Volume 9, Issue 1

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

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA, 2003) mandates zero-tolerance for sexual assault in prisons. Despite the increase in female inmates, the criminal justice system policies remain male-focused.  This study, stemming from a settlement agreement between the US Department of Justice and a state Department of Corrections, explores female inmates’ perceptions of PREA through three constructs: impressions of (a) PREA, (b) sexual safety, and (c) system efficacy/change. Conducted via Zoom, 44 confidential interviews were analyzed using the constant comparative method.  Findings show most participants indicated PREA is weaponized for retaliation. Future research should examine improvements in response to inmate feedback.

Keywords: Women’s prison, sexual safety, prisoner perceptions, interviews

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

(no abstract)

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

ABSTRACT

Reforming nursing education from a content-heavy, traditional teaching style to a concept-based one has become necessary to meet the constant change in the health care system. However, in general, no studies have been conducted on the lived experiences of faculty members and educators in Canada after years of implementing the concept-based curriculum (CBC). This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to uncover the meaning of the lived experiences of the faculty members and educators after seven years of reforming the nursing curriculum to a concept-based one. Giorgi's phenomenological descriptive method was used to collect data using semi-structured interviews with three doctoral-prepared faculty members and two master-prepared educators who teach in the undergraduate nursing program at Cape Breton University, Canada. The recorded data was transcribed verbatim and analyzed and synthesized using Giorgi's five data analysis steps. The findings of this study revealed that the nursing educators indicated they had challenging experiences teaching CBC. The major  General Structural Descriptions (GSD) that emerged were Rowing Against the Current and Save Us Before We All Drown. The findings were discussed and conceptualized within the relevant literature. This study highlights the challenges nursing educators face when implementing a CBC, including resistance from students and colleagues, increased workload, and concerns about graduate quality. Therefore, a gradual introduction of CBC is recommended, which will help ease the transition for students and educators. Building supportive substructures is also crucial to handle the increased demands and pressures.

Keywords: Concept-based curriculum, nursing, education, learning, phenomenology

ABSTRACT

Nostalgia promotes authenticity and well-being in non-autistic people. We explored whether this also holds true for autistic people, a group who experience reduced authenticity and well-being. We interviewed ten autistic young adults about nostalgic experiences, insights gained into the self, and nostalgia’s well-being benefits. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified three themes: ‘The comfort of nostalgic memories’ included social connectedness and recognizing the self as accepted by others. ‘The hazards of nostalgic feelings’ involved avoiding challenging memories to prevent past sadness from infecting present experiences. ‘Growth and redemption’ involved recognizing self-development and overcoming obstacles.  Despite being a challenging affective experience at times, for reflective participants, engaging in nostalgia brought a number of benefits: boosting mood, promoting feelings of social connectedness, self-esteem, as well as providing insight into the true self.  Nostalgia can be used to enhance authenticity and well-being for autistic people by developing self-understanding and emphasizing the benefits of being open about who one is.

Keywords: Authenticity, autistic, emerging adulthood, nostalgia, self, well-being

ABSTRACT

Using narrative inquiry to understand the stories from 15 PreK-12 and higher education administrators, this article interweaves narrative inquiry, composite characters, and arts-based research. As such, this article presents the composite narratives of the pandemic and its impact on PreK-20 educational leaders as a non-fictional story of two old friends catching up in a speculative future beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. These non-fictional accounts are built upon the pastiche of data shared with the research team to craft a coherent narrative creatively. This composite narrative is presented in the article as a whole story to serve as a blueprint for innovative qualitative methodological explorations that speak both to scholars and practitioners. The experiences of Supe and Dean are two composite characters representing the broad experiences of the administrators from our study. More specifically, Supe(rintendent), represents the collective experiences of our PreK-12 administrators, and Dean (of Students) represents the broad experiences of our higher education administrators. Using the composite narratives of our 8 PreK-12 leaders and our 7 higher education leaders allows us to craft a compelling comparative understanding between educational levels and their national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By engaging in the creative, we not only document the means by which educators have experienced the pandemic, but it also allows us to imagine the outcomes of what could be based on the understandings crafted during these times. 

Keywords: COVID-19, narrative inquiry, composite narrative, arts-based research, educational leadership