Practitioner Narratives Research Articles

Universal Prevention Strategies to Prevent Opioid Misuse on a U.S. College Campus.

Opioid misuse and risk of death due to overdose are critical public health issues and young adults are at risk. College campus communities are ideal settings for the prevention of opioid misuse among young adults due to high enrollment rates, the diversity and availability of resources within the campus community, and the range of risk and protective factors that can be targeted. This practitioner narrative describes a grant-funded three-year opioid misuse prevention project implemented on a U.S. college campus. In keeping with the focus of the grant, the project involved a range of universal prevention activities implemented across the campus community. Lessons learned regarding factors that facilitated implementation in this community context are discussed and may be useful for others interested in implementing prevention activities to help prevent opioid misuse among young adults in their campus communities. Additionally, a reflection on the project and the efficacy of universal prevention to prevent opioid misuse among college students are offered for consideration.

Expertise Gained During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring Ethical Implications Through Practitioners' Narratives.

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a transition to telehealth. Research supports the use of telehealth; however, there is a paucity of literature on the ethical considerations of this shift. This study explored ethics through narratives of practitioners' lived experiences of transitioning to telehealth. Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with 10 pediatric health care professionals. Transcripts were analyzed from a narrative phenomenological perspective. Discussed themes include responding to the rapid redirection, collaborating with colleagues and caregivers, applying therapeutic use of self, and evolving pragmatic clinical reasoning. Transitioning to telehealth resulted in ethical dilemmas pertaining to clients and practitioners. The need for additional support was salient to ensure clients received beneficial services that would not cause harm (non-maleficence). Communities of practice formed organically as forums to explore strategies for sharing comprehensive and equitable information (veracity and justice). Knowledge generated through providers' experiences may inform future guidelines on service delivery transitions.

Development and Implementation of a Preventive Intervention for Youth with Concerns About Their Sexual Thoughts and Behaviors: A Practitioner Narrative

This practitioner narrative describes the development of an innovative, primary and secondary prevention resource to provide confidential resources to youth with questions about potentially problematic sexual interests and behaviors. WhatsOK is a website and free confidential helpline for youth who are potentially at risk to sexually harm or have harmed someone in the past. By encouraging self-efficacy, helpline counselors respond to these inquires in order to prevent harmful events or lessen the impact. This practitioner narrative begins with an explanation of the planning process, then describes the implementation, piloting and refining the resource, and, finally, explains how evaluation was incorporated. The development of the WhatsOK helpline services was conducted with the goal of creating an evidence-informed resource for youth with concerns about sexual thoughts and behaviors.

Linking Care and Support Systems to Improve Childhood Malnutrition: Early Childhood Development Practitioners’ Perceptions of Integrating Multisectoral Systems in South Africa

Introduction: Child malnutrition is a persistent global challenge. It is the cause of nearly 45% of global child mortalities. To ensure positive child health outcomes, integrated multisectoral approaches among families, communities, and government systems to ensure positive child health outcomes are neccesary. Objectives: This study identifies how different care support systems can be linked to ensure optimal childhood nutrition outcomes in South Africa. This is through multisectoral approaches from the early childhood development (ECD) practitioners' perspective. Materials and Methods: We integrated the components of the different support systems and multisectoral approaches. The conceptional framework of the causes of malnutrition by The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recognizes that malnutrition is due to inadequate care services, diet, and care practices influenced by individual, household, community, and structural determinants. While the Nurturing Care Framework, which looks at how policies and services can support families, parents, and other communities in providing nurturing care. Design: A sequential mixed methods approach was used. For the quantitative method, we did a cross-sectional descriptive analysis of 2 966 children who were under-five years' old in the 2017 South African National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) between July and August 2022, we conducted five in-depth interviews with ECD practitioners using this qualitative method, and the data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Data was triangulated to understand the factors influencing children’s nutritional outcomes and to provide the narratives of ECD practitioners. This enabled us to highlight challenges and opportunities in linking children to services they need. Results: This study showed that 22.16% of children were stunted, 16.40% were overweight, and 5.04% were underweight. ECD practitioners reported a lack of support received at health facilities and other social services when making referrals, a lack of parental support in nutrition programmes, systemic challenges experienced in getting ECD centers registered, and the ECD's inability to qualify for subsidized nutrition grants. Conclusion: It is critical for us to understand the challenges and opportunities for multisector collaboration. This understanding will enable strategies and policies aimed at providing efficient and effective service referral and service delivery to improve childhood malnutrition in South Africa.

