Over the last few decades, self-injury has gained wide visibility in Japanese popular culture fro... more Over the last few decades, self-injury has gained wide visibility in Japanese popular culture from manga (graphic novel), anime (animation), to digital games and fashion. Among the most conspicuous is the emergence of menhera (a portmanteau of "mental health-er") girls, female characters who exhibit unstable emotionality, obsessive love, and stereotypical self-injurious behaviors such as wrist cutting. Tracing the expansion of this popular cultural slang since 2000, this conceptual article explores three narrative tropes of menhera-the sad girl, the mad woman, and the cutie. Within these menhera narratives, self-injury functions as a self-sufficient signifier of female vulnerability, monstrosity, and desire for agency. These menhera tropes, each with their unique interpretation of self-injury, have evolved symbiotically with traditional gender norms in Japan, while destabilizing long-standing undesirability of sick/detracted female bodies. The menhera narrative tropes mobilize cultural discourses about female madness and subsequently feed back into the social imaginaries, offering those who self-injure symbolic resources for self-interpretation. We argue that popular cultural narratives of self-injury like menhera may exert as powerful an influence as clinical discourses on the way we interpret, make sense of, and experience self-injury. Being attentive to cultural representations of self-injury thus can help clinicians move toward compassionate clinical practice beyond the medical paradigm.
This study explored representations of self-injury in Japanese manga (graphic novels). A content ... more This study explored representations of self-injury in Japanese manga (graphic novels). A content analysis of fifteen slice-of-life manga published between 2000-2017 was conducted, focusing on forty scenes that depict eighteen characters engaging in self-injury. Most depictions of self-injury reflect a stereotypical perception of "self-injurer," a young girl cutting herself to cope with negative emotion. Characters receive informal support from friends and partners, while parents are portrayed as unsupportive and even triggering. An emergent trend was observed among manga targeting male readers to label selfinjuring women as "menhera"-mentally vulnerable damsels in distress-inviting a fetishistic gaze on the self-injuring female bodies.
Throughout the 47-year history of the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC), the topic of disab... more Throughout the 47-year history of the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC), the topic of disability has been a faint note played in the background. Only occasionally, it comes to the fore to sing in the chorus with other socially constructed categories, such as gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, social class, and health. Although there is a growing call for "cripping" communication to address the longstanding ableism in the field, (e.g., St. Pierre, 2015), scholarly interest in disability tends to fall far behind other topics in the fast-expanding field of critical communication studies. This playlist features hidden gems in CJC's vast archives. The five articles featured here address in one way or another how communication shapes the way we see, feel, and live disabled bodies. These pieces date from 1980 to 2011, each bearing witness to the changing relationship between disability and communication. There is a shared recognition among the authors about the role of communication in perpetuating the "hegemony of normalcy" (Davis, 1995, p. 24) that normalizes certain forms of human variation while excluding others. Some authors problematize the stigmatizing stereotypes and derogatory images the media attaches to the disabled, while others address how communication mediums can be used to both enable and disable people with disabilities. Others shed light on agentic voices of the disabled that are striving to reconstruct coherent identities beyond medical labelling. Together, these pieces demonstrate that we continue to need critical scholarship and activism that explores how communication practices, along with medical discourses, enact a cultural vernacular of ableism on a daily basis. Disability is a vastly rich and complex social phenomenon emerging between and across dis/abled bodies. Yet, it is still flattened, distorted, and marginalized within mainstream culture. The intersections between disability and communication can be explored creatively from issues of access, representation, legislation, and lived ex
Transition to adult life can be a challenging time for disabled youth and their families. This ar... more Transition to adult life can be a challenging time for disabled youth and their families. This article describes the collaborative creation of Transitions Theatre, a research-based reader’s theatre activity based on narrative interviews with eight disabled youth (aged 17–22) and seven parents. Analysis of these interviews generated two opposing yet interrelated themes. On one hand, youth and families felt lost in transition facing multiple gaps in healthcare, financial support, education, and opportunities for social participation after having “aged out” of the pediatric system. On the other hand, they started cripping “normal” adulthood to envision more inclusive futures wherein disabilities are understood as integral to society. These two themes were transformed into two reader’s theatre scripts, one featuring a youth, the other featuring a parent. Seven youth and four parents (six of them were original interview participants) then participated in a Transitions Theatre workshop to...
