'Sociological Theory in Transition' (always ..?)

Conclusion: Sociology as a Skin Trade

In other writings (O'Neill, 1972, 1985) I have set out a rival conception of the embodied subject who suffers the hopes and defeats of what I have called 'sociology as a skin trade'. At the same time I began to renovate the imagery of society as a body-politic, to differentiate the levels of the bio-body, the productive body and the libidinal body as sites where human beings pursue the relevant knowledge and values of health, work and happiness. Each level of discourse requires he formulation of relevant technical knowledge (medicine, political economy, sociology and psychoanalysis) and each level has its own emancipatory discourse about health creativity and self-expression. Because each of these discursive interests is likely to be articulated by professional social scientists and therapists, it is necessary to require the institutionalization of mechanisms of political and ethical accountability to laypersons' common-sense knowledge and values regarding their bodies, their families, their work and their souls. Medical and sociological nemesis is not the result of a therapeutic conspiracy against society. It belongs to the radical technological a priori of Western knowledge whose ambition is fundamentally bio-technological. The sin of Adam and Eve was the best humankind could manage at the time. In today's laboratory Adam and Eve can be bypassed and life can be set in motion according to the best genetic formulas. Huge legal, ethical and sociological problems are simultaneously generated. And thus we step into a new 'crisis of opportunity` for which very few social scientists are prepared - whether by training or morals.' p.35.

INDIVIDUAL

|

     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

psychoanalysis	body as a machine bio-technological body- bio-
sociology	-politic bio-politics of the population

'In concrete terms, starting in the seventeenth century, this power over life evolved in two basic forms ... One of these poles - the first to be formed, it seems - centered on the body as a machine: its disciplining, the optimisation of its capabilities, the extortion of its forces, the parallel increase of its usefulness and docility, its integration into systems of efficient and economic controls, all this was ensured by the procedures of power that characterised the disciplines: an anatomo-politics of the human body.
The second, formed somewhat later, focussed on the species body, the body imbued with the mechanics of life and serving as the basis of the biological processes: propagation, births and mortality, the level of health, life expectancy and longevity, with all the conditions that can cause them to vary. Their supervision was effected through an entire series of interventions and regulatory controls: a bio-politics of the  population. (Foucault, 1980a, p. 139; altered for my emphasis)' p.24.

'Bio-power regulates bodies individually, as in the clinical model. and collectively, as on the model of social medicine. The two strategies are combined to produce the most complete system of discipline ever known in the history of power. Disciplinary power works in hospitals. schools, prisons, armies, factories and bureaucracies. It is compatible with shifting vocabularies of rights, reform and welfare. It is intimate and collective; it is obeyed not because of its power over death but because of its power over life. It is this shift in emphasis that is the source of the expansion of bio-power whose corresponding apparatus we may call the therapeutic state.' p.25.

 

O’Neill, J. Sociological Nemesis: Parsons and Foucault on the Therapeutic Disciplines, Chapter 1 (pp.21-35). In. Wardell, M.L. and Turner, S. (Eds.). (1986) Sociological Theory in Transition. London: Allen & Unwin, Inc. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/phi_facpub/86

Previously: 'sociology' : 'power' : 'body'

Call for Submissions: Reimagining the Frontline - The Evolving Roles of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in a Changing World

Dear HIFA Colleagues,

Are you a researcher operating in the community health space?

Sage Health Service Insight Journal, a JCR-ranked, peer-reviewed, fully Open Access journal with an Impact Factor of 2.5. launched a Special Collection focused titled:

Reimagining the Frontline:

The Evolving Roles of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in a Changing World
 https://journals.sagepub.com/topic/collections-his/002164/hisa

Your perspective would be invaluable to this collection, especially at a time when CHWs are at a pivotal crossroad. From navigating funding pressures and the health impacts of climate change to harnessing AI and digital tools, their roles are evolving faster than ever. This collection seeks to capture that transformation through rigorous, forward-looking research.

