My proposal would present a first preliminary research survey in a pediatric hospital ward, exploring the feasibility of a training proposal based on autobiographical writing, addressed to all the different professionals working with children in hospital. The specificity of a pediatric ward adds complexity factors to medical and health practice. Children’s ill largely involve professional’s emotions, children also have particular emotional, relational, cognitive needs, that go beyond a health context: in Italy, but also in every European Country, pediatric ward are more and more a context lived by different professionals, like doctors, nurses, psychologists, teachers… Sick children are always accompanied by their parents, creating the particular situation of a “double-patient” for the professionals operating in a pediatric ward. So we can consider the pediatric ward as a context of complexity, that involves also pedagogical knowledge. The research trajectory would explore the possibility to use a pedagogical training instrument like the autobiographical writing for a training proposal in a pediatric ward. The aim is to explore if this particular writing could help professionals to be aware of the complexity in their work context, living with authenticity their professional role, taking also care of their own life stories and their patients’ ones. The principal research aim is to explore potentialities of autobiographical writing for personal and professional development of professionals involved in sick children’s care. Writing is a special mode of human language: «it draws from the silence in our mind, so it gets us used to be silent and it teaches us to think in different ways. Writing makes us capable of confidentiality and deep thought» (D. Demetrio 2007:24). Autobiographical writing is also a particular training instrument: the act of writing produces a specific lucidity because it brings ourselves back to the experiences of our life, in a more aware way. Writing of ourselves we start thinking and this reflection could produce awareness of our actions, in our life and in our profession. This awareness can bring a desire for change and redesign. Reflection allows to find meaning and sense in our individual experience. Methods/methodology The research is structured in a paradigm named “ecological”, presented by L. Mortari (2007), referring to G. Bateson (1979), K. Gergen, M. Gergen (1995), R. Rorty (1979), J. Creswell (1998). It is projected with the method of Narrative Inquiry: «A research, as an experiential act, can be narrated» (L. Mortari 2007:177). Narration can be a method when research is thought as an experience and the aim is to understand its meaning. J. Dewey, an essential reference for narrative inquiry, writes that: «Educating means offering significant experiences and the theory of education must identifies and narrates these experiences» (J. Dewey 1993:13). The practice of educating itself is a form of experience, not only the object of educational act, so it can be narrated because it’s a form of experience. The context of research is a pediatric hospital ward in Northern Italy: we involved in this project two doctors, two teachers, two nurses, one volunteer. Firstly they attended a focus group: its aim was to collect information with informal involvement of different perspectives. In a second phase every professional was involved in an interview. The researcher has finally analyzed the collected material, presenting the analysis to the participants. Expected outcomes/results We have identified four principal themes for the analysis of the research context: the time, the complexity in the context, children and their families, professionals’ thoughts about training proposals. All the participants presented these themes as very important in their work context. Mostly the volunteer seems to live the context in a particular way: she is not a professional, so she has a really different perspective. We produced a specific analysis about the theme of writing: we focused on professional writing and we discovered that all the participants write a lot in their working processes, except for the volunteer. We focused also on the thought of writing as a training instrument: nobody has never thought of writing in this way and also nobody has never experienced it. It was difficult for them to think at this particular use of writing, but they told an interest for it. After the analysis we were able to create a first hypothesis of training proposal, firstly addressed to the teachers and to the volunteers. This is a new proposal for the context and, in a first step, it could create a connection between people that has educationa

GAMBACORTI PASSERINI, M. (2013). Taking care of life-stories in a pediatric hospital ward: a training proposal based on autobiographical writing. Intervento presentato a: ECER 2013 Istanbul, The European Conference on Educational Research, Istanbul.

Taking care of life-stories in a pediatric hospital ward: a training proposal based on autobiographical writing

GAMBACORTI PASSERINI, MARIA BENEDETTA
2013

Abstract

My proposal would present a first preliminary research survey in a pediatric hospital ward, exploring the feasibility of a training proposal based on autobiographical writing, addressed to all the different professionals working with children in hospital. The specificity of a pediatric ward adds complexity factors to medical and health practice. Children’s ill largely involve professional’s emotions, children also have particular emotional, relational, cognitive needs, that go beyond a health context: in Italy, but also in every European Country, pediatric ward are more and more a context lived by different professionals, like doctors, nurses, psychologists, teachers… Sick children are always accompanied by their parents, creating the particular situation of a “double-patient” for the professionals operating in a pediatric ward. So we can consider the pediatric ward as a context of complexity, that involves also pedagogical knowledge. The research trajectory would explore the possibility to use a pedagogical training instrument like the autobiographical writing for a training proposal in a pediatric ward. The aim is to explore if this particular writing could help professionals to be aware of the complexity in their work context, living with authenticity their professional role, taking also care of their own life stories and their patients’ ones. The principal research aim is to explore potentialities of autobiographical writing for personal and professional development of professionals involved in sick children’s care. Writing is a special mode of human language: «it draws from the silence in our mind, so it gets us used to be silent and it teaches us to think in different ways. Writing makes us capable of confidentiality and deep thought» (D. Demetrio 2007:24). Autobiographical writing is also a particular training instrument: the act of writing produces a specific lucidity because it brings ourselves back to the experiences of our life, in a more aware way. Writing of ourselves we start thinking and this reflection could produce awareness of our actions, in our life and in our profession. This awareness can bring a desire for change and redesign. Reflection allows to find meaning and sense in our individual experience. Methods/methodology The research is structured in a paradigm named “ecological”, presented by L. Mortari (2007), referring to G. Bateson (1979), K. Gergen, M. Gergen (1995), R. Rorty (1979), J. Creswell (1998). It is projected with the method of Narrative Inquiry: «A research, as an experiential act, can be narrated» (L. Mortari 2007:177). Narration can be a method when research is thought as an experience and the aim is to understand its meaning. J. Dewey, an essential reference for narrative inquiry, writes that: «Educating means offering significant experiences and the theory of education must identifies and narrates these experiences» (J. Dewey 1993:13). The practice of educating itself is a form of experience, not only the object of educational act, so it can be narrated because it’s a form of experience. The context of research is a pediatric hospital ward in Northern Italy: we involved in this project two doctors, two teachers, two nurses, one volunteer. Firstly they attended a focus group: its aim was to collect information with informal involvement of different perspectives. In a second phase every professional was involved in an interview. The researcher has finally analyzed the collected material, presenting the analysis to the participants. Expected outcomes/results We have identified four principal themes for the analysis of the research context: the time, the complexity in the context, children and their families, professionals’ thoughts about training proposals. All the participants presented these themes as very important in their work context. Mostly the volunteer seems to live the context in a particular way: she is not a professional, so she has a really different perspective. We produced a specific analysis about the theme of writing: we focused on professional writing and we discovered that all the participants write a lot in their working processes, except for the volunteer. We focused also on the thought of writing as a training instrument: nobody has never thought of writing in this way and also nobody has never experienced it. It was difficult for them to think at this particular use of writing, but they told an interest for it. After the analysis we were able to create a first hypothesis of training proposal, firstly addressed to the teachers and to the volunteers. This is a new proposal for the context and, in a first step, it could create a connection between people that has educationa
abstract + slide
pedagogical care, health care, autobiographical writing, professional development
English
ECER 2013 Istanbul, The European Conference on Educational Research
2013
2013
none
GAMBACORTI PASSERINI, M. (2013). Taking care of life-stories in a pediatric hospital ward: a training proposal based on autobiographical writing. Intervento presentato a: ECER 2013 Istanbul, The European Conference on Educational Research, Istanbul.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/57011
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