Introduction: Transition from pediatric to adult care has significant implications for health out... more Introduction: Transition from pediatric to adult care has significant implications for health outcomes in youth with special health care needs. To optimally support the transition, health care and social service providers must work collaboratively with youth and families in service planning, implementation, and evaluation. Based on interviews with 15 youth and their families, we developed an arts-informed interprofessional education activity titled Transitions Theatre using the method of readers' theater. Methods: Three educators with lived experience (one former pediatric rehabilitation client and two parents of youth with special health care needs) and three academic/clinical educators codesigned the transitions. We conducted four online workshops (14-20 participants each). Results: A total of 67 people participated: 59 students from 11 health disciplines and seven postlicensure clinicians and one trainee from five disciplines (e.g., occupational therapy, life skills coaching, early childhood education). Twenty-six participants answered both pre-and postworkshop surveys and reported a positive shift in their understanding of client and family perspectives, their roles in transition support, and other providers' roles in transition support. After the workshop, learners felt more confident with transition support and interprofessional collaboration. The perspectives of the educators with lived experience aligned with the theater scripts and enhanced learners' empathetic engagement with the topic. Discussion: The evidence-based teaching approach of readers' theater and our coteaching model offered learners a unique opportunity to learn about the challenges clients and their families face at the time of transition to adulthood and identify their role in an interprofessional transition support.
Throughout the 47-year history of the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC), the topic of disab... more Throughout the 47-year history of the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC), the topic of disability has been a faint note played in the background. Only occasionally, it comes to the fore to sing in the chorus with other socially constructed categories, such as gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, social class, and health. Although there is a growing call for "cripping" communication to address the longstanding ableism in the field, (e.g., St. Pierre, 2015), scholarly interest in disability tends to fall far behind other topics in the fast-expanding field of critical communication studies. This playlist features hidden gems in CJC's vast archives. The five articles featured here address in one way or another how communication shapes the way we see, feel, and live disabled bodies. These pieces date from 1980 to 2011, each bearing witness to the changing relationship between disability and communication. There is a shared recognition among the authors about the role of communication in perpetuating the "hegemony of normalcy" (Davis, 1995, p. 24) that normalizes certain forms of human variation while excluding others. Some authors problematize the stigmatizing stereotypes and derogatory images the media attaches to the disabled, while others address how communication mediums can be used to both enable and disable people with disabilities. Others shed light on agentic voices of the disabled that are striving to reconstruct coherent identities beyond medical labelling. Together, these pieces demonstrate that we continue to need critical scholarship and activism that explores how communication practices, along with medical discourses, enact a cultural vernacular of ableism on a daily basis. Disability is a vastly rich and complex social phenomenon emerging between and across dis/abled bodies. Yet, it is still flattened, distorted, and marginalized within mainstream culture. The intersections between disability and communication can be explored creatively from issues of access, representation, legislation, and lived ex
Over the last few decades, self-injury has gained wide visibility in Japanese popular culture fro... more Over the last few decades, self-injury has gained wide visibility in Japanese popular culture from manga (graphic novel), anime (animation), to digital games and fashion. Among the most conspicuous is the emergence of menhera (a portmanteau of “mental health-er”) girls, female characters who exhibit unstable emotionality, obsessive love, and stereotypical self-injurious behaviors such as wrist cutting. Tracing the expansion of this popular cultural slang since 2000, this conceptual article explores three narrative tropes of menhera—the sad girl, the mad woman, and the cutie. Within these menhera narratives, self-injury functions as a self-sufficient signifier of female vulnerability, monstrosity, and desire for agency. These menhera tropes, each with their unique interpretation of self-injury, have evolved symbiotically with traditional gender norms in Japan, while destabilizing long-standing undesirability of sick/detracted female bodies. The menhera narrative tropes mobilize cultu...
