Starting from my Phd research project, trying to explore a context where Medicine and Pedagogy work together, the paper will be focused on images and symbols that can narrate and reflect on educational work in Mental Health Services. The research is situated in a qualitative approach to Human Sciences Research, based on a naturalistic approach (Bateson (1979), Gergen, Gergen (1995), Rorty (1979), Creswell (1998)), and it has followed Narrative and Phenomenological methods, throughout the case study strategy (Yin, 1994) in order to explore two Psychiatric Services. Using the ethnographic observation (Hobbs & Wright, 2008), the collage technique (Banks, 2007; Biffi, 2010; Butler-Kisber, 2010; Knowles & Cole, 2008; Reavey, 2011) and the semi-structured interview (Atkinson, 2002; Brenner, 2006), the study explored the collaboration in the practice between health and educational professionals of two identified Services. In this paper, I will take into consideration the results of the collage making proposed, with the aim to analyze images used by the professionals (doctors, educators, nurses, psychologists, social workers) involved in the project in order to describe their specific work in the Mental Health Service. After a brief introduction of the methodological approach used in the study, the paper will be focused on these symbolic dimensions expressed by images, that can help to narrate hard dimensions of educational work in Mental Health. Moreover, this paper will present some methodological considerations with regard to the use of images and collage making to explore inner meanings which are not directly visible with others data collection techniques (Butler-Kisber, 2010). The collages produced, integrated with the interviews, helped to pinpoint specific characteristics of educational work in Mental Health. Educators work very close to patients and their life: in this sense, they daily face with patients’ mental illness. The images they chose help them to narrate this strain, related to a professional effort to fight with mental illness. Educational work in Mental Health is now deeply connected with the challenge of making patients as autonomous as possible, creating the possibilities for them to find their social and political role in the society. In this sense, educational work in Mental Health has a strong political and social attitude: for example, educators try to make patients able to manage their life, as much as it is possible. So, they often work on “daily skills”: cleaning home, cooking, going grocery shopping and all the actions necessary to live. It’s hard for educators to make these dimensions of their work visible and to narrate them: the use of images proposed during the research created the possibility to visualize them, speaking and reflecting on them, as important components of their educational thinking and acting. Referring to these dimensions, the paper will explore symbols used to represent educational work in Mental Health, focusing also on educators’ narration that accompany the chosen images. In this sense, the paper will examine the possibility to narrate educational work in Mental Health, starting from the use of images.

Gambacorti Passerini, M. (2016). Images and symbols to narrate educational work in the Italian Mental Health Services. In L. Formenti, L. West (a cura di), Stories that make a difference. Exploring the collective, social and political potential of narratives in adult education research (pp. 348-356). Lecce : Pensa MultiMedia.

Images and symbols to narrate educational work in the Italian Mental Health Services

Gambacorti Passerini, MB
2016

Abstract

Starting from my Phd research project, trying to explore a context where Medicine and Pedagogy work together, the paper will be focused on images and symbols that can narrate and reflect on educational work in Mental Health Services. The research is situated in a qualitative approach to Human Sciences Research, based on a naturalistic approach (Bateson (1979), Gergen, Gergen (1995), Rorty (1979), Creswell (1998)), and it has followed Narrative and Phenomenological methods, throughout the case study strategy (Yin, 1994) in order to explore two Psychiatric Services. Using the ethnographic observation (Hobbs & Wright, 2008), the collage technique (Banks, 2007; Biffi, 2010; Butler-Kisber, 2010; Knowles & Cole, 2008; Reavey, 2011) and the semi-structured interview (Atkinson, 2002; Brenner, 2006), the study explored the collaboration in the practice between health and educational professionals of two identified Services. In this paper, I will take into consideration the results of the collage making proposed, with the aim to analyze images used by the professionals (doctors, educators, nurses, psychologists, social workers) involved in the project in order to describe their specific work in the Mental Health Service. After a brief introduction of the methodological approach used in the study, the paper will be focused on these symbolic dimensions expressed by images, that can help to narrate hard dimensions of educational work in Mental Health. Moreover, this paper will present some methodological considerations with regard to the use of images and collage making to explore inner meanings which are not directly visible with others data collection techniques (Butler-Kisber, 2010). The collages produced, integrated with the interviews, helped to pinpoint specific characteristics of educational work in Mental Health. Educators work very close to patients and their life: in this sense, they daily face with patients’ mental illness. The images they chose help them to narrate this strain, related to a professional effort to fight with mental illness. Educational work in Mental Health is now deeply connected with the challenge of making patients as autonomous as possible, creating the possibilities for them to find their social and political role in the society. In this sense, educational work in Mental Health has a strong political and social attitude: for example, educators try to make patients able to manage their life, as much as it is possible. So, they often work on “daily skills”: cleaning home, cooking, going grocery shopping and all the actions necessary to live. It’s hard for educators to make these dimensions of their work visible and to narrate them: the use of images proposed during the research created the possibility to visualize them, speaking and reflecting on them, as important components of their educational thinking and acting. Referring to these dimensions, the paper will explore symbols used to represent educational work in Mental Health, focusing also on educators’ narration that accompany the chosen images. In this sense, the paper will examine the possibility to narrate educational work in Mental Health, starting from the use of images.
Capitolo o saggio
Educational work; Mental Health Services; Images and symbols
English
Stories that make a difference. Exploring the collective, social and political potential of narratives in adult education research
Formenti, L; West, L.
2016
978-88-6760-360-2
Pensa MultiMedia
348
356
Gambacorti Passerini, M. (2016). Images and symbols to narrate educational work in the Italian Mental Health Services. In L. Formenti, L. West (a cura di), Stories that make a difference. Exploring the collective, social and political potential of narratives in adult education research (pp. 348-356). Lecce : Pensa MultiMedia.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/221740
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