We welcome research articles and review articles on these topics: 

• Sustainable financing and economic models in a constrained landscape 
• Digital transformation: AI, mHealth, and data equity
• Adapting to emerging health threats and new health conditions 
• CHW resilience and wellbeing

Submission deadline: 13 July 2026

Additionally, authors may be eligible for APC discount through: 

• Sage Publishing Open Access Agreements (institutions with an agreement with Sage) 
  https://www.sagepub.com/explore-our-content/blogs/posts/sage-perspectives/2025/10/01/what-happens-after-you-submit-to-a-special-collection 
• Research4Life country discounts (50% or 100% waiver for Category A and B countries, respectively)

Please note that only the highest applicable discount would apply to the standard publication fee, as authors would be unable to stack the discounts.

We deeply appreciate your consideration and would be delighted to feature your work in this Special Collection. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

Should you have any questions about the Special Collection, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Guest Editors directly: Abimbola.Olaniran AT outlook.com and Roosa.Sofia.Tikkanen AT fhi.no. For journal-related queries, please contact: Katalin.Orosz AT sagepub.co.uk

Thank you so much for considering this invitation. I truly look forward to the possibility of featuring your work.

Best regards,

Drs Abimbola Olaniran & Roosa Sofia Tikkanen Guest Editors, Health Services Insights Special Collection

HIFA profile: Abimbola A. Olaniran (MB;BS, PhD, EMBA) is a physician, researcher, and digital health entrepreneur with over twenty years of experience at the intersection of clinical care, health systems research, and policy in Africa. He continues to collaborate with local and international partners as well as national governments across Africa on health policy, workforce planning, and implementation research. His mission is to ensure that the AI revolution serves the most underserved, building from the continent, for the continent. Abimbola.Olaniran AT outlook.com

 

🔷 

Just to add: In addition, if I can support any CHW's and team colleagues and managers in a contribution using Hodges' model, I would be pleased to do so.

My source: HIFA list

In search of socio-political logics

'The logic of appropriateness refers to actions which members of an institution take to conform to its norms. For example, a head of state will perform ceremonial duties because it is an official obligation. By contrast, the logic of consequences denotes behaviour directed at achieving an individual goal such as promotion or re-election.' p.87.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

'Institutions are far more than the theatre within which the political drama unfolds; they also shape the script (Peters, 1999). This emphasis within the institutional framework on the symbolic or ritual aspect of political behaviour contrasts with the view of politicians and bureaucrats as rational, instrumental actors who define their own goals independently of the organization they represent.' p.87.

'Further, institutions bring forth activity which takes place simply because it is expected, not because it has any deeper political motive. When a legislative committee holds hearings on a topic, it may be more concerned to be seen to be doing its job than to probe the topic itself. Much political action is best understood by reference to this logic of appropriateness rather than a logic of consequences. For instance, when a president visits an area devastated by floods, he is not necessarily seeking to direct relief operations or to achieve any purpose other than to be seen to be performing his duty of showing concern. In itself, the tour achieves the goal of meeting expectations arising from the actor's institutional position. "Don't just do something, stand there", said Ronald Reagan, a president with a fine grasp of the logic of appropriateness.' pp.86-87.

    

See also: 'drama' : 'bridges'

Hague, R., & Harrop, M. (2007). Comparative Government and Politics (7th ed.). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Peters, B. Guy. (1999). Institutional theory in political science: the new institutionalism. London: Pinter.

"Registered Nurse RN": What is in a Title?

or, Here is Saturday's Multidisciplinary Team selection;
Registered Nurses on the subs bench;
On the Roll, or Roll with the Times?

While never a union/professional body (formal) representative, I have as a nursing assistant then student nurse been aware of the 'political' in health. Once again perhaps another way in which I was primed to the reality of staff as a key (the) resource and hence the centrality of the workforce. Abbreviations are ever present and I remember RAWP - Resource Allocation Working Party; which also drew attention to geography and scale. Unfortunately, the vitality of the workforce has suffered with workforce planning inconsistently exercised.