The advancement of Web 2.0 technologies has drastically extended the realm of self-expression, to... more The advancement of Web 2.0 technologies has drastically extended the realm of self-expression, to the extent that personal and potentially controversial photographs are widely shared with public viewers. This study examined user-generated photographs of self-injury (SI) uploaded on a popular photo-sharing site Flickr.com, to explore how the photo uploaders represent their wounded bodies, whether there are any emergent discursive and visual conventions that (re)define "photographs of SI," and whether these emergent conventions affirm or resist dominant cultural discourses of SI. 516 photographs of SI uploaded by 146 Flickr members were analyzed using methods of visual content analysis and discourse analysis. The findings indicate that while dominant discourses largely determine the shaping of SI photographs, some uploaders subversively frame their wounds as a narrative of resilience, thereby transforming their wounds into an authentic source of self-expression. URN: http://...
Physical & Occupational Therapy In Pediatrics, 2021
Abstract Aims This qualitative evaluation study assessed perceived impacts of a solution-focused ... more Abstract Aims This qualitative evaluation study assessed perceived impacts of a solution-focused coaching (SFC) training rolled out in a Canadian pediatric rehabilitation hospital from the perspective of clinical service providers. Methods Thirteen clinical service providers were interviewed six months after receiving 2-day SFC training. Participants retrospectively described perceived impacts of the training and benefits and challenges pertinent to the implementation of the SFC approach. Interview transcripts were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Results SFC training was considered making a valuable addition to participants’ toolbox, increasing their confidence in developing positive therapeutic alliance with clients, and enhancing their strengths-based orientation. The training was also seen improving team cohesion and promoting collaborative solution-finding among team members. Structural barriers such as time constraints, lack of continuous organizational support and clear expectations around the use of the SFC approach were reported as factors impeding effective clinical adaptation. The need for tailoring the SFC approach to unique service contexts was also reported. Conclusions Future SFC training initiatives should integrate a team-based approach and a culturally sensitive lens to help providers better assist clients in identifying their unique strengths. Follow-up training and continuous organizational support mechanisms will be vital for facilitating sustainable implementation after the initial training.
In diesem Beitrag leisten wir eine kollaborative Autoethnografie zweier tanzbasierter Forschungsp... more In diesem Beitrag leisten wir eine kollaborative Autoethnografie zweier tanzbasierter Forschungsprojekte. Wir verfolgten mit diesen Projekten zwei Ziele: 1. die Produktion von Erkenntnissen jenseits des dominanten westlichen Wissenschaftsverstandnisses und 2. eine Uberprufung unseres Wissensstandes aus vorangegangenen Forschungsarbeiten zu selbstverletzendem Handeln. Aus unserem kollaborativen Ansatz resultierten neue Dilemmata und unerwartete Beziehungsverlaufe. Tanz und gemeinsames Schreiben sensibilisierten uns fur eine Vulnerabilitat, die dominantes Wissen infrage stellte. Als relationale Praxis konvergierte unser Schreiben dahingehend, dass es zu einer kritischen Reflexion der jeweiligen Perspektiven verhalf und zu einem Mehr an sozialer Gerechtigkeit beitrug. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs170216
Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2021
Bento, a Japanese style boxed lunch, has a distinct cultural meaning for Japanese people as a med... more Bento, a Japanese style boxed lunch, has a distinct cultural meaning for Japanese people as a medium of affective communication between children and parents. However, in Canadian schools governed by the Anglo-Western food norms, their culinary practices may stand out. This study employed an arts-informed participatory design to explore how school-aged children (6-12 years old) of Japanese origin and their parents describe their experience bringing Japanese food to school in Canada. We conducted arts-informed workshops with 16 children who created artworks about their lunchboxes, and focus groups with 19 parents (all mothers). Children’s artworks illuminated a common aesthetics about “good” lunch that closely reflected mothers’ commitment to preparing nutritionally balanced and aesthetically appealing bento boxes. Both children and mothers reported that Canadian school food environment (e.g., short eating periods, snack times, built environment) sometimes misaligns with their food pr...
