Inviting perspective transformation: Sexual history awareness for professional formation

How do we deal with our own sexuality as teachers and as learners in the classroom? As a seminary professor in a mainline Christian context, I find that discussing sexuality increases student discomfort levels by threatening to raise questions about the connections between morality, behavior, and bodies of those in the room – questions we have been culturally trained to avoid. In order to decrease discomfort, many instructors approach sexuality only as content‐based subject matter. Particularly for ministry students, this approach can be a disservice to their discernment process and preparation for future ministry contexts, especially for those in turmoil regarding sexuality‐related issues. By explicitly engaging how personal experience and cultural contexts shape our sexuality, pedagogical models can promote critical self‐reflection and seek perspective transformation, not values change, as a resource for professional sexual ethics training in ministry.     

Practical work in physiotherapy students’ professional development

Learning practical work through cooperation between school and working life is part of physiotherapy higher education. Students learn practical work through the integration of theoretical, practical, tacit and situational knowledge in a socialization process. Workplace practices and habits direct students’ learning. This study answers the question: What kind of conceptions of learning practical work do physiotherapy students have? Longitudinal data written by 21 volunteer students (mean age 25 years) was collected over three and a half years. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Learning practical work proceeds in five phases: (1) the basis of practical work, human movement and action and therapeutic tools is learned at school; (2) the meaning of the profession and practical work takes shape in an interaction with clients and observing how professionals work in real workplaces; (3) the wholeness of the practical work takes shape by gradually participating in the work processes; (4) critical reflection of the work processes – thinking, construction, evaluation and reasoning – develops; and (5) the conception of practical work widens. This study brings new information about learning practical work for developing healthcare education and its curricula. The role of workplaces is huge in learning tacit knowledge of the profession.     

Letter writing as a reflective practice: understanding the shuffling,shifting, and shaping of a researcher identity

This article presents letter writing as a form of arts-based inquiry and reflective practice. The author argues that letter writing can be employed to develop a reflective space for autobiographical reflection. The letter featured here captures and demonstrates the shuffling, shifting, and shaping processes of the author’s researcher identity through letter writing, and is informed by the theoretical underpinnings of reflective practice. It records and investigates the experiences that the author underwent during a compulsory course in the first year of a doctoral program at a North American university. Three interrelated themes are identified in the letter: the researcher identity in crisis, the nature of research, and future researcher identity. It is concluded that letter writing can facilitate the self-evolution, self-introspection, self-awareness, and identity change that emerges with, and through, reflection. Letter writing as a reflective practice offers the benefits of developing self-knowledge, independent thought, critical thinking, and deconstructive understanding of one’s experiences.     

Classroom engagement dynamics: examining the potency of reflective teaching approach among some selected universities in Ghana

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of the use of reflective teaching approach by university lecturers in Ghana to achieve improved student learning outcomes. The research utilised a quantitative survey design involving 180 lecturers who were accidentally or haphazardly selected from four universities in Ghana to complete a reflective teaching survey (RTS) questionnaire. The results showed that participants frequently engaged in varied reflective teaching activities, and were successful in evaluating the effectiveness of their pedagogies. The research concluded that the approach should be an essential component of the teacher performance appraisal system.     

Mental health in retired professional football players: 12-month incidence,adverse life events and support

ObjectivesThe primary aim was to explore the incidence of symptoms of common mental disorders (CMD; distress, sleep disturbance, anxiety/depression, adverse alcohol use) in retired professional football players and to explore the association between adverse life events and the onset of symptoms of CMD. The secondary aim was to get an insight into the views and needs of retired professional football players on medical support related to symptoms of CMD.DesignAn observational prospective cohort study with three measurements over a follow-up period of twelve months was conducted among retired professional football players.MethodThe data for symptoms of CMD and adverse life events was collected by using validated questionnaires. The views and needs were explored by means of five questions.ResultsThe 12-month incidence of symptoms of CMD (self-reported and not clinically diagnosed) ranged from 11 to 29%. Retired professional football players with one or two life events were 1.7 times more likely to report distress than retired football players with no life events. The risk with three or more recent life events on sleep disturbance was more than 4.5 times higher than with no recent life events.ConclusionsThe 12-months incidence of symptoms of CMD in retired professional football players seems high compared to the general population. More life events showed a higher risk of experiencing distress and sleep disturbance in retired professional football players. The views and needs showed that there is a need for support for current and former professional football players.     

The alchemy of facilitation revealed through individual stories and collective narrative

Facilitation is a key ‘ingredient’ in the success and sustainability of communities of practice. Yet, little attention has been given to in situ experiences of facilitators of these communities. This paper takes up the challenge to explore these experiences using reflective stories written by seven TATAL (Talking about Teaching and Learning) facilitators (the authors) from different disciplines in five different Australian universities. The authors’ collaborative analysis of their experiences suggests reframing the role of facilitator to include the role of alchemist, a promoter of transformation. This reframing has the potential to change the way higher education community of practice facilitators think about and enact their role. The story-based reflective process used in this self-study could also be used by facilitators to investigate their own practice, as a component of facilitator education programmes or by academics and researchers in other contexts who seek a participatory, collaborative approach to evaluate their practice.     

Can voicing conflict within experiential learning groups facilitate connection? building and developing effective multi-disciplinary team-working skills

In the UK, Clinical Psychologists (CPs) work in a variety of settings within the National Health Service (NHS), often within Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs). Problem-Based Learning (PBL) within CP training at the University of Hertfordshire (UH) offers unique opportunities to combine scientist-practitioner and reflective-practitioner models to learn about group dynamics from the personal experience of working within an experiential learning group.

Further, given Trainees work three days per week on placement within MDTs in the NHS, the learning gained within a ‘safer’ PBL context can be utilised within these clinical settings. For two years, Trainees at UH have to work in small PBL groups with five or six members learning to work together to achieve a goal (four assessed presentations) negotiating their own personal and professional journey, as well as a group journey. Consequently, PBL offers trainees opportunities to learn (1) how individuals work within a group; (2) how personal experiences influence this process; (3) how others influence them and are influenced by them; and (4) how a group of diverse individuals conceptualise, understand and convey case vignettes to an audience. Within these groups, many Trainees learn to speak out, reflect, listen attentively, empathise, validate and accept diverse experiences. Further, when differences dominate they often learn to negotiate these, finding a way to maintain effective team working in order to complete the presentation. Focusing on the conflict that can occur within (any) group, this paper explores themes from the reflective narratives of six trainees: parallels and differences between MDTs and PBL groups, striving for and achieving authenticity; and conflict as a ‘swear’ word. We conclude that exploring the role PBL can play in training individuals to work effectively in teams may be of benefit within the training of other professional groups.     

Community Involvement and Narrative Identity in Emerging and Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Analysis

This study examines community engagement in youth and emerging adulthood from a narrative identity perspective, based on analyses of a longitudinal data set of 72 participants from ages 17 to 32. At ages 26 and 32, participants told narratives about a key community experience from their personal lives, which was rated for six dimensions. In addition, questionnaire measures of community involvement and general identity status development were administered at ages 17, 26, and 32. We found that patterns of community involvement at age 17 predicted levels of community involvement and qualities of community narratives at ages 26 and 32 and that community narratives were significantly correlated with concurrent measures of identity maturity and community involvement. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.     

Lived Experiences of Men With Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative disorders affect 29% of the clinical population, with women diagnosed 9 times more often than men. For this study, the authors used a phenomenological approach to uncover experiences of 5 men with dissociative identity disorder. Findings revealed 5 themes: history, alters, male gender expectations and identity, challenges, and strengths and support. Implications for practitioners are discussed.