a patient that is known to have powerful and positive implications for both nurse and patient. However, this phenomenon has not been well understood. Three theories, drawn from the work of Paul Ricoeur and Hans-Georg Gadamer, served as the boundaries for both data collection and analysis. The theories were narrative identity, play and solicitude. This study follows a critical hermeneutic approach to field research and data analysis. Literature regarding nursing presence is reviewed and discussed, and in-depth conversations with eleven participants are recorded. Examining the phenomenon of nursing presence through the hermeneutic lenses of narrative identity, play and solicitude has elucidated the role of ethical orientation, creativity and connection with the human experience through exploration of self and other. This more nuanced and complex understanding adds depth to the conversation and offers new possibilities to the effort to encourage and support presence in nursing practice.

The self in prejudice

The self as a psychological construct, and the self in relation to the other has been discussed in psychological and sociological literature for decades, but not much attention has been given to the psychological development of the self in relation to the social construction of prejudice. The primary aim of this article is to explore the self in prejudice and thus the psychological processes involved in the development of self within the social context. Consequently, the aim is to explore the self in the construction and expression of prejudice from both a social and psychological approach, and to explain selfhood influences at the individual, group and community levels. I use the conceptual framework of Kohut's self psychology as a lens to present the development of the self and thus the idea of the development of the self in relation to the other. In such exploration of self in prejudice, I present some of my ideas which include prejudice as an outcome of self-definition in the context of the other, as well as linking self in prejudice and group dynamics to attachment theory and the notion of “selfgroup’ in terms of overidentification with the in-group. While the social and the psychological in terms of the development of the self cannot be separated, I have therefore attempted to merge at some point the two bodies of thought in relation to the self in prejudice.

Promoting collaboration and cultural competence for physician assistant and physical therapist students: A cross-cultural decentralized interprofessional education (IPE) model.

Purpose:As the United States health care model progresses towards medical teams and the country’s population continues to diversify, the need for health professional education programs to develop and implement culturally specific interprofessional education (IPE) becomes increasingly imperative. A wide range of models exists for delivering and implementing IPE in health education, but none have included the cultural components that are vital in educating the health professional.Methods:A cross-cultural decentralized IPE model for physician assistant (PA) and physical therapy (PT) students was developed. This three-part IPE series was created using an established cultural curricular model and began with the exploration of self, continued with the examination of various dimensions of culture, and concluded with the exploration of the intersection between health and culture. We assessed student satisfaction of the IPE experiences and students’ engagement and attitudes towards IPE using a three-item open-ended questionnaire administered after each cross-cultural activity and the Interprofessional Education Series Survey (IESS) upon the completion of the series.Results:IESS responses showed that PA and PT students reported benefits in interprofessional collaboration and cultural awareness and expressed overall satisfaction with the series. Qualitative analysis revealed growth in student response depth consistent with the scaffolded focus of each IPE module in the series.Conclusion:The trends in this three-part series suggest that institutions looking to develop culturally inclusive IPE educational initiatives may have success through a decentralized model mirroring the effective cultural progression focused on addressing exploration of self, examination of various dimensions of culture, and exploration of the intersection between health and culture.

An Autoethnographic Reading of Djanet Sears’s The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God

Djanet Sears’s play The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God offers a generous opportunity for the careful contemplation of the intersections between Christianity, motherhood, and blackness in Canada—a topic hitherto unexamined in scholarship about Sears’s plays. The protagonist’s search for God is a personal exploration of self in relation to each of these topics; similarly, Naila Keleta-Mae draws from the analysis of self through the article’s incorporation of methodologies employed in autobiographical performance and autoethnographic research. Specifically, the author maps her examination of Sears’s play through her own body and experiences of Christianity, motherhood, and blackness in Canada. One of the key ways that this article seeks to differ itself from traditional Canadian scholarship is by foregrounding the explicit ways the scholar’s topic of inquiry intersects with her/his/their personal lived experience. To some extent, this article is about visibility and transparency—it is an effort to make equally visible the preoccupations of the scholar in her/his/their analysis of a subject matter—in this specific case it is the unambiguous articulation of why Keleta-Mae cares about Sears’s play.

Crafting meaning: arts-informed dietetics education.

University nutrition students' experiences of participation in an arts module as part of a senior nutrition course were explored to gain an understanding of the relationship of art to dietetics practice. The module comprised discussions, readings, and presentations from dietitian artists, along with three assignments: the production of art, an artist statement, and a reflection paper. The art production depicting an aspect of body image was presented to the class and optionally at a body image conference. An exploratory, qualitative methodology informed by Schön's reflective practice framework was employed. Three surveys administered at various times during the arts module were used to collect students' reflections and were thematically analyzed. Three themes emerged: hesitance to acceptance, emotion and connection, and relationship with dietetics. The education process facilitated a transformation among students, noted as changes in knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes over the course of the module. The arts provide an alternative platform for an exploration of self and others, for improving practice, and for an examination of novel ways for doing so. Reflection as an education component enables students to contemplate relationships, knowledge, emotions, and practice as interrelated and evolving entities.

Leveraging Identity, Gaining Access: Explorations of Self in Diverse Field-Based Research Settings

Negotiating identity is a salient feature of many researchers’ experiences. In this article, we expand on the current literature in examining how interdisciplinary scholars leverage identity to engage with diverse populations, organizations, and information. Using case studies, findings suggest that it is crucial to share various parts of professional and personal identity, speak the language of participants, reflect on both individual and collective identity, draw upon interdisciplinary training, and recognize the benefits and limitations of flexible identities. Finally, we consider how the integration of researcher identity in early stages of the research process may facilitate its transition into practice.

"I, I, I": An Exploration of Self to Improve Teaching and Learning Potentials

I, I is an exploration of self and self-study in a professional educational setting. Self-study will facilitate improved teaching for educators and learning for students. The author argues that without such self-knowledge and understanding it would be difficult to understand what works, what does not work, and what needs to be changed and modified. Can one fully understand students without knowledge of one's own self? Reflective practices are implemented to support all students to reach their potential, and to assist the author and her preservice teachers to build effective skills and understandings.

SOS: a relational orientation towards social inclusion

PurposeRelational approaches have become fashionable in a variety of areas from organisational to clinical interventions, however the practical implications of such approaches are still misunderstood. This paper aims to define what we mean by “relational” and explores how understanding and practising a specific type of relational approach is necessary to truly promote social inclusion and recovery. Design/methodology/approach – A hypothetical case study is described giving a practical illustration of how a relational approach would be used in the context of the provision of socially inclusive mental health services.FindingsThe paper makes the case for a relational and socially inclusive approach to change. A three‐pronged “SOS” model calling attention to the exploration of Self, Other and Situation is outlined. Most importantly, the model attempts to balance the complex and varying needs of clients, others and the wider situation/community/organisation, as opposed to primarily focussing on individual “fault/lack”.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper relies on self‐report methods from a relatively small number of individuals.Originality/valueThe paper challenges a still predominant individualistic paradigm to change. Instead it suggests the need to redirect attention to clients’ existing relational supports to effect quicker and more sustainable change.