PURPOSE Youth Facilitators (YFs) are peer service providers (SPs) with childhood-onset disabiliti... more PURPOSE Youth Facilitators (YFs) are peer service providers (SPs) with childhood-onset disabilities working in pediatric rehabilitation teams. This study explored the YF role focusing on what work YFs do, the perceived facilitators and challenges pertinent to the role integration process, and the evolution of the role over the study period. METHODS A longitudinal, qualitative case study approach was used to gather data over a total period of 14 months through interviews, focus groups, workload logs, and observations. Data were analyzed using the method of thematic analysis. RESULTS Two YFs, 23 SPs and two managers participated in the study. YFs' work included independent consultation, resource provision, referral making, and program co-facilitation. Analysis produced two contrasting themes. When viewed as a representative of clients, YFs were considered bringing client perspectives to care, adding credibility to clinical services, and empowering clients and families through role modeling. However, when viewed as a professional SP, their expertise was questioned due to role unclarity, limited generalizability of lived experience, and organizational limitations. CONCLUSIONS Training tailored to local care contexts and organizational supports are needed to transform YFs' experiential knowledge into experiential expertise. We propose strategies for optimal integration of peer providers into clinical care teams.Implications for rehabilitationAs peer service providers with lived experience of disabilities, Youth Facilitators (YFs) have the potential to benefit pediatric rehabilitation services by facilitating empowerment in clients and families as they navigate through life transitions.The YF scope of practice and training should be adapted to fit with individual clinical teams and local care contexts to help YFs establish their experiential expertise in interdisciplinary teams.Establishing YF's core competencies (e.g., advocacy, coaching, and boundary setting skills) can help transform their experiential knowledge into experiential expertise.
Fostering successful interprofessional collaboration remains a challenge in pediatric rehabilitat... more Fostering successful interprofessional collaboration remains a challenge in pediatric rehabilitation. A coaching approach can enhance client-centered care and provide a transdisciplinary framework for collaboration. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the impact of Solution-Focused Coaching in Pediatric Rehabilitation (SFC-peds) training on pediatric rehabilitation practitioners from multiple disciplinary backgrounds. Thirty-seven service providers (SPs) completed surveys at baseline and three follow-ups. Quantitative and qualitative findings both suggested that the training proved an effective way to achieve substantial and sustainable improvements in SFC knowledge, confidence, and use of SFC-peds techniques among participating SPs. The educational intervention also facilitated the integration of a strengths-based, solution-building approach at an individual and team level, providing SPs with a common language and shared framework for client-centered care and optimal collaboration with colleagues. A need for practice opportunities tailored to unique care contexts was identified. Future research should further explore the impacts of a SFC-peds approach on interprofessional teams, as well as on health outcomes of clients.
BACKGROUNDS Resiliency has attracted a growing interest in paediatric rehabilitation as a key cap... more BACKGROUNDS Resiliency has attracted a growing interest in paediatric rehabilitation as a key capacity for disabled children and their families to thrive. This study aimed to identify measures used to assess resiliency of disabled children/youth and their families and critically appraise the current use of resiliency measures to inform future research and practice. METHODS A two-stage search strategy was employed. First, systematic reviews of resiliency measures published since 2000 were searched. Second, full names of measures identified in at least two systematic reviews were searched across four electronic databases. Included studies assessed resiliency among children/youth (0-18 years old) with chronic health conditions and/or disabilities and their families. Identified articles were then analysed to discern the study's definition of resiliency, authors' rationales for measurement selection, and types of perceived adversities facing the study participants. RESULTS From an initial yield of 25 measures identified in five systematic reviews, 11 were analysed in two or more reviews. The second stage yielded 41 empirical studies published between 2012 and 2018, which used 8 of the 11 resiliency measures searched by name. Of 41, 17 studies measured resiliency of disabled children/youth, 23 assessed resiliency within family members, and 1 studied both children/youth and their families. Our critical appraisal identified inconsistencies between the studies' definition of resiliency and chosen measures' operationalization, implicit assumption of disabilities as a developmental risk that automatically results in life adversities, and the tendency among family studies to reduce resiliency down to stress coping skills. Research that encompasses contextual factors and developmental influences is lacking. CONCLUSIONS There is a need for a situated measurement approach that captures multiple interacting factors shaping resiliency over one's life course. Resiliency measures would benefit from a greater focus on a person-environment transaction and an alternative definition of resiliency that accounts for multiple capacities to navigate through disabling environments.