Once again, I also recall a presentation by Derek Hoy on the need for information systems (data - information - knowledge . . .) through nurse informatics to help make nursing visible. It seems this is still an issue, for example:

Lyu, XC., Huang, SS., Ye, XM. et al. What influences newly graduated registered nurses’ intention to leave the nursing profession? An integrative review. BMC Nurs 23, 57 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-023-01685-z

Leamy, M., Sims, S., Levenson, R. et al. Intentional rounding: a realist evaluation using case studies in acute and care of older people hospital wards. BMC Health Serv Res 23, 1341 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10358-1

Stadnicka, S.K., Zarzycka, D. Perception of the professional self-image by nurses and midwives. Psychometric adaptation of the Belimage questionnaire. BMC Nurs 22, 412 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-023-01564-7

 
Last month on a trip to Hay-on-Wye I picked up some back-issues of London Review of Books. Needless to say, in light of space and the clearing exercise I was very selective. The pearl of an essay cited below prompted me to wonder on the silence, quietness, lack of noise - invisibility even - of certain wards where registered nurses are present: or not? How and what data is captured and interpreted for reporting purposes and how meaning is gleaned and by whom? Making a difference in terms of patient safety and the quality of care:

LRB 45:18

"Call​ it the Jaap Stam conundrum. The story is told in Rory Smith’s entertaining book about the use of data in football, Expected Goals. Stam was a very talented but ageing central defender who had for three years been crucial to the success of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. Stam got into Ferguson’s bad books, and Ferguson decided to get rid of him, backed by data showing that Stam was now making fewer tackles. Stam was sold to Lazio for £16.5 million. Simon Kuper, co-author of Soccernomics (2009), about the use of numbers in football, wrote that this might have been the first deal in football based partly on data. It was, as Ferguson later admitted, a ‘bad decision’. Stam went on to have several productive years at the top of Italian football. The mistake was based on the fact that the data were Delphic. The question Man U wanted to have answered was ‘Should we keep Stam?’ Instead, the oracle answered the question ‘How many tackles is Stam making?’ But, as Smith writes,

'the best defenders do not need to make many tackles. The tackle itself is an act of last resort; great defenders intervene long before anything so tawdry is required. That Stam was making fewer tackles was not a sign that he was getting worse; if anything, it may have been a sign that his anticipation and his positioning and his reading of the game were all improving.'

Football, like Mao’s China, has discovered that getting hold of the data is one thing, interpretation of the data is another. The terms ‘data’ and ‘analytics’ are used interchangeably in sport, Smith points out, but in fact the gathering of data, fuelled by surging interest from sports teams and professional gamblers, has tended significantly to outpace the intelligent analytic use of that data."

("Delphic. It answers the question you ask, but it doesn’t tell you what to do.")

John Lanchester. Get a rabbit. Vol. 45 No. 18 · 21 September 2023.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n18/john-lanchester/get-a-rabbit 

See also:

Gorsky M, Millward G. Resource Allocation for Equity in the British National Health Service, 1948-89: An Advocacy Coalition Analysis of the RAWP. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2018 Feb 1;43(1):69-108. doi: 10.1215/03616878-4249814. PMID: 28972019; PMCID: PMC6312698.

RAWP

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/assets/icbh-witness/rawp.pdf

Social Sciences, measurement ... c/o Outhwaite (1991)

 

"the conceptual aspect of the subject matter of the social sciences circumscribes the possibility of measurement. . . . For meanings cannot be measured, only understood. Hypotheses about them must be expressed in language, and confirmed in dialogue. Language here stands to the conceptual aspect of social sciences as geometry stands to physics. And precision in meaning now assumes the place of accuracy in measurement as the a posteriori arbiter of theory. It should be stressed that in both cases theories may continue to be justified and validly used to explain, even though significant measurement of the phenomena of which they treat has become impossible." Chapter 3, Realism and Social Science. p.60.

 

William Outhwaite (1991) New Philosophies of Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory. London: MacMillan.

 INDIVIDUAL
|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

quality subject/subjective

geometry, physics (time) metric / measurement / magnitude quantity *or, automated systems, robots object/objective

social sciences - humanities "Society consists of people. Groups consist of people. Institutions consist of people plus rules and roles. Rules are followed (or alternately not followed) by people and roles are filled by people.* Also there are traditions, customs, ideologies, kinship systems, languages: these are ways people act, think, and talk." p.108. Chapter 7, Conclusion. (Citing Steven Lukes.)

