The appropriateness and use of focus group methodology across international mental health communities

The ability to interpret collected data across international mental health communities often proves to be difficult. The following paper reports on the use and appropriateness of focus group methodology in helping to Clarify issues that could help substantiate data collection and comparison across different cultures and regions. Field tests of the focus group methodology were undertaken in different regions and this paper describes an overview of the final field test in Sofia, Bulgaria. The findings and experiences with utilizing this methodology were incorporated in subsequent data collections.

eHealth as a challenge to `expert' power: a focus group study of internet use for health information and management

Objective To investigate current use of the internet and eHealth amongst adults. Design Focus groups were conducted to explore participants' attitudes to and reasons for health internet use. Main outcome measures The focus group data were analysed and interpreted using thematic analysis. Results Three superordinate themes exploring eHealth behaviours were identified: decline in expert authority, pervasiveness of health information on the internet and empowerment. Results showed participants enjoyed the immediate benefits of eHealth information and felt empowered by increased knowledge, but they would be reluctant to lose face-to-face consultations with their GP. Conclusions Our findings illustrate changes in patient identity and a decline in expert authority with ramifications for the practitioner–patient relationship and subsequent implications for health management more generally.

Focus group method and methodology:current practice and recent debate

This paper considers the contemporary use of focus groups as a method of data collection within qualitative research settings. The authors draw upon their own experiences of using focus groups in educational and 'community' user-group environments in order to provide an overview of recent issues and debates surrounding the deployment of focus group methods and to pick out specific areas of contention in relation to both their epistemological and practical implications. Accordingly, the paper reflects on some of the realities of 'doing' focus groups whilst, at the same time, highlighting common problems and dilemmas which beginning researchers might encounter in their application. In turn, the paper raises a number of related issues around which there appears to have been a lack of academic discussion to date.

Patient involvement in primary care mental health:a focus group study

Background: Patient involvement in health care is a strong political driver in the NHS. However in spite of policy prominence, there has been only limited previous work exploring patient involvement for people with serious mental illness. Aim: To describe the views on, potential for, and types of patient involvement in primary care from the perspectives of primary care health professionals and patients with serious mental illness. Design of study: Qualitative study consisting of six patient, six health professional and six combined focus groups between May 2002 and January 2003. Setting: Six primary care trusts in the West Midlands, England. Method: Forty-five patients with serious mental illness, 39 GPs, and eight practice nurses participated in a series of 18 focus groups. All focus groups were audiotaped and fully transcribed. Nvivo was used to manage data more effectively. Results: Most patients felt that only other people with lived experience of mental illness could understand what they were going through. This experience could be used to help others navigate the health- and social-care systems, give advice about medication, and offer support at times of crisis. Many patients also saw paid employment within primary care as a way of addressing issues of poverty and social exclusion. Health professionals were, however, more reluctant to see patients as partners, be it in the consultation or in service delivery. Conclusions: Meaningful change in patient involvement requires commitment and belief from primary care practitioners that the views and experiences of people with serious mental illness are valid and valuable.

Patients' and health professionals' views on primary care for people with serious mental illness:focus group study

Objective: To explore the experience of providing and receiving primary care from the perspectives of primary care health professionals and patients with serious mental illness respectively. Design: Qualitative study consisting of six patient groups, six health professional groups, and six combined focus groups. Setting: Six primary care trusts in the West Midlands. Participants: Forty five patients with serious mental illness, 39 general practitioners (GPs), and eight practice nurses. Results: Most health professionals felt that the care of people with serious mental illness was too specialised for primary care. However, most patients viewed primary care as the cornerstone of their health care and preferred to consult their own GP, who listened and was willing to learn, rather than be referred to a different GP with specific mental health knowledge. Swift access was important to patients, with barriers created by the effects of the illness and the noisy or crowded waiting area. Some patients described how they exaggerated symptoms ("acted up") to negotiate an urgent appointment, a strategy that was also employed by some GPs to facilitate admission to secondary care. Most participants felt that structured reviews of care had value. However, whereas health professionals perceived serious mental illness as a lifelong condition, patients emphasised the importance of optimism in treatment and hope for recovery. Conclusions: Primary care is of central importance to people with serious mental illness. The challenge for health professionals and patients is to create a system in which patients can see a health professional when they want to without needing to exaggerate their symptoms. The importance that patients attach to optimism in treatment, continuity of care, and listening skills compared with specific mental health knowledge should encourage health professionals in primary care to play a greater role in the care of patients with serious mental illness.