Over the last few decades, self-injury has gained wide visibility in Japanese popular culture fro... more Over the last few decades, self-injury has gained wide visibility in Japanese popular culture from manga (graphic novel), anime (animation), to digital games and fashion. Among the most conspicuous is the emergence of menhera (a portmanteau of "mental health-er") girls, female characters who exhibit unstable emotionality, obsessive love, and stereotypical self-injurious behaviors such as wrist cutting. Tracing the expansion of this popular cultural slang since 2000, this conceptual article explores three narrative tropes of menhera-the sad girl, the mad woman, and the cutie. Within these menhera narratives, self-injury functions as a self-sufficient signifier of female vulnerability, monstrosity, and desire for agency. These menhera tropes, each with their unique interpretation of self-injury, have evolved symbiotically with traditional gender norms in Japan, while destabilizing long-standing undesirability of sick/detracted female bodies. The menhera narrative tropes mobilize cultural discourses about female madness and subsequently feed back into the social imaginaries, offering those who self-injure symbolic resources for self-interpretation. We argue that popular cultural narratives of self-injury like menhera may exert as powerful an influence as clinical discourses on the way we interpret, make sense of, and experience self-injury. Being attentive to cultural representations of self-injury thus can help clinicians move toward compassionate clinical practice beyond the medical paradigm.
This study explored representations of self-injury in Japanese manga (graphic novels). A content ... more This study explored representations of self-injury in Japanese manga (graphic novels). A content analysis of fifteen slice-of-life manga published between 2000-2017 was conducted, focusing on forty scenes that depict eighteen characters engaging in self-injury. Most depictions of self-injury reflect a stereotypical perception of "self-injurer," a young girl cutting herself to cope with negative emotion. Characters receive informal support from friends and partners, while parents are portrayed as unsupportive and even triggering. An emergent trend was observed among manga targeting male readers to label selfinjuring women as "menhera"-mentally vulnerable damsels in distress-inviting a fetishistic gaze on the self-injuring female bodies.
Throughout the 47-year history of the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC), the topic of disab... more Throughout the 47-year history of the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC), the topic of disability has been a faint note played in the background. Only occasionally, it comes to the fore to sing in the chorus with other socially constructed categories, such as gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, social class, and health. Although there is a growing call for "cripping" communication to address the longstanding ableism in the field, (e.g., St. Pierre, 2015), scholarly interest in disability tends to fall far behind other topics in the fast-expanding field of critical communication studies. This playlist features hidden gems in CJC's vast archives. The five articles featured here address in one way or another how communication shapes the way we see, feel, and live disabled bodies. These pieces date from 1980 to 2011, each bearing witness to the changing relationship between disability and communication. There is a shared recognition among the authors about the role of communication in perpetuating the "hegemony of normalcy" (Davis, 1995, p. 24) that normalizes certain forms of human variation while excluding others. Some authors problematize the stigmatizing stereotypes and derogatory images the media attaches to the disabled, while others address how communication mediums can be used to both enable and disable people with disabilities. Others shed light on agentic voices of the disabled that are striving to reconstruct coherent identities beyond medical labelling. Together, these pieces demonstrate that we continue to need critical scholarship and activism that explores how communication practices, along with medical discourses, enact a cultural vernacular of ableism on a daily basis. Disability is a vastly rich and complex social phenomenon emerging between and across dis/abled bodies. Yet, it is still flattened, distorted, and marginalized within mainstream culture. The intersections between disability and communication can be explored creatively from issues of access, representation, legislation, and lived ex
Transition to adult life can be a challenging time for disabled youth and their families. This ar... more Transition to adult life can be a challenging time for disabled youth and their families. This article describes the collaborative creation of Transitions Theatre, a research-based reader’s theatre activity based on narrative interviews with eight disabled youth (aged 17–22) and seven parents. Analysis of these interviews generated two opposing yet interrelated themes. On one hand, youth and families felt lost in transition facing multiple gaps in healthcare, financial support, education, and opportunities for social participation after having “aged out” of the pediatric system. On the other hand, they started cripping “normal” adulthood to envision more inclusive futures wherein disabilities are understood as integral to society. These two themes were transformed into two reader’s theatre scripts, one featuring a youth, the other featuring a parent. Seven youth and four parents (six of them were original interview participants) then participated in a Transitions Theatre workshop to...
