Practice Theory (practice + theory)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The role of community mental health nurses caring for people with schizophrenia in Taiwan: a substantive grounded theory

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 5 2008
Xuan-Yi Huang DNSc
Aim and objectives., The aim was to develop a practice theory that can be used to guide the direction of community nursing practice to help clients with schizophrenia and those who care for them. Design., Substantive grounded theory was developed through use of grounded theory method of Strauss and Corbin. Methods., Two groups of participants in Taiwan were selected using theoretical sampling: one group consisted of community mental health nurses and the other group was clients with schizophrenia and those who cared for them. The number of participants in each group was determined by theoretical saturation. Semi-structured one-to-one in-depth interviews and unstructured non-participant observation were utilized for data collection. Data analysis involved three stages: open, axial and selective coding. During the process of coding and analysis, both inductive and deductive thinking were utilized and the constant comparative analysis process continued until data saturation occurred. To establish trustworthiness, the four criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were followed along with field trial, audit trial, member check and peer debriefing for reliability and validity. Results., A substantive grounded theory, the role of community mental health nurses caring for people with schizophrenia in Taiwan, was developed through utilization of grounded theory method of Strauss and Corbin. Conclusion., In this paper, results and discussion focus on causal conditions, context, intervening conditions, consequences and phenomenon. Relevance to clinical practice., The theory is the first to contribute knowledge about the field of mental health home visiting services in Taiwan to provide guidance for the delivery of quality care to assist people in the community with schizophrenia and their carers. [source]


Foundations of communities of practice: enablers and barriers to participation

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 6 2009
K. Guldberg
Abstract This research draws upon community of practice theory to explore the factors that enabled or hindered participation in an online ,Foundations of Communities of Practice' workshop , a course that is designed to align with Wenger's communities of practice perspective. The research used a mixed methods approach, drawing upon log-on and posting data, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to explore participant experiences. The findings show that five dimensions either enabled or constrained participation. These were emotion, technology, connectivity, understanding norms and learning tensions. As enablers these dimensions led to successful participation within an online community of practice, but as constraints, they led to peripheral participation. The findings highlight implications for tutors of such courses. These include the need to (1) assess the technical expertise of participants, particularly when a number of different technological tools are used; (2) find ways to identify and evaluate emotional responses so learners can be supported in managing these; (3) ensure that participants understand the norms of a community; and (4) develop clear induction materials and processes. [source]


Sociological consciousness as a component of linguistic variation1

JOURNAL OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS, Issue 1 2008
Robin Dodsworth
While practice theory has provided a valuable framework for establishing connections between individual-level sociolinguistic variation and social structures, Bourdieu's (1977) formulation of practice theory has been argued to inadequately address subjectivity. The sociologist C. Wright Mills' (1959) concept of the sociological imagination , consciousness of links among personal experiences, social structures, and historical processes , is posited as a partial solution, as it offers a framework for modeling one aspect of subjectivity. Use of the sociological imagination concept is demonstrated through a quantitative acoustic analysis of /o/ fronting in Worthington, Ohio, a Columbus suburb confronting acute urban sprawl. The distribution of /o/ fronting across 21 speakers largely resists traditional sociolinguistic explanations. A close analysis of four speakers' mental representations of the local tensions surrounding urban sprawl reveals significant differences which are argued to account for their variable use of fronted /o/. [source]


Witnessing and the Medical Gaze: How Medical Students Learn to See at a Free Clinic for the Homeless

MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2000
Beverly Ann Davenport
This article analyzes doctor-patient communication as it is taught to medical students in a student-run free clinic for the homeless. Moving beyond Foucault's concept of the medical gaze, it incorporates Byron Good's theorizing about the soteriological aspects of medicine and medical education as well as aspects of practice theory as illuminated by Anthony Giddens. Ethnographic examples illustrate the necessary tension between objectification and subject-making that exists in the specific practices engaged in by both students and preceptors at the clinic site. [doctor-patient communication, medical education, homelessness, Foucault, practice theory] [source]