Practicing within and beyond planning: narratives of practitioners from South Africa

ABSTRACT There is limited scholarship on planning practice that foregrounds narratives of practitioners, especially those based in the post-colonial contexts. Juxtaposing biographical narratives of 12 practitioners from South Africa, this paper highlights the diversity and plurality that exist amongst planners and their practice in these contexts. Having trained in planning to enable socio-spatial change, these practitioners curate their practice within and beyond planning, following their passion, interests, personality, and personal circumstances. It is argued that central to this curation are the considerations of ‘where’ and ‘with whom’ to practice. The place of practice and the people they practice with become expressions of what practitioners value.

Supporting the social inclusion of children and young adults with IDD and psychiatric comorbidities: Autobiographical narratives of practitioners and academics from Europe

The article provides a reflection on the social inclusion of children and young people with IDD and associated psychiatric comorbidity through the eyes of practitioners and academics from Norway, Scotland, Sweden, and Romania. Using an autoethnographic approach to share the first-hand experiences of supporting children and young adults with IDD from the perspective of experienced practitioners, telling their stories (individual case studies) and mapping the challenges and successes (best practice) through these professional narratives. The article also acknowledges psychiatric comorbidity in young people with IDD and how psychiatric disorders can impact social inclusion. The results of the self-reflection of active practitioners involved with complex disabilities may serve as a guide for others in sharing best practices and facing difficulties. It also shows the policy developments on a timeline of their practice. Practice-informed issues clinicians and support staff face may aid the training and share the knowledge with other experts. The value added is the interprofessional exchange created by the international contributors.

Attending to the Sounds of Stories: The Affordances of Audiobooks in the English Classroom

ABSTRACT Audiobooks have been growing in popularity over the last decade. Although researchers have increasingly recognised the value of audiobooks as rich multimodal texts that support literacy engagement in classrooms, there have been few detailed pictures of classroom practice related to audiobooks. In this practitioner narrative, a secondary English teacher details the myriad ways in which he drew upon the affordances provided by audiobooks to engage ninth and tenth grade students in new forms of literacy inquiry and engagement. The article details classroom practices related to fluency and comprehension, inquiries into out-of-school and digital literacies, focusing attention in fictional worlds, and meta-discussions about the nature of the medium.

His, hers and theirs: comparative narratives from young people who use violence

PurposeThis paper aims to explore narratives of violence in the lives of young men and young women in Australia. Through partnering with young people to understand and make meaning of their stories, the authors highlight similarities and differences in gendered experiences of violence, and the implications of these for cross-disciplinary practice.Design/methodology/approachThis article presents the synthesis of narrative data from two separate studies that worked with justice-involved young men and young women, who had both experienced and used violence. Study 1 used a thematic analysis of practitioner narratives and qualitative data from in-session narratives. Study 2 used a thematic analysis of interview data using grounded approach and peer review to promote trustworthiness and inter-rater reliability.FindingsInsights on the experiences of young people who use violence are notably absent in most forms of violence discourse, practice and research. Findings demonstrate that understandings of youth violence are linked to identity, but also situated within contexts of trauma, place, gender, relationality and community. This conceptualisation of violence is particularly important to understandings of young female violence.Originality/valueThrough collaborative approaches of co-design and co-production, the paper outlines that a stronger understanding of the experiences of young men and young women (often an over-looked cohort) in the justice system can help improve the trauma-informed and gender responsiveness of interventions across practice settings. The authors highlight that exploring gendered differences in narratives of youth violence is necessary and seeking lived experiences of youth justice young people is instructive to academia, policy and practice.

