ABSTRACT

This study explores trauma-informed practices within courtroom settings in a Midwestern state, comparing urban and rural judicial districts through in-depth field observations. Using a semi-structured observational approach, we examined courtroom dynamics, environmental factors, and community influences to assess how trauma-informed design principles are applied. Our findings reveal notable contrasts: rural courtrooms grappled with resource limitations and conservative cultural influences, while urban settings displayed a fast-paced, often impersonal atmosphere. Socio-political factors, such as community values and political symbolism, emerged as significant influences on courtroom practices, shaping the receptiveness and implementation of trauma-informed approaches. Guided by Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis framework, we identified themes including resource constraints, courtroom decorum, community socio-political influences, and privacy considerations. The study highlights the need for adaptive trauma-informed policies and judicial training that account for socio-cultural differences, advocating for increased support to rural jurisdictions to enhance the implementation of trauma-informed judicial practices

Keywords: trauma-informed, courtroom, rural and urban, field observations

ABSTRACT

In the face of increasing major emergencies, higher education administrators must strategically recalibrate institutional policies and leadership practices to enhance resilience. While contemporary scholarship underscores the pivotal role of leaders in fostering resilience, further evidence is needed to understand this relationship within higher education, and the impact of department chairs on faculty resilience remains underexplored. This phenomenological study utilized semi-structured interviews with full-time instructional faculty to explore faculty's lived experiences during recurring traumatic events, COVID-19 and Hurricane Ian, at a public university in Southwest Florida, achieving data saturation through the depth and richness of the interviews. Themes emerged through constant comparative thematic analysis, revealing the significant role of department chairs in fostering faculty resilience. Positive leadership support strengthened resilience and community cohesion, while inadequate support weakened the relationship between faculty and the institution, thus impacting the resilience of the faculty and organization. These themes underscore the need for academic leaders to develop strategies that bolster faculty support, positioning department chairs as central to fostering and cultivating resilience in higher education.

Keywords: COVID-19, faculty, department chair, Hurricane Ian, resilience

ABSTRACT

In recent years, researchers have debated the extent to which practitioners of poetic inquiry should feel obligated to generate text that excels both as research and as poetry. This article enters the debate by tracing changes made to a ‘found’ research poem. I generated the poem from excerpts taken from participants’ writings and then employed a series of revision techniques: from Saunders’ informal method to a more orthodox checklist constructed from the recommendations of a range of poets, and, finally, in response to critiques from members of a writing group. The focus of this process was to find the point at which the product became appreciably better than the original draft but also stayed true to the participants’ meaning and language. I argue here that extensive revision may enhance the quality of a research poem, but remaining close to participants’ intent and wording should be the first and foremost methodological goal. Although a number of previous articles have referenced the ‘quality’ debate, none, to my knowledge, have systematically tracked the process of analysis and draft improvement. The work will be of interest to readers because the article explores the choices and obligations faced by researchers employing this method.

Keywords: Writing, poetic inquiry, qualitative research

ABSTRACT

It is asked how, if at all, can anecdotal evidence help us understand human thinking and behavior? First, the early views about anecdotal evidence are charted. Second, specific ways anecdotal evidence is used or could be, in conjunction with quantitative studies, independently, or for fields that require subjective self-understanding, running the gamut from economics to teaching, to medicine, to literature, are delved into. Finally, the ways in which anecdotal evidence can be used in scientific inquiry are summarized.

Keywords: Anecdotal evidence, narrative inquiry, qualitative research, rationality

ABSTRACT

Primary care offers an ideal setting to address the effects of systemic racism that contribute to behavioral health disparities for patients who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). However, addressing barriers to equitable care requires understanding how culture may influence primary care physicians’ (PCPs’) approach to behavioral health. Using a phenomenological method with semi-structured interviews of six PCPs, we explored culture’s role in screening, diagnosing, and treating behavioral health conditions in BIPOC patients. Transcript coding and analysis revealed seven themes surrounding culture that influence PCPs’ approach to behavioral health. Findings showed that culture is multi-faceted; race is one of many in a network of factors that PCPs consider when collaborating with patients to make treatment decisions. Achieving equitable health for all persons will require understanding covert and overt factors at each level of the system that, if not accounted for, exacerbate the marginalization of BIPOC patients.

Keywords: Cultural competency, health inequities, mental health, minority health, primary care

ABSTRACT

Both the recorded prevalence of moral distress among health and social service professionals (HSSPs) as well as the health needs of an increasingly older homeless population warrants further examination of how HSSPs experience and navigate moral distress when working with patients concurrently facing serious illness and homelessness. Through I-poems and iterative thematic analysis of 30 interviews, this study identified: (1) expectations versus reality, in which professionals contrasted advertised duties with actual tasks; (2) helplessness facing care constraints—felt experiences of powerlessness given current programming and funding; (3) disconnect from service users, how moral distress prompted bias in care decisions and avoidant behaviors in client interaction; and (4) reconciliation through community, or the social strategies professionals used to cope with or resolve moral distress. Findings from this study emphasize the importance of continued interventions for workforce development, adaptations to models of serious illness care for specialized populations, and efforts to create labor equity among healthcare and social services.

Keywords: Moral distress, homelessness, serious illness, healthcare professional, social services

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ABSTRACT

Pressure exists in health services research for teams to collect and synthesize qualitative data rapidly. Lacking is a standard process to aid team-based debriefings during the early stages of data collection in real time. We propose a systematic team-based process and template for use during the data collection phase of qualitative studies and demonstrate the utility of the approach using a Veteran’s Administration evaluation study. Guided Team Discussion (GTD) can improve the efficiency of team debriefing through a facilitated process that standardizes discussion format and sharing of learnings amongst the team on recently completed interviews. Notetaking of team debriefings is facilitated by the GTD template, which links team discussions to particular interviews and study time points. The GTD would be useful to researchers and clinicians who conduct health services studies with qualitative methods that require rapid recruitment and synthesis of results and to standardize notetaking of team debriefings.

Keywords: Interview debrief, team analysis, qualitative methods, template, reflexivity