Interprofessional practice: the path toward openness.

This article seeks to shed light on the meanings healthcare practitioners attach to practicing interprofessionally and how interprofessional relationships play out in "everyday" practice. It draws on findings from a hermeneutic phenomenological study of health professionals' lived experience of practice, interpreted in relation to Martin Heidegger's concept of a path through the dense forest which leads to an open space where there is no predefined path to follow. Analysis of data from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 health professionals from medicine, midwifery, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and social work suggests that health practitioners come upon the clearing having walked their own track toward practicing interprofessionally.

The History of Allied Health: An International Perspective.

The term allied health is not an uncommon one within the healthcare lexicon. However, the derivation and meaning of the term sit within the murkiness of history, making relevance in the current context perplexing. This article sets out to explore the origins of the term, and in turn how the term and its associated meaning have developed internationally.

The making of occupation-based models and diagrams: History and semiotic analysis.

Background.: Models provide a structure for organizing knowledge and facilitating learning and are upheld by occupational therapy as epitomizing the cornerstones of its practice.

Purpose.

Interprofessional practice: beyond competence.

Interprofessional practice is commonly discussed in the literature in terms of competencies. In this study we move away from the theoretical notions of criteria, concepts and guidelines to adopt an ontological approach which seeks to stay as close to the lived experience as possible. Our research asked 12 participants from a variety of health disciplines to tell their stories of working interprofessionally.

Working in a spirit of interprofessional practice: a hermeneutic phenomenological study.

Interprofessional practice is recognized as essential to providing patient-centered, collaborative and high quality care, contributing to optimal health outcomes. Understandings of how best to cultivate practitioners able to 'be' and 'become' interprofessional remain problematic. To advance that understanding, this hermeneutic phenomenological study addressed the question: 'What are health professionals' experiences of working with people from other disciplines?' In-depth, semi structured interviews with 12 health professionals from nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, medicine, social work, and midwifery were undertaken using a conversation style.

The unsustainability of occupational based model diagrams.

Occupation-based models are generic explanations of occupational engagement. Their associated diagrams are conceptual tools that represent the key concepts and their interrelationships, which have withstood substantial shifts in the profession's knowledge base and scope over the last 30-40 years. We aim to bring into question the sustainability of the diagrams used to represent models.

Action research and millennials: Improving pedagogical approaches to encourage critical thinking.

Background: This article examines the effects of intergenerational diversity on pedagogical practice in nursing education. While generational cohorts are not entirely homogenous, certain generational features do emerge. These features may require alternative approaches in educational design in order to maximize learning for millennial students.

Unsettling moods in rural midwifery practice.

Background: Rural midwifery and maternity care is vulnerable due to geographical isolation, staffing recruitment and retention. Highlighting the concerns within rural midwifery is important for safe sustainable service delivery.

Method: Hermeneutic phenomenological study undertaken in New Zealand (NZ).

Crafting Stories in Hermeneutic Phenomenology Research: A Methodological Device.

Hermeneutic phenomenology, as a methodology, is not fixed. Inherent in its enactment are contested areas of practice such as how interview data are used and reported. Using philosophical notions drawn from hermeneutic phenomenological literature, we argue that working with crafted stories is congruent with the philosophical underpinnings of this methodology.

Real life narratives enhance learning about the 'art and science' of midwifery practice.

Health professional educators have long grappled with how to teach the more elusive art of practice alongside the science (a term that encompasses the sort of professional knowledge that can be directly passed on). A competent practitioner is one who knows when, how and for whom to apply knowledge and skills, thereby making the links between theory and practice. They combine art and science in such a way that integrates knowledge with insight.

The sounds of silence-a hermeneutic interpretation of childbirth post excision.

Four women who had been excised were interviewed about their experiences of giving birth. Using hermeneutic phenomenology we analyzed their narratives to more fully understand their experiences of childbirth in the context of excision. Childbirth is characterized by silence related to excision.

Mood and birth experience.

Background: Those at the birth of a baby sometimes speak of the experience as significant and meaningful; an experience in which there is an atmosphere or mood that surrounds the occasion. This paper explores this mood, its recognition, disclosure and how we attune or not to it. The paper is philosophically underpinned by hermeneutic phenomenology.

A phenomenological study of occupational engagement in recovery from mental illness.

Background: Recovery from mental illness has been described as a process involving personal growth and a search for meaning. Occupation is a primary medium for human development as well as the creation of life meaning, suggesting the exploration of recovery from an occupational perspective is warranted.

Purpose: To explore the experience and meaning of occupation for 713 people who self-identified as being in recovery from mental illness.

Exploring the meaning of occupation: the case for phenomenology.

Background: Some authors are beginning to challenge current categorisations of occupation as self-care, productivity, and leisure in favour of categories that address meaning. However, the meaning of occupation receives relatively little attention in the literature.

Purpose: To provide a synthesis of the contemporary literature that considers the meaning of occupation and to argue that phenomenological insights into the meaning of occupation might usefully inform occupational therapy research, theory, and practice.

Ankle sprains: patient perceptions of function and performance of physical tasks. A mixed methods approach.

Purpose: To investigate patient's perceptions of function and performance of physical tasks after discharge from treatment for an ankle sprain.

Methods: Using a mixed methods approach, 40 participants who presented with an acute sprained ankle and their treating clinicians completed two questionnaires related to function at the start and end of a rehabilitation programme. Additionally, participants completed the questionnaires at 6 weeks following discharge at which time they also performed physical tasks that were still perceived as difficult.

Re-collecting and 'thinking' the story of New Zealand's postgraduate nursing scholarship development.

Nursing in New Zealand has undergone a rapid rise of postgraduate scholarly development over the past four decades. Early nurse scholars had no choice but to study university papers outside the discipline of nursing. Their reflections show how much their thinking was sparked by such experiences.

Courage as integral to advancing nursing practice.

Courage is an elusive but fundamental component of nursing. Yet it is seldom mentioned in professional texts and other literature nor is it often recognised and supported in practice. This paper focuses on the illumination of courage in nursing.

From experience to definition: addressing the question 'what is qualitative research?'.

Most health professionals today have heard of 'qualitative research' but many remain confused as to what it is and how to go about doing it. In this paper, two experienced qualitative researchers become engaged in conversation exploring the question 'what is qualitative research?' Lynne Giddings and Liz Smythe are Associate Professors in the Faculty of Health & Environmental Sciences at the Auckland University of Technology. They engage a reader in exploring issues such as: What might draw you to qualitative research? How does qualitative research make a difference to practice? How can reading a qualitative research article inform practice? From a qualitative perspective, what is 'truth'? How many participants? What happens to the data? What about the bias of the researcher? Can qualitative findings be trusted? Stories and exemplars are used to highlight the processes and issues involved in undertaking a qualitative research study.