Navigating fullness and exile in the low countries : constructing contemporary Paganism in- and outside of a secular frame

What do the experiences of contemporary Pagans operating in a supposedly secular environment mean for our understanding of the lived experience of not only religion, but also secularity? How can processes of secularization be understood as tools for self-understanding and self-legitimatization, rather than top-down concepts that precludes the need for further study of religion in contexts that are considered as largely having moved past the transcendent? This article examines the narratives of practitioners who use various elements of secularization discourses to construct their beliefs and self-understanding. Rather than simply considering contemporary Paganism as a response to processes of secularization, this article approaches secularization from the perspective of practicing Pagans in a more inductive way. It utilizes semi-structured interviews carried out among Dutch Pagans to make inferences about the impact of broader processes of religious change on the self-understanding of these practitioners.

Expanding narratives of governance constraints to improve coral reef conservation.

To understand and address the failures of reef governance, it is critical to understand the perceptions of diverse policy makers and practitioners about the challenges they face in achieving their goals. Examining the discourse of policy makers and practitioners can reveal the extent to which these perceptions capture the full spectrum of potential governance challenges, including those related to management, institutional structures and processes, the values and principles underpinning governance, and the social and environmental context. We conducted semistructured interviews with 110 policy makers and practitioners across multiple sectors, scales, and contexts in Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, Belize, and Honduras. We used thematic qualitative analysis informed by theories of interactive governance and governability to examine the challenges perceived by governance actors. Perceived governance challenges were broadly consistent across countries, but differed by sector (V = 0.819, F6,60 = 1.502, p = 0.01) and by level (community compared with national) (V = 0.194, F1,10 = 2.178, = 0.026). Management inputs and outputs, challenges relating to the socioeconomic context, issues of leadership and power, and stakeholder engagement were commonly cited challenges (>75%). Few respondents discussed challenges relating to the ecological context, governance processes, or the values and principles underpinning governance. We argue that examining perceptions can inform efforts to improve governance and assess the appropriateness of particular management tools under context-specific governance constraints. Furthermore, expanding the narratives of governance challenges to encompass the subtle values and images underpinning governance, and the scale of the challenges faced, can help identify a wider set of opportunities for change.

Experiences of Kyrgyzstani Frontline Healthcare Workers during the "Black July" of 2020: a Qualitative Study.

The peak of the pandemic in Kyrgyzstan occurred in July 2020 with highest infection rates, almost 1000 cases daily, compared to 100 cases prior to this date. The state health system was fatally unprepared to accommodate patients, mobilize medical staff, or provide clear instructions to the population. This study explores personal narratives of healthcare practitioners who were affected by and survived COVID-19 during the "Black July" of 2020 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Healthcare workers (n=10) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. Interviews were transcribed then analyzed in accordance with interpretative phenomenological study guidelines. The narratives demonstrated both post-traumatic depreciation and post-traumatic growth, resulting in changes of attitudes, lifestyle, and identity. An important aspect of identity shift included an emerging desire for increased self-care, which was characterized by resistance against a heroic Hippocratic ideal to "to save everybody". COVID-19 is perceived as a psycho-socio-cultural phenomenon, which has transformed the identities of healthcare workers in the Kyrgyz Republic. Further research is recommended into developing rehabilitation programs for healthcare workers.

From freedom dreams to realities: Adopting Transformative Abolitionist Social Emotional Learning (TASEL) in schools

ABSTRACT Schools are adopting social emotional learning (SEL) programs, intending to provide students with intrapersonal and interpersonal skills to better prepare them for life. Transformative SEL is designed to promote the building of relationships between diverse students and educators to build more just schools and society. Because SEL models are heavily adopted, this paper addresses the inequities present within them. That is, traditional and transformative SEL fail BIPOC: Traditional SEL perpetuates the status quo by further marginalizing BIPOC and transformative SEL is too conceptual for successful adoption in PreK-12 schools. This article provides a brief discussion of traditional SEL, transformative SEL, and abolitionist teaching frameworks, then highlights educational practitioner narratives that discuss SEL adoptions that have proven harmful. We assert that we must (re)imagine and formulate a transformative SEL based on abolitionist teaching structures, which requires fully engaging the voices of our educators by presenting Transformative Abolitionist Social Emotional Learning (TASEL) framework, a practitioner-friendly SEL alternative framed by the tenets of equity and justice.

