5 thoughts on “October’s #OTalk Journal (Media) Club Article”

1. Congratulations Kirsty on getting the Virtual Journal Club up and running! Can you tell me what time it’s on so I can see if I can attend?
   Cheers, Anita.

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   1. Thanks Anita. Here’s a link to an event announcer. It’s our usual 8-9 pm (UK time). Contributions on the blog welcome anytime before the session.

      http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OTalk+October+Journal+Club&iso=20131001T20&p1=1342&ah=1

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2. Some initial thoughts from Robert Pereira @roberTO_OT: Article looks great! Laura Hartman’s research is really interesting. As an avid iPhone photo enthusiast, I am particularly keen on photovoice as a data gathering tool/method in qualitative research. However, is it a methodology in the truest sense of the word, or is it more of a ‘medium’ used in action research?

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3. Interesting comment by Robert and one to raise in the chat.

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4. Apologies for the lateness of my feedback – life has been hectic. Please feel free to share your own forms after the chat.

   Name: Kirsty Stanley
   Date Record Completed: 1.10.2013 (Nothing like leaving it until the last moment)

   Full Harvard Reference:
   Hartman, L.R., Mandich, A., Magalhães, L. and Orchard, T. 2011. How Do We ‘See’ Occupations? An Examination of Visual Research Methodologies in the Study of Human Occupation. Journal of Occupational Science. 18 (4), 292-305.

   Definitions of terms and concepts:
   Occupation according to the authors’ chosen International Society of Occupational Science’s (ISOS) definition is ‘‘the various everyday activities people do as individuals, in families and with communities to occupy time and bring meaning and purpose to life. Occupations include things people need to, want to and are expected to do’’(Asaba, Blanche, Jonsson, Laliberte Rudman, & Wicks, 2007, p. 1).
   Photovoice is a ‘participatory visual methodology in which participants create a visual representation using photographs and use their creations to direct and enact social change’
   Body Mapping is where ‘participants use paper and craft materials to explore and share their experiences’ on a traced version of their bodies (participant driven)
   Textual Analysis is ‘researcher-driven visual methodology in which the researcher critically appraises pre-existing materials’
   Tacit means ‘Understood or implied without being stated’
   Reflexive means being aware of how experiences may have influenced thinking
   Occupational Engagement means

   Identification of the author’s main message:
   That using visual data can support occupational science research.

   Identification of major themes:
   Promoting visual methodologies as valid and credible for research purposes
   Review of three methods
   Giving people different ways to consider the everyday

   Discussion of major themes and sub-themes:
   Promoting visual methodologies as valid and credible for research
   They suggest arts based approaches can balance rigour and creativity.
   Can use found and created materials.
   Important to use ethical guidance to ensure such data being considered thoroughly.
   Some visual methods have developed guidance for analysis.
   -Photovoice
   Put participants in control of what they photograph – they identify what is important. An image gives them a reference point for further exploration.
   Giving a voice to those who often don’t have – came from feminist theory but equally applicable to race, disability etc.
   Three aims – record/reflect strengths/concerns, use small/large group discussion to review critically and to reach policymakers. Quite a political methodology then. The social change aspect is important here.
   Limitations may still be impact of researchers influencing things too much. Costs also mentioned, however with more electronic ways to share photographs this shouldn’t be as limiting.
   Consent and ethical issues need addressing clearly.
   -Body Mapping
   People start by tracing their bodies and use as a template to describe ‘journeys’
   A specific 12 point guidance was given about adding hand/footprints, personal slogans etc.
   This could be quite emotive and participants may need extra emotional support.
   -Textual Analysis
   This focused on found materials and particularly advertising. Analysis was based on set criteria.
   The focus on the different layers of meaning was interesting
   Giving people different ways to consider the everyday
   Articulating what is going on in a picture may be more effective than being asked a question about the occupation ‘out of context’.
   Enabling a wider population to share their beliefs e.g. overcoming barriers of low literacy or language issues
   However it does still seem important to consider that there still need to be a way for participants to discuss these images and that judgements aren’t placed on the images purely by external ‘viewers’.

   Integration of material with other work:
   This link was shared with me on Twitter yesterday and I think it has relevance here in terms of the first two methods being about empowering participants to guide the research focus. http://nomorethrowawaypeople.org/ – The link here is about enabling the population under study to develop the tools to study and think and look critically at situations as insiders.
   The concept of body mapping to me seems a little like Kawa in terms of its creativity and connection to personal experience.

   Application of material to own experience:
   At a recent conference I used images of book covers to talk about my ‘relationship with books’. I actually found this quite powerful and felt that using the visuals helped me structure and articulate my thoughts.
   I have used drawings with students as prompts to reflection on events and situations. I’m not sure if it is the extra thinking time used whilst painting or the act of painting itself that seems to open people up.

   Evaluation of author’s presentation:
   This is an opinion piece rather than a research article.
   How did they select the three methodologies to focus on?
   I did feel that the messages were a little repetitive at times.
   Clearer suggestions on how it could be used in an occupational science way could have been offered – discussing applications alongside the information about the methodologies, particularly in the textual analysis example.
   Frustrated by the comment about lack of generalizability re Photovoice because the whole purpose seems to me to be about individual communities anyway
   I feel that perhaps the first two methodologies were more congruent, perhaps the last could have been an article on its own as it appeared to take a different track.

   Application of learning to practice:
   In terms of my own research I believe there could be scope to include visual images to prompt discussions with my participants.
   The idea about shared ‘authorship’ or creation will also be important to my PhD work – I want my participants to have power to guide the research focus as much as me.
   If clients are struggling to tell us about why something is meaningful we could ask them to take some photos engaging in the occupation and then discuss those together.
   Photovoice may not be all that appropriate with vulnerable groups because of potential ethical issues – clear consent would need to be able to be provided if sharing images.
   I like the idea of using body mapping to explore pain or conditions where there is a body transformation, there may be practical issues in getting people into positions to trace their bodies but the connection between the outline and self may be more telling than using a generic template. Also it may help people address body type issues.
   Body mapping could also be used to explore more internal physical or psychological barriers to engaging in occupations.
   Maybe textual analysis can be completed on ‘found’ visual representations on participation in a particular occupation.

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