Depression embodied: an ambiguous striving against fading Louise Danielsson and Susanne Rosberg Although depression is associated to physical discomfort, meanings of the body in depression are rarely addressed in clinical research. Drawing on the concept of the lived body, this study explores depression as an embodied phenomenon. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, the analysis of narrative-based interviews with 11 depressed adults discloses a thematic structure of an embodied process of an ambiguous striving against fading. Five subthemes elicit different dimensions of this process, interpreted as disabling or enabling: feeling estranged, feeling confined, feeling … [Read more...] about Critical physiotherapy research update
Critical physiotherapy research update
Lived Observations: Linking the Researcher’s Personal Experiences to Knowledge Development Lisbeth Thoresen & Joakim Öhlén As researchers in palliative care, we recognize how involvement with seriously ill and dying persons has an impact on us. Using one’s own senses, emotional and bodily responses in observations might open intersubjective dimensions of the research topic. The aim of the article is to highlight how phenomenological theories on intersubjectivity can be useful to develop rich and transparent data generation and analysis. We present three field note examples from observation in a hospice ward, which illuminate how researcher awareness of aspects of intersubjectivity can … [Read more...] about Critical physiotherapy research update
Re-inventing artisans for 21st century health care
Each day over the next week I'll post up an abstract for a paper being presented by a member of the Critical Physiotherapy Network at the In Sickness and In Health conference in Mallorca in June 2015. (You can find more information on the conference here.) Re-inventing artisans for 21st century health care By David Nicholls Calls for health professionals to be more than ‘technical rationalists’ have been prominent in professionalization literature for more than half a century. Professions with a strong history of skills-based competence have struggled more than most to respond to these calls. Those that have been heavily influenced by biomedical discourses - professions like … [Read more...] about Re-inventing artisans for 21st century health care
Interpersonal relationships and policy workarounds: Using theories of practice to examine patient transitions from hospital to home
Each day over the next week I'll post up an abstract for a paper being presented by a member of the Critical Physiotherapy Network at the In Sickness and In Health conference in Mallorca in June 2015. (You can find more information on the conference here.) Interpersonal relationships and policy workarounds: Using theories of practice to examine patient transitions from hospital to home By Jay Shaw, Pia Kontos, Wendy Martin and Christina Victor The advancement of neo-liberal policy initiatives and large-scale austerity measures has created intense challenges for health and social care systems around the world. This is particularly the case in England, where the National Health Service has … [Read more...] about Interpersonal relationships and policy workarounds: Using theories of practice to examine patient transitions from hospital to home
Is behaviourism the future for physiotherapy?
Yesterday, I took part in one of the regular and always enjoyable Physiotalk Tweet Chats (#physiotalk). This one was on the role of physiotherapy in exercise prescription. As usual, the discussion ranged widely over all sorts of topics: whether physiotherapists were experts in exercise prescription and what needs to be taught in the UG curriculum not being the least of them. One thing that came through strongly was a desire to manage the client/patient's behaviour. Words like adherence, compliance and motivation kept coming up and people seemed to recognise that all the skill in the world wouldn't matter to the therapist if the patient didn't engage. As someone who's read their fair … [Read more...] about Is behaviourism the future for physiotherapy?
Critical physiotherapy curios – updates, ideas and new postings
Research We have to start with this. WCPT has published a list of the 15 most influential trials in physical therapy. I loved the fact that they used a qualitative process to ascertain which blinded, controlled and randomised clinical trial they found most influential. No hint of irony there then! Fatemeh Rabiee, Anne Robbins and Maryam Khan's article in Health Education Journal Gym for Free: The short-term impact of an innovative public health policy on the health and wellbeing of residents in a deprived constituency in Birmingham, UK is well worth a look if you're interested in how community-based health interventions might work for people in marginalised communities. A paper … [Read more...] about Critical physiotherapy curios – updates, ideas and new postings
Connectivity – Contributions from the Network #9 – Naomi Eisenberg
Thanks to everyone who sent me comments and thoughts on the Connectivity writing project. Over the next few days I'll post up some of the feedback and thoughts that these pieces. Remember to send comments on these things too and I'll pull them all together. This post came from Naomi Eisenberg Departments of Allied Health and Vascular Surgery, University Health Network, Toronto and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Naomi Eisenberg Well, I think that a logical critique of the medical model could evolve from Foucault and his thoughts on the medical gaze…in The Birth of the Clinic he writes of how the patient is … [Read more...] about Connectivity – Contributions from the Network #9 – Naomi Eisenberg