Project-Oriented Web Scraping in Technical Communication Research

This article advocates for web scraping as an effective method to augment and enhance technical and professional communication (TPC) research practices. Web scraping is used to create consistently structured and well-sampled data sets about domains, communities, demographics, and topics of interest to TPC scholars. After providing an extended description of web scraping, the authors identify technical considerations of the method and provide practitioner narratives. They then describe an overview of project-oriented web scraping. Finally, they discuss implications for the concept as a sustainable approach to developing web scraping methods for TPC research.

The emergence of lean construction in the Norwegian AEC industry

Lean construction has inspired the AEC industry globally over the last decades, and this manifests within a wide array of contexts. The purpose of this paper is to provide a narrative-based qualitative analysis of the emergence and impact of Lean construction on a national level, notably in the Norwegian AEC industry. The analysis is based on the concept of paradigm shift and on empirical knowledge in the form of narratives. The narratives of practitioners and researchers provide deep insights into how Lean Construction has inspired the Norwegian AEC industry and academia, respectively. The reflections indicate that the introduction of the Lean construction principles and tools in the Norwegian AEC industry has depended on promoters who have been convinced about its advantages. The role of active promoters – in particular Dr. Glenn Ballard – is underlined as key to successful introduction of Lean Construction. Key cultural features of the Norwegian AEC industry are emphasized as important success factors. Lean Construction in Norway needs to be understood as a phenomenon occurring within a setting that is generally advantageous but also following an effort carried out on several levels. Key elements that can be used within other contexts are (1) the existence of promoters, (2) cooperation between industry and academic circles, (3) a high degree of trust and (4) a predominance of bottom-up organizations within the industry with few levels of hierarchy.

Working for the Welfare: Support and Supervision Needs of Indigenous Australian Child Protection Practitioners

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are disproportionately represented in all parts of the child protection system in Australia. The recruitment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners into child protection systems to work with Indigenous families at risk underpins the government strategy to reduce this over-representation. However, little is known about the experiences of Indigenous people who undertake child protection work or what their support and supervision needs may be. This research is centered on Indigenous Australian child protection practitioners as experts in their own experiences and as such includes large excerpts of their own narratives throughout. Practitioner narratives were collected via qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews. Critical theory and decolonising frameworks underpinned the research design. The study found that Indigenous child protection practitioners have a unique place in the families, communities and profession. Many viewed their work in the child protection field as an extension of their Indigeneity. This coupled with the historical experience of state-sanctioned removal of Indigenous children during colonisation and contemporarily, informs the need for child protection workplaces to re-think the support and supervision afforded to Indigenous practitioners.

Being in touch: narrative assessment of patients receiving online integrative oncology treatments during COVID-19.

ObjectiveWe examined the qualitative impact of an online integrative oncology (IO) treatment program, designed in response to the restrictions created by the current COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsPatients undergoing chemotherapy were seen by an integrative physician (IP), together co-designing an IO treatment program of ≥ 6 weekly treatments to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life (QoL). IO practitioners guided patients and their caregivers online in self-treatment with manual/touch, movement, and/or mind-body modalities. Narratives of both patients and IO practitioners were analyzed for systematic coding, identifying barriers and advantages of the online treatment program.ResultsNarratives obtained from 30 patients and eight IO-trained practitioners were examined. The patients had undergone 169 online IO sessions with a total of 327 IO interventions during the 3-month study period. Patient narratives included reflections on both non-specific effects (e.g., less of a “sense of isolation”) and specific QoL-related outcomes with the online intervention. IO practitioner narratives focused on barriers to providing manual-movement and mind-body modalities, suggesting practical recommendations on how to address specific QoL-related outcomes using the online IO “toolbox.”ConclusionsEffective online IO practitioner-guided treatments are feasible and may induce both specific and non-specific QoL-related effects. Future research needs to explore online IO interventions for additional situations in which access to IO care is limited.

