Some people find it hard to believe that qualitative research is a relatively recent invention. Given how ubiquitous it is in healthcare research today, it's hard to imagine that it only really came into existence in the 1980s. Prior to that, most research that was broadly humanistic came under the umbrella of sociology or philosophy. But these approaches tended to be either densely theoretical or quantitative, as in the case of classical sociology. The domain that came to be known as qualitative research emerged largely from critical theory and came into existence as an attempt to codify a set of methodological approaches that could capture the kinds of phenomena that gave it a rapid and … [Read more...] about Going beyond qualitative research
Physiotherapy fix-ation
"There's a great, probably apocryphal story about the noted psychotherapist Wilfred Bion (pron. bee-on), who when confronted by a patient who wanted simple answers to her problems, said: "I don't know why you're getting so angry, I wasn't trying to help you". Such stories seem at odds to the way you should behave as a healthcare worker, perhaps because we are conditioned to think that our response to patient's problems should always be to look for a solution; to fix or cure them; to return them to (their) normal; to rehabilitate or restore them. Our whole approach to physiotherapy is especially teleological, with a defined goal or end in mind.* And we define our success by outcome … [Read more...] about Physiotherapy fix-ation
Divorce rates among physiotherapists
This isn't the kind of material this blog usually deals with, but there's something fascinating in this recent report from Nathan Yau at flowingdata.com. The report looks at divorce statistics across different occupational groups and shows some interesting things about physical therapists in the United States. How much the findings can be extrapolated to other populations is debatable, but my sense is that there are some sociological principles at play here: perhaps about the linkage between one's profession, education and income and life fulfillment, that needs to be considered. The first set of data looks at divorce rates by occupation, and physical therapists come out with some of … [Read more...] about Divorce rates among physiotherapists