Introduction: Transition from pediatric to adult care has significant implications for health out... more Introduction: Transition from pediatric to adult care has significant implications for health outcomes in youth with special health care needs. To optimally support the transition, health care and social service providers must work collaboratively with youth and families in service planning, implementation, and evaluation. Based on interviews with 15 youth and their families, we developed an arts-informed interprofessional education activity titled Transitions Theatre using the method of readers' theater. Methods: Three educators with lived experience (one former pediatric rehabilitation client and two parents of youth with special health care needs) and three academic/clinical educators codesigned the transitions. We conducted four online workshops (14-20 participants each). Results: A total of 67 people participated: 59 students from 11 health disciplines and seven postlicensure clinicians and one trainee from five disciplines (e.g., occupational therapy, life skills coaching, early childhood education). Twenty-six participants answered both pre-and postworkshop surveys and reported a positive shift in their understanding of client and family perspectives, their roles in transition support, and other providers' roles in transition support. After the workshop, learners felt more confident with transition support and interprofessional collaboration. The perspectives of the educators with lived experience aligned with the theater scripts and enhanced learners' empathetic engagement with the topic. Discussion: The evidence-based teaching approach of readers' theater and our coteaching model offered learners a unique opportunity to learn about the challenges clients and their families face at the time of transition to adulthood and identify their role in an interprofessional transition support.
Throughout the 47-year history of the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC), the topic of disab... more Throughout the 47-year history of the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC), the topic of disability has been a faint note played in the background. Only occasionally, it comes to the fore to sing in the chorus with other socially constructed categories, such as gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, social class, and health. Although there is a growing call for "cripping" communication to address the longstanding ableism in the field, (e.g., St. Pierre, 2015), scholarly interest in disability tends to fall far behind other topics in the fast-expanding field of critical communication studies. This playlist features hidden gems in CJC's vast archives. The five articles featured here address in one way or another how communication shapes the way we see, feel, and live disabled bodies. These pieces date from 1980 to 2011, each bearing witness to the changing relationship between disability and communication. There is a shared recognition among the authors about the role of communication in perpetuating the "hegemony of normalcy" (Davis, 1995, p. 24) that normalizes certain forms of human variation while excluding others. Some authors problematize the stigmatizing stereotypes and derogatory images the media attaches to the disabled, while others address how communication mediums can be used to both enable and disable people with disabilities. Others shed light on agentic voices of the disabled that are striving to reconstruct coherent identities beyond medical labelling. Together, these pieces demonstrate that we continue to need critical scholarship and activism that explores how communication practices, along with medical discourses, enact a cultural vernacular of ableism on a daily basis. Disability is a vastly rich and complex social phenomenon emerging between and across dis/abled bodies. Yet, it is still flattened, distorted, and marginalized within mainstream culture. The intersections between disability and communication can be explored creatively from issues of access, representation, legislation, and lived ex
Over the last few decades, self-injury has gained wide visibility in Japanese popular culture fro... more Over the last few decades, self-injury has gained wide visibility in Japanese popular culture from manga (graphic novel), anime (animation), to digital games and fashion. Among the most conspicuous is the emergence of menhera (a portmanteau of “mental health-er”) girls, female characters who exhibit unstable emotionality, obsessive love, and stereotypical self-injurious behaviors such as wrist cutting. Tracing the expansion of this popular cultural slang since 2000, this conceptual article explores three narrative tropes of menhera—the sad girl, the mad woman, and the cutie. Within these menhera narratives, self-injury functions as a self-sufficient signifier of female vulnerability, monstrosity, and desire for agency. These menhera tropes, each with their unique interpretation of self-injury, have evolved symbiotically with traditional gender norms in Japan, while destabilizing long-standing undesirability of sick/detracted female bodies. The menhera narrative tropes mobilize cultu...