Institutions "There is thus an important sense in which Marx's explanandum in Capital is a conceptual question (though one whose answer required detailed empirical as well as conceptual investigation): 'why labour is expressed in value and why the measurement of its duration is measured in the magnitude of the product.' Chapter 6, Critical Hermeneutics ... p.96.

Hodges' model:
The Individual - Group(s) axis: The subjects and agents of health and social care (theory, practice, management, policy, research, history, future studies ...)

VerbAtlas 1.0 - Semantic Role Labeling and beyond! c/o Roberto Navigli

VerbAtlas 1.0 - Semantic Role Labeling and beyond!

We are proud to announce that VerbAtlas 1.0 (http://verbatlas.org) is finally available for download at http://verbatlas.org/download. Developed in the Sapienza NLP group (http://nlp.uniroma1.it), the multilingual Natural Language Processing research team at the Sapienza University of Rome, VerbAtlas is a novel large-scale manually-crafted semantic resource for wide-coverage, intelligible and scalable Semantic Role Labeling. The goal of VerbAtlas is to manually cluster WordNet synsets that share similar semantics into sets of semantically-coherent frames. The main features are:

• 466 semantically-coherent frames using 26 cross-frame VerbNet-inspired semantic roles for their argument structure.
• Available both for download and via RESTful API.
• Full coverage of WordNet 3.0 verb synsets (13,000+).
• Complete linkage to BabelNet 4.0, which supports 280+ languages (new version to come later this year!).
• Manual mapping to PropBank of all CoNLL-2009 and CoNLL-2012 dataset occurrences (5000+ mappings).
• Selectional preferences: the superconcept most probably associated with a semantic role in a frame (e.g. food for the patient role of the EAT frame).
• Default/shadow arguments: arguments logically implied or already incorporated into a verb.
• Implicit arguments: arguments that are implicit in the argument structure of a verb.

And much more! Please check out our EMNLP 2019 paper:

A. Di Fabio, S. Conia, R. Navigli “VerbAtlas: a Novel Large-Scale Verbal Semantic Resource and Its Application to Semantic Role Labeling”, EMNLP-IJCNLP 2019, pp. 627-637

and http://verbatlas.org for more details!

A state-of-the-art span-based SRL system which uses VerbAtlas and PropBank jointly is also available from the same website (just type a sentence!).

VerbAtlas is an output of the MOUSSE ERC Consolidator Grant n. 726487 and the ELEXIS project no.731015. Babelscape proudly developed the online interface and API, provides the infrastructure for maintaining the service and works on the improvement of the resource. 

Enjoy!

The Sapienza NLP group

=====================================
Roberto Navigli

Dipartimento di Informatica
Sapienza University of Rome
Viale Regina Elena 295b (building G, second floor)
00161 Roma Italy
Home Page: http://wwwusers.di.uniroma1.it/~navigli

Sapienza NLP Group: http://nlp.uniroma1.it
My Source:
The Semantic-web list @w3.org



What are / should be the current core verbs allocated to each of the care (knowledge) domains of Hodges' model?

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

*personalise	scientify
socialise	politicise

*(intra- inter-)personalise?


From above introduction to VerbAtlas:

"A state-of-the-art span-based SRL system which uses VerbAtlas and PropBank jointly is also available from the same website (just type a sentence!)."

Sentence: "Nurses wear certified personal protective equipment to care for patients with Coronavirus." in VerbAtlas 1.0

See also:

For those working at the intersection between #NLP and #COVID19 here is a possibly interesting venue:

NLP COVID-19 Workshop at ACL 2020 @aclmeeting https://t.co/hLFqljTVJC pic.twitter.com/0bOdcU0qBV

— Emilio Ferrara (@emilio__ferrara) April 4, 2020

Review: i Kinchin's Visualising Powerful Knowledge to Develop the Expert Student

If there are sources to help understand Hodges' model and even contribute and provide evidence for a 'theory' then this book is one to add to the shelf.

Consequently this is the first of several posts (and other book reviews?):

Kinchin's Visualising Powerful Knowledge to Develop the Expert Student and related books

As mentioned Kinchin's book was brought to my attention through the Threshold Concepts forum. More on this to follow. Kinchin begins by noting how academics who teach at universities are there because they are subject experts. This is not just their knowing a lot, but the way this knowledge is organised (structured) and understood. This facilitates their engagement in the field to help extend knowledge further and the discipline they teach. Kinchin cites Goldsmith et al. (1991):

"To be knowledgeable in some area is to understand the interrelationships among the important concepts in that domain." p.4.

