HSC Academics Tackle Topical Humanising Healthcare Debate
1 August 2008
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The aim was to respond to the conference theme of demonstrating how qualitative research findings could make a difference to healthcare policy and practice. |
Professors and PhD students from BU’s School of Health & Social Care presented papers at the Nordic Qualitative Research Conference at University of Stavanger, Norway. Their aim was to respond to the conference theme of demonstrating how qualitative research findings could make a difference to healthcare policy and practice. The team, affiliated to BU’s Centre for Qualitative Research is well placed to offer insights into how their programme of research ,which focuses on the ‘insider views’ of patients and their families, can make a difference to the quality of health service users everyday lives. Such a focus on patient experience is a major issue currently faced by the NHS and other world healthcare systems where targets are paying increasing attention to involving patients more actively in their care, and this includes much more acknowledgement of an understanding of patients everyday lives and the perspectives they bring.
Professor Les Todres gave a keynote speech based on his work [Todres, 2008] regarding the distinctive value of qualitative research findings for judgement based caring practice. In his presentation, he argued that the findings from qualitative research have a distinctive role to play in generating the kind of knowledge that is complex and rich enough to aid health care practitioners when they are making complex judgements in practice. Professors Immy Holloway and Kate Galvin presented a paper which outlined the way in which the humanisation of health care could be evaluated. They illustrated their presentation by giving examples from qualitative research findings in the public arena that address this concern to ‘humanise’ healthcare. The examples used showed how research could be meaningfully translated into practice in a more human-centred way.
PhD student Marilyn Cash presented a paper about how qualitative studies can be used to help support lay carers of people with dementia. Ruth Day, another PhD student, presented a poster that outlined an innovative approach to combining qualitative and quantitative approaches in her doctoral study which examines how people may use a self-help strategy called ‘Focusing’ to cope with chronic pain.
Professor Holloway said: “Large-scale statistical studies are often used for healthcare assessment and can appear impersonal. Our research presented at the Conference demonstrates a rich, more empathic understanding of the value of experiences for informing healthcare practice. Focusing on a qualitative approach, through case studies, reveals stories which are incredibly powerful and can allow us to influence the future of the healthcare system by bringing to their attention the importance of humanising, rather than categorising people”.
BU is collaborating with the Global institute for Humanising Care to develop a worldwide strategy to drive forward research into this field.
Reference: Todres, L (2008). Being-with-that: The relevance of embodied understanding for practice. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. Volume 3. Supplement No 2. May 2008
Centre for Qualitative Research
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