The advancement of Web 2.0 technologies has drastically extended the realm of self-expression, to... more The advancement of Web 2.0 technologies has drastically extended the realm of self-expression, to the extent that personal and potentially controversial photographs are widely shared with public viewers. This study examined user-generated photographs of self-injury (SI) uploaded on a popular photo-sharing site Flickr.com, to explore how the photo uploaders represent their wounded bodies, whether there are any emergent discursive and visual conventions that (re)define "photographs of SI," and whether these emergent conventions affirm or resist dominant cultural discourses of SI. 516 photographs of SI uploaded by 146 Flickr members were analyzed using methods of visual content analysis and discourse analysis. The findings indicate that while dominant discourses largely determine the shaping of SI photographs, some uploaders subversively frame their wounds as a narrative of resilience, thereby transforming their wounds into an authentic source of self-expression. URN: http://...
Physical & Occupational Therapy In Pediatrics, 2021
Abstract Aims This qualitative evaluation study assessed perceived impacts of a solution-focused ... more Abstract Aims This qualitative evaluation study assessed perceived impacts of a solution-focused coaching (SFC) training rolled out in a Canadian pediatric rehabilitation hospital from the perspective of clinical service providers. Methods Thirteen clinical service providers were interviewed six months after receiving 2-day SFC training. Participants retrospectively described perceived impacts of the training and benefits and challenges pertinent to the implementation of the SFC approach. Interview transcripts were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Results SFC training was considered making a valuable addition to participants’ toolbox, increasing their confidence in developing positive therapeutic alliance with clients, and enhancing their strengths-based orientation. The training was also seen improving team cohesion and promoting collaborative solution-finding among team members. Structural barriers such as time constraints, lack of continuous organizational support and clear expectations around the use of the SFC approach were reported as factors impeding effective clinical adaptation. The need for tailoring the SFC approach to unique service contexts was also reported. Conclusions Future SFC training initiatives should integrate a team-based approach and a culturally sensitive lens to help providers better assist clients in identifying their unique strengths. Follow-up training and continuous organizational support mechanisms will be vital for facilitating sustainable implementation after the initial training.
In diesem Beitrag leisten wir eine kollaborative Autoethnografie zweier tanzbasierter Forschungsp... more In diesem Beitrag leisten wir eine kollaborative Autoethnografie zweier tanzbasierter Forschungsprojekte. Wir verfolgten mit diesen Projekten zwei Ziele: 1. die Produktion von Erkenntnissen jenseits des dominanten westlichen Wissenschaftsverstandnisses und 2. eine Uberprufung unseres Wissensstandes aus vorangegangenen Forschungsarbeiten zu selbstverletzendem Handeln. Aus unserem kollaborativen Ansatz resultierten neue Dilemmata und unerwartete Beziehungsverlaufe. Tanz und gemeinsames Schreiben sensibilisierten uns fur eine Vulnerabilitat, die dominantes Wissen infrage stellte. Als relationale Praxis konvergierte unser Schreiben dahingehend, dass es zu einer kritischen Reflexion der jeweiligen Perspektiven verhalf und zu einem Mehr an sozialer Gerechtigkeit beitrug. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs170216
Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2021
Bento, a Japanese style boxed lunch, has a distinct cultural meaning for Japanese people as a med... more Bento, a Japanese style boxed lunch, has a distinct cultural meaning for Japanese people as a medium of affective communication between children and parents. However, in Canadian schools governed by the Anglo-Western food norms, their culinary practices may stand out. This study employed an arts-informed participatory design to explore how school-aged children (6-12 years old) of Japanese origin and their parents describe their experience bringing Japanese food to school in Canada. We conducted arts-informed workshops with 16 children who created artworks about their lunchboxes, and focus groups with 19 parents (all mothers). Children’s artworks illuminated a common aesthetics about “good” lunch that closely reflected mothers’ commitment to preparing nutritionally balanced and aesthetically appealing bento boxes. Both children and mothers reported that Canadian school food environment (e.g., short eating periods, snack times, built environment) sometimes misaligns with their food pr...