There is an immediate opportunity here, to note that Hodges' model in providing four domains is encouraging and facilitating the identification, association, understanding (meanings) across the model's domains that for novices simultaneously increases their vocabulary.

Kinchin's book seeks to address what is often a marked gap, between academics as subject matter experts and their ability to teach or present the content of 'what they know'. While teachers (and nurse mentors) are preoccupied with a student's competence, this book also considers the competence of teachers to teach. Kinchin reports how a great deal of teaching appears designed to keep students as 'perpetual novices'. I had an image here of Benner's theory pushing from one side; while teaching custom & practice (Powerpoint, linear, chains - of theory) pushes from the other. Why are students being taught, why are they learning? Reference to tell-memorise-test-forget in order to pass exams, seems the end-game, the outcome that student are now (potentially) paying for.

At this point in writing the review, I come across an omission. There is no index, but what appears a comprehensive list of references is provided. I found what I was looking for quickly enough - reference to 'bulimic learning' on p.7. Students gorge on information only to regurgitate it for exam purposes. This means it is undigested, not learned and integrated into the student's existing knowledge base and other concurrent learning. While science is applied in terms of evidence through research, teachers often seem reluctant to apply the very same principles.

"One of the problems in moving from 'traditional' teaching models towards 'effective' models is perhaps the lack of accessible tools with which to support the change from the non-learning of inert knowledge to the meaningful learning of powerful knowledge." p.7

Teachers and teaching provoke many adages, especially in health education; the 'differences' between those who practice, those who teach and those dedicated to research who eschew teaching preferring research. As the references suggest, Kinchin cites the literature, in this case the 'politics of reluctance'. Ideally all should apply, teaching, teachers, research and researchers married and allied together. There is a tendency (as ever) to stereotype and dichotomise. Some teach because they are lousy researchers; when it should be the case that teachers teach the way they research (p.10).

Chapter 1 is "The Framework - Linking Key Ideas" central is the approach and resource provided by Novak and Symlington in 1982 using the concept map. With a small library of papers and books, Novak is in there, Tony Buzan's mind-mapping approach - which is different and other sources. From the start, examples of a concept map framework are provided pp. 3,4,6 ... While very critical of 'traditional' teaching, Kinchin is sympathetic to the reality many teachers face and empathetic of teaching as the poor cousin. There are teachers aspiring to be 'active' teachers and effect change.

to be continued...

Novak, J.D. and Symington, D.J. (1982) Concept mapping for curriculum development. Victoria Institute for Educational Research Bulletin, 48: 3–11.

Kinchin, I., (2016) Visualising powerful knowledge to develop the expert student. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

See also:

Intro post

Review Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Thanks to Brill for my review copy.

Self Care Week Europe 12th November @Self_Care_EU

What does self care involve...?

SELF

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

HUMANISTIC ----------------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

OTHER

(States of) Mind Identity Basic (and greater) Education  Knowledge and Skills - Health Literacy Cognitive access - understanding Motivation, Attitude Personal ethics, personal values Self-esteem, Self-image Personal philosophy, beliefs, expectations Emotional - mental well-being Resilience, coping strategies Balanced Life experiences Formative experiences Upbringing, memory, character Stress and Vulnerability Self-advocacy Risk taking: substance (mis-)use

(States of) Matter Knowledge of physical fitness Daily exercise Presence of medical conditions, patient education: self- monitoring, treatment, recording, reporting Body image, diet, nutrition Treatments, Research - Antibiotics Technology Physical infrastructure: Built environment, Rural, Transport. Lifecycle Physical access Environment, climate change, Eco-systems, Sustainability

Care, Compassion, Love Family Friends Culture Lifestyle Social network (actual / virtual) Relationships Community infrastructure Stigma Carer support

Global Eco-nomies  Citizenship Financial knowledge, access to banking Health Service provision - Systems Public Mental Health Programmes Professionals, Global Health Government policies Welfare funding Employment opportunities Health, SDGs Food industry Advertising

Tomorrow November 12th is the launch of self care week Europe. Jaqueline Bowman will be representing the platform SCiE at EU Health Policy Platform in Brussels. #selfcareweek @Self_Care_EU

— EHFF (@EUHealthFutures) November 11, 2018

Threshold Concepts Special Edition - Int. Journal of Practice-Based Learning in Health and Social Care

Dear Members

We thought you would want to know about the Threshold Concepts Special Edition Journal which has just been published in the International Journal of Practice-Based Learning in Health and Social Care.