Perspective of nurses involved in an action-research study on the changes observed in care provision: results from a focus group

Background According to the Nursing Role Effectiveness Model, the structural components (nurses, patients, organizational variables) may directly BMC Health Services Research 2016, Volume 16 Suppl 3 Page 41 of 132 or indirectly influence the care outcomes through the process (actions developed by the nurses). Objectives: To identify the changes that, from the nurses' perspective, occurred during the provision of care to patients with peripheral venous catheters (PVCs) between the first and the second phase of the Action-Research (AR) study, and the components that influenced these changes. Methods During the second phase of the AR study (December, 2011), a focus group composed of six nurses was held at a medicine unit of a central hospital. A script was used with six open-ended questions. All ethical procedures were followed. Results Positive changes in nursing care provision to patients with PVCs were identified related to the type of dressing used, patient monitoring, aseptic care, and infusion rate. The nurses believed that some variables of the organizational component influenced those changes, such as the centralization of the material used for catheterization or the availability of materials, such as transparent dressings. The nurses also valued the following aspects: knowledge of the research findings of the first phase; training sessions on the topic; and, above all, the nurses' engagement throughout the process of change in care provision. Conclusions Considering the model of analysis used, we found that the changes identified in nursing care resulted from several factors, with the engagement of the professionals themselves in the change process being considered a key aspect.

The italian translation of allusive jokes from three american sitcoms: A focus group analysis

The translation of allusions has presented an issue for translators, in a trend that has seen a shift in translation studies to a more culture-oriented perspective. “Allusion” is defined by doctor Ritva Leppihalme as a culture-bound element that is expected to convey a meaning that goes beyond the mere words used and can only be accurately translated through knowledge of both the source and target culture. Allusions in comedy, and more specifically, allusive jokes, can pose an additional challenge to translators, since failing to translate them in a satisfactory way, can lead to unfunny and puzzling results that completely miss the original comedic value of the allusion itself. For the purposes of this dissertation, an experiment, based on the one done by doctor Ritva Leppihalme, was conducted: a focus group consisting of eight people from different socio-demographic groups was asked to discuss three comedic scenes, translated in Italian, containing an allusive joke, from three different American sitcoms: Community, The Office, and Superstore. The purpose of this research was to find the best and most effective strategies, according to the average Italian viewer, to translate in Italian allusive jokes from the American culture and the English language. The participants were asked to state if they understood the translated joke, and if they did, to rate how funny they found it, and to discuss among themselves on possible reasons for their responses, and on possible alternative solutions. The results seem to indicate that the best course of action involves choices that stray from a literal translation of the words used, by changing items that need a deeper knowledge of the source culture to be understood and therefore cause hilarity, with items more familiar to the target culture. The worst possible solutions seem to be ones that focus on the literal translation of the words used without considering the cultural and situational context of the allusion.