Resisting to Dystopias of Bodily Control

Dance training aims for a utopia of bodily control in order to develop an artistic expression through movement. The dancer seeks to control their body according to the values and aesthetics intrinsic to the training methodology. The urge of control has always been something very keen to humankind but also very sensitive and ambiguous. Different methodologies of such modes of control reflect not only different aesthetics, but also different values and visions of the living body. They are not innocuous physical training but transformative practices of the self in relation to the world. Therefore, such utopia raises critical questions: What is the nature of (self-)control envisioned within dance trainings? What aesthetic values form the horizon of a training process and how does its transformative power operate? This paper departs from a personal experiential process to expose a critical perspective on the practice of bodily control developed by some dance trainings. Such perspective is conceived through an interrelation between traditional ballet training with the state of anorexia nervosa/bulimia, which is counterpointed by somatic dance training. Grounded on an empirical understanding this is a practitioner narrative about utopian dance training and a manifesto against any practice of control that becomes a dystopia of oppression and annihilation of the fundamental knowledge intrinsic to the living body. Instead it cries out for a new perspective on the notion of control. Control needs to be perceived as a practice of deep understanding of the nature of the living body, as a condition of the body–world transformative process.

“The land is a healer”: Perspectives on land-based healing from Indigenous practitioners in northern Canada

This research paper articulates a largely undefined cultural concept within mental health promotion and intervention, described as ‘land-based’ healing, which has been understood and taught for millennia by Indigenous knowledge holders. This knowledge is currently being revitalized by northern practitioners where ‘land’ is understood as a relational component of healing and wellbeing. Land-based activities such as harvesting, education, ceremony, recreation, and cultural-based counselling are all components of this integrative practice. Land-based practices are centered in Indigenous pedagogy and recognize that cultural identity is interwoven with and connected to ‘land.’ Directly cultivating this fundamental relationship, as assessed through a culturally relevant lens, increases positive mental health and wellness outcomes in Indigenous populations. In this study, qualitative narrative methods were used to document the experiences of eleven land-based program practitioners from the three northern territories in Canada. As experts in this field, practitioners’ narratives emphasized the need for a greater understanding and recognition of the value of land-based practices and programs within mainstream health. The development of working definitions, terminology, and framing of land-based practice as a common field are delineated from relevant literature and practitioner narratives in order to enable cross-cultural communication and understanding in psychology. Land-based healing is presented as a critical and culturally appropriate solution for mental health intervention and community resilience in northern Canada.

Joining the dots: Day to day challenges for practitioners in delivering integrated dementia care.

Despite the increasing policy focus on integrated dementia care in the UK, little is known about the opportunities and challenges encountered by practitioners charged with implementing these policies on the ground. We undertook an extensive, mixed-methods analysis of how a contemporary multidisciplinary dementia pathway in the UK was experienced and negotiated by service providers. Our pragmatic mixed methods design incorporated three types of research interaction with practitioners: (a) Semi-structured interviews (n=31) and focus group discussions (n=4), (b) Practitioner 'shadowing' observations (n=19), and (c) Service attendance and performance metrics reviews (n=8). Through an abductive analysis of practitioner narratives and practice observations, we evidenced how inter-practitioner prejudices, restrictive and competitive commissioning frameworks, barriers to effective data sharing and other resource constraints, all challenged integrative dementia care and led to unintended consequences such as practice overlap and failure to identify and respond to people's needs. In order to more successfully realise integrated dementia pathways, we propose innovative commissioning frameworks which purposefully seek to diffuse power imbalances, encourage inter-provider respect and understanding, and determine clear lines of responsibility.

Barriers and solutions: Australian Indigenous practitioners on addressing disproportionate representation of Indigenous Australian children known to statutory child protection

The rate of Indigenous child removal in Australia has been referred to as an epidemic. With numbers predicted to increase in the near to medium future exploring alternative ways to engage Indigenous children and families is critical. This article outlines the views of Indigenous practitioners collected as part of a doctoral study exploring the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners who undertake child protection work in Australia. Practitioner narratives were elicited by way of qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews. The narratives of practitioners identify barriers in contemporary statutory child protection practices that may contribute to the disproportionate representation of Indigenous children in the statutory child protection system. Potential solutions offered by practitioners including cultural supervision for non-Indigenous practitioners are also outlined. The narratives of participants indicate that Indigenous practitioner-led policy, practice, training and programme design is critical to addressing the escalating rates of Indigenous child removal in Australia.