 

The Journal is free-to-read. The articles explore:

• Ways in which threshold concepts can inform understanding about how students become practitioners in their chosen profession.
• Thresholds associated with practice placements and practice-based learning.
• Ways in which the threshold concepts framework may inform development of curricula in healthcare disciplines.

They are all available on http://e-learning.coventry.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/pblh/issue/view/31

 

Please share the link with anyone else who may be interested.

 

Best wishes

 

Hilary and Linda

                                 

 

Website:  www.plymouth.ac.uk/peninsula    We hold an Athena SWAN Silver award from the Equality Challenge Unit

My source:
Threshold Concepts in Health and Social Care special interest group

Drupal - update: users, roles, content and permissions

I just thought I'd provide an update on the new site.

There's still nothing new on the hosting account. I managed to update on localhost from 8.5.0 to 8.5.3. As I went to the Manchester Drupal Sprint two weekends ago I had a couple of errors. Webform was proving awkward but that was probably me the way I tried to remove it in order to update. It appears there have been some problems, but switching on "Logging and errors" I had more errors that weekend and working through with advice and support at the Sprint things resolved!

Poking around has been really useful and thus far I've not had to start from scratch. Webform is updated but I realised previously I have only scratched the module's surface. Then there is Paragraphs! This is the challenge with Drupal and the range of modules available as explained at DrupalCon Nashville. I know, I know, I've picked up pen and paper and am fleshing out users, roles, content and permissions. This is a distraction. There has always been help available - that's the Drupal community. I've someone to chat with now and looking forward to updating Richard and help to get the new site live. Richard was at Szeged my first Drupalcon in 2008. I remember the advice of Chris, Dan and James back then and Phil, Nathan and others since: Just do it!

So I can't keep scribbling on paper - or here...

The New Script of Nursing : El Nuevo Guión de Enfermería

Dear Colleagues and Members of the Global Alliance for Nursing & Midwifery (GANM),

All of us know that our profession is undergoing an extraordinary transformation and that nursing will never look the same. While we know this, there is a profound need to educate the general public about the broader scope of our work and expanding opportunities.

As the breadth and impact of our work increases, so does the need to recruit and retain nurses—crucial elements during a nursing shortage throughout the world. Together, we are writing the “new script of nursing,” and we have create​d a video that reveals the intensity and magnitude of our profession that is much more than what meets the eye – researcher, clinician, change agent, inventor.

We purposely did not brand this video as our own because the advancement of the profession and the healthcare needs of the patients we serve are more important than any of our individual or organizational needs. By not branding, the message will go farther and have greater impact.

I encourage you to use it as your own and help spread the word of the new script of nursing. Like many of you, we can’t support a national campaign, but together we can perhaps start the process of educating the public and moving nursing toward a realistic, contemporary image.

Share it on social media, send it to your colleagues to push out, and join us in saying “#WeGotThis.”

Patricia Davidson
Dean, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

http://ganm.nursing.jhu.edu/the-new-script-of-nursing/ 

-------------------------------- 

Estimados/as Colegas y Miembros de la Alianza Global de Enfermería y Partería (GANM),

Todos nosotros sabemos que nuestra profesión está experimentando una transformación extraordinaria y que la profesión de enfermería nunca mas tendrá el mismo aspecto. Si bien sabemos esto, existe una profunda necesidad de educar al público sobre el amplio alcance de nuestro trabajo y oportunidades de expansión. 