Pedagogia do esporte : organização, sistematização, aplicação e avaliação de conteúdos esportivos na educação não formal = Sport pedagogy : organization, systematization and application of sports content in non-formal education

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Educação em consumo, na linguagem dos quadrinhos : uma análise crítica da revista Turma da Mônica Jovem

Criada em agosto de 2008, a revista em quadrinhos “Turma da Mônica Jovem”, ou TMJ, como é conhecida por seus leitores, tem estilo mangá e traz os mesmos personagens moradores do bairro Limoeiro, agora, adolescentes e com características bem distintas da turma tradicional. A presente pesquisa procurou desenvolver uma análise crítica de TMJ, dentro dos pressupostos teóricos e metodológicos da semiótica discursiva, buscando responder as questões: como a problemática do consumo é apropriada pela revista? Que estratégias enunciativas são utilizadas para inscrever o público infantojuvenil em seu discurso? A revisão de literatura faz uma triangulação dos conceitos norteadores do estudo: Quadrinhos, Consumo Infantil e Semiótica, trazendo, no centro do triângulo, a Educação, área de conhecimento principal da pesquisa e conectora dos três outros campos. Realizamos uma análise semiótica de um corpus composto por sete edições de TMJ que trouxeram como tema principal problemática relacionada à sociedade de consumo contemporânea, a partir de um universo de revistas publicadas, no período de 2012 a 2014. Dentre as categorias de consumo pré-estabelecidas ou que emergiram do discurso de TMJ, contemplamos: o consumo consciente, o consumo conspícuo, o consumo moralista e o consumo de cultura midiática. Por meio da técnica do grupo focal, desenvolvemos uma conversa com os leitores de TMJ, buscando entender como se dá a apreensão da problemática do consumo por eles, bem como que impactos essa apreensão tem para uma maior atratividade da publicação, dentre outros objetivos específicos investigados, nesse encontro. Durante a realização de três grupos, intitulados Leitores Iniciantes, Leitores Assíduos e Leitores Esporádicos, os agrupamos em duas categorias relacionadas ao campo do consumo e, também, da semiótica. O grupo do Pertencimento conhece e interage com a revista, em profundidade, promovendo um ajuste de sensibilidade entre o enunciatário (leitor) e o enunciador (revista), com características do “parecer ser e ser”. O grupo da Emulação deseja pertencer ao grupo dos leitores assíduos, mas como não possui as características para tal, as busca por meio da imitação, dentro de um regime do “parecer ser, mas não ser”. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam que o consumo está muito presente em TMJ, tendo aparecido como temática principal, em mais da metade das revistas analisadas. Ainda, ele pode ser considerado como tema central das histórias da turma, principalmente, no momento em que a revista utiliza sua plasticidade, na figurativização dos personagens e ambientes das histórias, para difundir um mundo de consumo a essas crianças e adolescentes leitores. Embora as revistas que se enquadraram nas categorias de consumo consciente e consumo moralista busquem passar alguns conselhos e ensinamentos para seus leitores, são as categorias de consumo conspícuo e consumo de cultura midiática, tratadas de forma pouco crítica e, por vezes, irresponsável que possuem maior grau de apreensão por parte do leitor, conferindo atratividade à revista. Entre outras conclusões, podemos afirmar que o discurso de TMJ se utiliza de narrativas simples (lineares e pouco complexas), bem como de uma figuratividade e de temáticas repetitivas, oferecendo a seus leitores pouco debate e reflexão, sendo um discurso da reprodução, sem aprofundamento, do dia-a-dia dessas crianças e adolescentes que, apesar de falar delas e para elas, não inclui muitas temáticas relevantes ao seu universo.

Metamorfoses em espelho de água : identidade, perfil, contextos e mudança nas (auto)representações dos professores

