ABSTRACT
In this article, we critically reflect upon the experience of public health research involving children and contribute to existing conversations about the methodological and ethical facets of research in this field. Drawing on two phases of a study that sought to explore the lived experiences of families with young children who have had a recent common childhood illness (gastrointestinal infection), we address the research process, from inception of the studies, to fieldwork and the resultant material obtained. We argue that when researching with families about a child-centered experience, it is important to look beyond the individual adult as "participant" and to conceptualize dependents either as, or "like" participants-what we suggest as a "family-centered approach." Theoretically, this strategy best addresses the lived reality of relationality and responsibility of parent/carers for dependent children; while improving the ease and safety of data collection for the researcher and participants alike.
Subject(s)
Family , Public Health , Adult , Caregivers , Child , Child, Preschool , Humans , Parents , Qualitative Research , Research PersonnelABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect on the added value of video in ethnographic research that seeks to understand peoples' lived experiences of health and place. Of particular interest is the potential for video to elicit the embodied, multisensory and relational nature of people's place experiences that are the focus of much recent health geography research. We draw on our experiences of using video in an ethnographic study that sought to explore the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities engaged in nature based (or 'green care') therapeutic interventions for health and wellbeing. We argue that video has the potential to capture aspects of people's wellbeing experiences that may be lost using other methods, such as observational field noting. Consideration is also given to how researchers using video methods should seek to (re)present people's wellbeing experiences, as well as the practical and ethical challenges that this approach has for those working in the field of health geography.
Subject(s)
Anthropology, Cultural/methods , Geography, Medical/methods , Video Recording , Humans , Intellectual Disability/therapyABSTRACT
Since Wil Gesler's earliest articulation (Gesler, 1992; Gesler, 1996) key thinkers in the field of therapeutic landscapes have sought to emphasise the embodied, contextual and wholly relational nature of the relationship that exists between people and place. However, the extant research has tended to focus on the relational healing experience as this occurs 'in the moment' and with reference to a specific location or site of healing, with less attention being paid to what happens to people when they return to their ordinary or everyday places. In this paper, we reflect on findings from visual ethnographic work (including photography and film) that explored the therapeutic landscape experiences of people with intellectual disabilities engaged in care farming interventions for health and wellbeing. The study also recruited farm staff and family members or carers to take part, and comprised 20 participants in total. Having identified a gap in our understanding, consideration is given to wider impact that engaging in these sorts of activities had on the everyday lives of the participants in this study. We argue that this study has identified two types of therapeutic journey that broadly fit the experiences of study participants. The first type of journey denotes landscape experiences that are transformative. Here the therapeutic power of the care farm landscape resides in the ability of activities conducted on care farms to influence other aspects of participants' lives in ways that promote wellbeing. By contrast, there is another type of journey where the therapeutic power of the care farm resides in its ability to ameliorate challenging or harmful life situations, thus offering people a temporary site of respite or refuge. We conclude that these findings denote an important development for this sub-field of health geography, not only because they draw attention to the transformative power of the therapeutic encounter, but also the broader socio-spatial environments in which people live and ways in which these can limit that power.
Subject(s)
Agriculture , Intellectual Disability/therapy , Relaxation Therapy , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Qualitative Research , Treatment Outcome , Young AdultABSTRACT
There is a tendency to exclude people with intellectual disabilities from participating in research about their own lives. While the use of participatory research approaches is increasing, the methods used for engaging people with intellectual disabilities in research are generally limited to interviews and focus groups. Yet a focus on the spoken or written word can present a challenge for those who may prefer to use alternative forms of communication. The purpose of this article is to share the methodological insights gained from a visual ethnographic study that sought to explore the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities engaged in nature based (or "green care") therapeutic interventions for health and well-being. If used within carefully negotiated relationships, we suggest that video can be an empowering visual medium for doing research that can help to elicit the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities firsthand, without having to rely on the views and perspectives of other people.