A medida que la amplitud y el impacto de nuestros trabajo aumenta, también lo hace la necesidad de reclutar y retener enfermeros y enfermeras -- elementos cruciales durante una escasez de enfermeras/os en todo el mundo. Juntos, estamos escribiendo el "nuevo guión de la profesión de enfermería," y hemos creado un video que revela la intensidad y la magnitud de nuestra profesión que es mucho más de lo que parece a simple vista - investigador/a, clínico/a, agente de cambio, inventor/a.

Fue a propósito que no etiquetamos este vídeo como nuestra propia producción debido a que el avance de la profesión y las necesidades de salud de los pacientes que atendemos son más importantes que cualquiera de nuestras necesidades organizacionales o individuales. Al no etiquetar este video, el mensaje va a ir más lejos y tendrá un mayor impacto.

Los animo a usarlo como su propio mensaje para asi ayudar a difundir la palabra sobre el nuevo guión de la profesión de enfermería. Como muchos de ustedes, no podemos apoyar una campaña nacional o mundial pero juntos podemos quizás iniciar el proceso de educar al público y avanzar la imagen de enfermería hacia una mas realista y contemporánea. 

Compártanlo en las redes sociales, envíenlo a sus colegas, y se únanse a nosotros en decir "#WeGotThis."

Patricia Davidson
Decana, Escuela de Enfermería Johns Hopkins 

http://ganm.nursing.jhu.edu/the-new-script-of-nursing/

The GANM is part of the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center.

The thoughts, opinions and views that are posted on the GANM do not reflect those of either Johns Hopkins University or WHO.

Please visit the GANM webpage at: http://knowledge-gateway.org/ganm/

Reading: Design of a Community-Engaged Health Informatics Platform with an Architecture of Participation

Abstract

Community-engaged health informatics (CEHI) applies information technology and participatory approaches to improve the health of communities. Our objective was to translate the concept of CEHI into a usable and replicable informatics platform that will facilitate community-engaged practice and research. The setting is a diverse urban neighborhood in New York City. The methods included community asset mapping, stakeholder interviews, logic modeling, analysis of affordances in open-source tools, elicitation of use cases and requirements, and a survey of early adopters. Based on synthesis of data collected, GetHealthyHeigths.org (GHH) was developed using opensource LAMP stack and Drupal content management software. Drupal’s organic groups module was used for novel participatory functionality, along with detailed user roles and permissions. Future work includes evaluation of GHH and its impact on agency and service networks. We plan to expand GHH with additional functionality to further support CEHI by combining informatics solutions with community engagement to improve health.

Get Healthy Heights (misspelt above)

Millery, M., Ramos, W., Lien, C., Aguirre, A. N., & Kukafka, R. (2015). Design of a Community-Engaged Health Informatics Platform with an Architecture of Participation. AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings, 2015, 905–914.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4765661/

Thanks to Michael Gurstein - ciresearchers AT vancouvercommunity.net

Borges & Forés: The Role of the Online Learners and the Four Competentional Clusters (Khan & Ally, Eds. 2015)

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|

group

Metacognitive	Operational
Relational	Academic

Since receiving the e-learning handbooks edited by Khan and Ally (2015) in April there have been several challenges; studies, sickness in the family and full-time work. I'm up to chapter 13 of Volume 1 and I have learned a great deal thus far. The first volume is already serving as an excellent primer on e-learning for someone in full-time clinical work, studying by distance learning and with teaching and mentoring experience.

The above table is derived from chapter 13 by Federico Borges and Anna Forés.

I have superimposed Borges' four competentional clusters onto Hodges' model. There is also a figure (13.1) that seeks to show that:

• there is no hierarchy among the competences,
• competences are all interrelated,
• more than one competence can occur at the same time,
• competences are manifested when needed and as needed (p.199).

This can also be related to the 4P's

purpose	process
practise	policy

Borges, F. and Forés, A. (2015) The Role of the Online Learner, Chap. 13 In Badrul H. Khan, Mohamed Ally (Eds) International Handbook of E-Learning. Volume 1, Oxford: Routledge. pp. 197-206.

Ada Lovelace Day: Enid Mumford - Socio-technical perfume down the mine

I had to enter a pledge and join the call today to post in response to Ada Lovelace Day - an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology.

Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Entrepreneurs, innovators, sysadmins, programmers, designers, games developers, hardware experts, tech journalists, tech consultants. The list of tech-related careers is endless.

Recent research by psychologist Penelope Lockwood discovered that women need to see female role models more than men need to see male ones. That’s a relatively simple problem to begin to address. If women need female role models, let’s come together to highlight the women in technology that we look up to. Let’s create new role models and make sure that whenever the question “Who are the leading women in tech?” is asked, that we all have a list of candidates on the tips of our tongues.

It was soon after this blog first appeared that I learned of the news of Enid Mumford's death. I never had the pleasure of meeting Prof. Mumford, but came across her work whilst doing my own studies and a degree at Bolton. We have something in common in being raised in Merseyside. In the NW of England there is also a tradition of mining...

Studying geology at school we went on a field trip down the pit at Golborne Colliery. Strange to be told after an underground train ride we where under the East Lancashire A580. Enid Mumford's early work took her underground, but her impact extended far beyond her perfume bottle:

'A woman down the mines?" Enid Mumford's classic sociological research for the National Coal Board had a strong impact on unbelieving miners. Later, as an active advocate for women's rights, Enid, who has died aged 82, enjoyed recounting her early experiences: "They were terribly nice to me whenever I turned up, but they were awfully embarrassed at what I might catch them doing." Enid would "drench herself with perfume", so that the ventilation system would give the miners a chance to prepare themselves for her arrival at the coalface. In such ways, Enid began her contributions to social theory, with its challenges to action researchers like herself.
The Guardian obituary

As posted previously this year sees a chapter published on Hodges' model and socio-technical structures in nursing informatics (See bibliography in the blog's side bar). I really latched on to Enid Mumford's approach and needless to say Professor Mumford's invaluable work figures in my overview:

Background: Existing socio-technical structures and methods

This section scratches the pages of the socio-technical literature by introducing two seminal contributions and briefly references other sources. The two authors discussed are Mumford (1983) in the socio-technical sense and Giddens (1984) who is more generic socially and organisational oriented. Enid Mumford created ETHICS, a systems design methodology: Effective Technical and Human Implementation of Computer-based Systems. The need for ETHICS is to help manage change with three objectives.

First, ETHICS stresses that the future users of computer systems, whether directly or indirectly involved should play a major part in designing these systems. User involvement is closely related to subsequent job satisfaction and efficiency gains and hence the realization of benefits. The users of systems are credited as experts; if this knowledge and experience is recognized and utilized then job satisfaction gains are likely as the users are active agents in the change process and not passive. There is an interesting correspondence here with the continuing emphasis on patients and carers being acknowledged as experts in their care assessment, management and evaluation.

The second objective focuses on the human – behavioural response to change. It is important that specific job satisfaction objectives are factored into the design from the outset and not left to chance, lost amid technical specifications and objectives. In this way potential negative change impacting the quality of work life can be anticipated and avoided or at least ameliorated. Technology has frequently been associated with de-skilling and of course the loss of traditional jobs. The prospect of technical, management led change can cause consternation in the user community. If alienated employees may be absent, seek alternate employment, and overall be less productive.

ETHICS is not restricted to the computer system; the third objective highlights the need for a new computer system to be ‘surrounded by a compatible, well functioning organizational system’ (Mumford, 1983). Design must be viewed globally as a whole. The technical design is just one part of a very complex design process that must also incorporate the details of human-machine interaction; what would be called gap analysis, the differences in existing processes and proposed new processes and procedures. In addition, as per objectives one and two, individual jobs and workgroup activities must be reviewed; how are existing roles and relationships altered and newly defined? What new management arrangements are needed, since (middle) management is rarely untouched?

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I wish I could spend more time on Hodges' model, socio-technical thought and its application. Women in ICT? This is not a new call.

Women must have role in IT - not just to ensure the social in SOCIO-technical.

Not just to ensure that the 'c' in ICT happens.

Whether in programming, instructional technology, internet infrastructure, semantic web, the games industry and a whole host of other areas - Ada Lovelace, Enid Mumford - and of course others past and present must not be lone pioneers. ...

Additional links:

BCS Women

Daphne Jackson Trust

The Register (2008) Women IT EU Job Shortage

For BR