Nurse Home Visits to Maternal,Child Clients: A Review of Intervention Research

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2004
Diane B. McNaughton Ph.D.
Abstract Home visiting has been considered a promising strategy for addressing the multiple needs of families at risk. Research reviews are a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who develop and support new home-visiting interventions. This review examines 13 research studies published between the years of 1980 and 2000 that test the effectiveness of home-visiting interventions using professional nurses as home visitors. Findings indicate that a wide range of client problems are addressed during home visits using a variety of nursing interventions. Missing from most of the reports is a clear theoretical link between the client problem addressed, the nursing intervention, and target outcomes. About half of the studies were successful in achieving desired outcomes. Future research should be directed by middle-range practice theory, clearly explicate the nursing intervention being tested, use power analysis to determine sample size, and report reliability and validity of dependent variable measures with culturally diverse samples. [source]


"Specialized" Production in Archaeological Contexts: Rethinking Specialization, the Social Value of Products, and the Practice of Production

ARCHEOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Issue 1 2007
Rowan K. Flad
The contributions to this volume are introduced via a critical review of terms and concepts used in craft production studies today. Recent detailed contextual and technological analyses of artifacts from all aspects of complex societies have revealed interesting patterns that are difficult to conceptualize using a purely economic framework. Furthermore, interest in practice theory, and sociocultural theory in general, has shifted some foci of archaeological investigation toward the social aspects of production and specialization. New data, methods, and theories require a rethinking of what is meant by specialized production, and this chapter represents an introduction to this endeavor. [source]


Collapse as Cultural Revolution: Power and Identity in the Tiwanaku to Pacajes Transition

ARCHEOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Issue 1 2004
John Wayne Janusek
Inherent foundations of power are often made explicit in state collapse and ethnogenesis, among the most problematic processes tackled by archaeologists. Recent research on collapse globally indicates that conventional models prioritizing external change (e.g., environmental shift, immigration) fail to address the historical intricacies of and human agency involved in state fragmentation. Some recent models treat collapse as a sudden drop in political complexity, and most fail to elaborate how state collapse influenced postcollapse sociopolitical and cultural patterns. Synthesizing substantial recent research on Tiwanaku (A.D. 500,1150) and post-Tiwanaku Pacajes (A.D. 1150,1450) polities in the south-central Andes, I suggest that state collapse involved a fateful conjunction of sociopolitical and environmental transformations. Drought conditions descended upon a centralized yet highly fragile sociopolitical landscape that had become increasingly volatile during Tiwanaku's apogee. Collapse involved rapid transformation as well as slow, cumulative shifts and enduring continuities. It was a cultural revolution that began during Tiwanaku hegemony and drew heavily on existing practices and ideals. Grounded in practice theory, this case study finds human agency squarely in the center of macroprocesses such as collapse and situates Andean foundations of power in the matrix of local ideals, practices, and identities from which hegemonic regimes such as Tiwanaku were forged. [source]


Cultural-historical activity theory as practice theory: illuminating the development of conflict-monitoring network

COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 1 2001
Kirsten A. Foot
As the number and intensity of conflicts increased around the world during the latter part of the 20th century, scholars, policymakers, and practitioners of non-violent conflict management strategies created conflict-monitoring networks to track the escalation of tensions in conflict-prone regions. This essay demonstrates how cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) was employed in the service of a conflict-monitoring network in the former Soviet Union. Based upon historical and participant observation research on the development of the Network for Ethnological Monitoring and Early Warning during 1990,1999, a CHAT-based analysis of the Network's systemic contradictions illuminates its development through one expansive cycle and into a second. Summaries of findings consider relations within the Network, the evolution of the Network's complex object, and the Network's development of tools for monitoring ethnic relations and building an epistemic community. The essay concludes with an analysis of the correspondence between the CHAT framework and the 5 features of practical theory laid out by Cronen (1995). [source]