RESUMO: Nos últimos trinta anos, em Portugal, ocorreram processos de democratização política e de modernização da sociedade e das instituições, tendo como impulso as vontades nacionais e as mudanças ocorridas no Mundo em globalização, lideradas, no campo da educação, por agentes como a OCDE ou o Banco Mundial, e pela integração de Portugal na União Europeia. À implementação da(s) reforma(s), correspondeu uma mudança de paradigma educativo e organizacional, a criação de uma escola para todos, a emergência de novos alunos e de novos mandatos à Escola, a contingência de novas respostas educativas. Tais reformas constituiram instrumentos de mudança das organizações escolares e do sistema educativo, mas também do que significa ser professor, reformulando o desempenho e a “performatividade” docente (Ball, 2002), induzindo uma nova “identidade social” (Bernstein, 1996 e Dubar, 2006), produzindo novos modos de “fabricação da alma dos professores” (Foucault, 1996). Neste sentido, a autora procurou analisar, numa perspectiva crítica, as representações de professores do Ensino Básico, sobre os mecanismos de (re)configuração das suas identidades/perfis profissionais, recorrendo a uma investigação qualitativa descritiva, que privilegia a análise de conteúdo dos seus discursos sobre o tema, recolhidos segundo a técnica focus group. O estudo indiciou que os alunos são factor de realização, de risco e de mudança do perfil docente, actuando como uma quinta dimensão da (re)construção identitária dos Professores, a par da formação, do associativismo, do Estado e do Mercado, constituindo factor importante a ter em conta nos estudos sobre identidade docente. ABSTRACT: In the past thirty years, in Portugal, radical changes on politics and policies have been occurring, to achive the society and its institutions democratization and modernization, led by national wills and the changes occured in the World, stimulated, in the Education area, by global agencies like OECD, or the World Bank, and the integration of Portugal in the European Union. These reforms are connected to a new educational and organizational paradigm, the creation of a school for all, the emergence of new pupils, new demands to School and teachers, the imperative of new pedagogical solutions for educational problems, and are not only changing instruments in schools and in the educational system, but are also a powerful way to change “what to be a teacher” means, to re-formulate the teaching performance and “performativity” (Ball, 2002), to recompose his/her “social identity” (Bernstein, 1996; Dubar, 2006), or, in Michel Foucault (1996) words, to produce “new ways to manufacture teachers soul”. In this sense, the author intended to analyze, on a critical perspective, the representations of portuguese teachers of basic education (K12), on the mechanisms of (re)configuration of their professional identities/profiles, appealing to a qualitative descriptive research, which privileges the analysis of content of their speeches on the subject, collected according to the focus group technique, what, in its development, was brought near a circle of culture (in the sense of Paulo Freire‟s pedagogy). At least, pupils are the most important references and motivation to teachers changes, reflecting professional satisfaction and well done, but also risk, acting like a fifth dimension of teachers identity (re)construction, together with training, associative involvement, State and Market, and they must be considered on teatching identity studies.

Instrumentos de apoio à gestão estratégica e ao desempenho organizacional dos fisioterapeutas em unidades privadas de fisioterapia

Mestrado em Intervenção Sócio-Organizacional na Saúde - Área de especialização: Políticas de Administração e Gestão de Serviços de Saúde.

Expert opinion on best practice guidelines and competency framework for visual screening in children

PURPOSE: Screening programs to detect visual abnormalities in children vary among countries. The aim of this study is to describe experts' perception of best practice guidelines and competency framework for visual screening in children. METHODS: A qualitative focus group technique was applied during the Portuguese national orthoptic congress to obtain the perception of an expert panel of 5 orthoptists and 2 ophthalmologists with experience in visual screening for children (mean age 53.43 years, SD ± 9.40). The panel received in advance a script with the description of three tuning competencies dimensions (instrumental, systemic, and interpersonal) for visual screening. The session was recorded in video and audio. Qualitative data were analyzed using a categorical technique. RESULTS: According to experts' views, six tests (35.29%) have to be included in a visual screening: distance visual acuity test, cover test, bi-prism or 4/6(Δ) prism, fusion, ocular movements, and refraction. Screening should be performed according to the child age before and after 3 years of age (17.65%). The expert panel highlighted the influence of the professional experience in the application of a screening protocol (23.53%). They also showed concern about the false negatives control (23.53%). Instrumental competencies were the most cited (54.09%), followed by interpersonal (29.51%) and systemic (16.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Orthoptists should have professional experience before starting to apply a screening protocol. False negative results are a concern that has to be more thoroughly investigated. The proposed framework focuses on core competencies highlighted by the expert panel. Competencies programs could be important do develop better screening programs.