PURPOSE Youth Facilitators (YFs) are peer service providers (SPs) with childhood-onset disabiliti... more PURPOSE Youth Facilitators (YFs) are peer service providers (SPs) with childhood-onset disabilities working in pediatric rehabilitation teams. This study explored the YF role focusing on what work YFs do, the perceived facilitators and challenges pertinent to the role integration process, and the evolution of the role over the study period. METHODS A longitudinal, qualitative case study approach was used to gather data over a total period of 14 months through interviews, focus groups, workload logs, and observations. Data were analyzed using the method of thematic analysis. RESULTS Two YFs, 23 SPs and two managers participated in the study. YFs' work included independent consultation, resource provision, referral making, and program co-facilitation. Analysis produced two contrasting themes. When viewed as a representative of clients, YFs were considered bringing client perspectives to care, adding credibility to clinical services, and empowering clients and families through role modeling. However, when viewed as a professional SP, their expertise was questioned due to role unclarity, limited generalizability of lived experience, and organizational limitations. CONCLUSIONS Training tailored to local care contexts and organizational supports are needed to transform YFs' experiential knowledge into experiential expertise. We propose strategies for optimal integration of peer providers into clinical care teams.Implications for rehabilitationAs peer service providers with lived experience of disabilities, Youth Facilitators (YFs) have the potential to benefit pediatric rehabilitation services by facilitating empowerment in clients and families as they navigate through life transitions.The YF scope of practice and training should be adapted to fit with individual clinical teams and local care contexts to help YFs establish their experiential expertise in interdisciplinary teams.Establishing YF's core competencies (e.g., advocacy, coaching, and boundary setting skills) can help transform their experiential knowledge into experiential expertise.
Fostering successful interprofessional collaboration remains a challenge in pediatric rehabilitat... more Fostering successful interprofessional collaboration remains a challenge in pediatric rehabilitation. A coaching approach can enhance client-centered care and provide a transdisciplinary framework for collaboration. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the impact of Solution-Focused Coaching in Pediatric Rehabilitation (SFC-peds) training on pediatric rehabilitation practitioners from multiple disciplinary backgrounds. Thirty-seven service providers (SPs) completed surveys at baseline and three follow-ups. Quantitative and qualitative findings both suggested that the training proved an effective way to achieve substantial and sustainable improvements in SFC knowledge, confidence, and use of SFC-peds techniques among participating SPs. The educational intervention also facilitated the integration of a strengths-based, solution-building approach at an individual and team level, providing SPs with a common language and shared framework for client-centered care and optimal collaboration with colleagues. A need for practice opportunities tailored to unique care contexts was identified. Future research should further explore the impacts of a SFC-peds approach on interprofessional teams, as well as on health outcomes of clients.
BACKGROUNDS Resiliency has attracted a growing interest in paediatric rehabilitation as a key cap... more BACKGROUNDS Resiliency has attracted a growing interest in paediatric rehabilitation as a key capacity for disabled children and their families to thrive. This study aimed to identify measures used to assess resiliency of disabled children/youth and their families and critically appraise the current use of resiliency measures to inform future research and practice. METHODS A two-stage search strategy was employed. First, systematic reviews of resiliency measures published since 2000 were searched. Second, full names of measures identified in at least two systematic reviews were searched across four electronic databases. Included studies assessed resiliency among children/youth (0-18 years old) with chronic health conditions and/or disabilities and their families. Identified articles were then analysed to discern the study's definition of resiliency, authors' rationales for measurement selection, and types of perceived adversities facing the study participants. RESULTS From an initial yield of 25 measures identified in five systematic reviews, 11 were analysed in two or more reviews. The second stage yielded 41 empirical studies published between 2012 and 2018, which used 8 of the 11 resiliency measures searched by name. Of 41, 17 studies measured resiliency of disabled children/youth, 23 assessed resiliency within family members, and 1 studied both children/youth and their families. Our critical appraisal identified inconsistencies between the studies' definition of resiliency and chosen measures' operationalization, implicit assumption of disabilities as a developmental risk that automatically results in life adversities, and the tendency among family studies to reduce resiliency down to stress coping skills. Research that encompasses contextual factors and developmental influences is lacking. CONCLUSIONS There is a need for a situated measurement approach that captures multiple interacting factors shaping resiliency over one's life course. Resiliency measures would benefit from a greater focus on a person-environment transaction and an alternative definition of resiliency that accounts for multiple capacities to navigate through disabling environments.
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Papers by Yukari Seko