My living theory of caring: How can I improve my practice as I lead support for carers and their families?

Context

My research question ‘How can I improve my practice as I lead support for carers and their families?’ is asked in the context of my work as Chief Executive of a Carers’ Centre and my previous work as a Young Carers Manager in the South West of England.

The economic and political contexts are changing continuously with global economic influences affecting the resources available to support Carers’ Centres through government policies. These policies include regulative instruments governing accountability for what I do and financial cuts to services.

The scholarly context is also changing continuously with digital technologies opening up new forms of representation (Eisner, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2005) for communicating the meanings of embodied expressions of energy, values and understandings. In seeking to make an original contribution to knowledge as I explore the practical and theoretical implications of asking, researching and answering my question I am aware of Schon’s (1995) call to develop a new epistemology for the new scholarship together with his belief that this new epistemology will emerge from action research.

Scope

My lived experience has been that by coming together we can enhance a flow of life-enhancing energy that influences well-being. My research will explore the pooling of energy by engaging in collaborative research with carers and their families, my staff and other colleagues. Heron describes experiential knowing as;

‘feeling and imaging the presence of some energy, entity, person, place, process or thing. It is knowing through participative, empathic resonance with a being, so that as knower I feel both attuned with it and distinct from it.’ (Heron, 2001, p. 195)

Conscious Conversation 1997

This picture I drew when I was 18 captures in art form the energy I am proposing to study. Whitehead describes ‘explanatory principles that include energy-flowing values that carry hope for the future of humanity and my own, such as loving what we do.’ (Whitehead, 2010, pg. 11) I experience these energy-flowing values and want to bring these out into the academy, where they have largely been ignored and unseen:

‘It seems, then, the innovators in science are frequently those with sufficient courage to challenge widespread assumptions, enabling them to observe phenomena that were concealed from their peers by the veils of pre-conceived ideas.  Norwood Russell Hanson comments: “the paradigm observer is not the man who sees and reports what all normal observers see and report, but the man who sees in familiar objects what no one else has seen before.”’ (Wallace, 1996, Pg. 61)

My research will look at how energy flows and helps us to learn and to improve what we are doing.  It will look at how energy effects interactions in the Carers’ Centre and look at ways of representing and evaluating the influence of the energy that motivates participants in the Centre. It will look at how we pool energy when we are together and at the educational influences in learning of this pooling of energy. I want to make a paradigm shift in thinking about working with people that shows that basing it on outcomes that are measurable such as what jobs they get, how much money they earn or what grades they get, misses what is important.  But I don’t want the energy to be something that is measurable in the ways that regulative principles of accountability have worked in the past:

“Able, brilliant and skilled professionals do not thrive in an environment where much of their energies are absorbed by the need to comply with a raft of detailed requirements.’ (House of Lords, 2009, p.15)

  I fear that we will become like 1984 or brave new world if we try and measure the energy.  This is because if you try to measure the energy you have to define the energy and say what is energising for one person, but only the individual can realise what is energising for them.

As financial cuts increase staff fear for their jobs and carers fear that support services that the Carers’ Centre provides will be cut. This can lead to a reduction in morale and it can be more difficult to maintain the energy to carry on. This will lead me ‘to rethink research as a 'ruin', in which risk and uncertainty are the price to be paid for the possibility of breaking out of the cycle of certainty that never seems to deliver the hoped-for happy ending’ (Maclure 1996).  Whilst being aware of myself as a living contradiction (Whitehead 1988).

Methodology and Methods

A living theory methodology

In contributing to a new epistemology (Schon, 1995) I believe that I will need to use my ‘methodological inventiveness’ to:

‘create enquiry approaches that enable new, valid understandings to develop; understandings that empower practitioners to improve their work for the beneficiaries in their care’  (Dadds and Hart, 2001, Pg. 169).

It will add to a body of knowledge of Living Learning Theory and the importance of  ‘methodological inventiveness’ for uncovering the expertise of the practitioner and exploring the empowerment of professionals to make public and gain academic legitimation for their embodied knowledge (Whitehead, 2008, pp.  9, 13, 14).

Methods

A strong research community will be needed to validate the findings of my work. This will be provided through Conversation Café and research groups at the University of Bath and the Centre for the Child and Family at Liverpool Hope University. My approach to validity draws on Habermas’ (1976) four criteria for social validity.  At the heart of this method for strengthening the validity of my accounts are four questions derived from Habermas’s criteria:

How can I improve the comprehensibility of my account?
How can I improve the evidential base of my assertions?
How can I deepen and extend my understandings of the normative influences in my actions and accounts?
How can I strengthen the authenticity of my accounts in showing that I truly believe in the values and understandings I claim to hold over time through my work as Chief Executive of a Carers Centre?

My methods include the TASC model Wallace (2000). This action research cycle ensures that the learning is both validated and shared to ensure the influence is spread.

In my methods of data collection I use teenage diaries, teenage art books, video, photos and interviews to enhance the range of the data collection and the validity of the interpretations (Cresswell, 2007) through the triangulation of data gathered through different methods.

My research will also focus on how I develop a participative method in working with adult carers and their families. I use Arnstein’s meaning of participation:
‘citizen participation is a categorical term for citizen power. It is the redistribution of power that enables the have-not citizens, presently excluded from the political and economic processes, to be deliberately included in the future. It is the strategy by which the have-nots join in determining how information is shared, goals and policies are set, tax resources are allocated, programs are operated, and benefits like contracts and patronage are parceled out. In short, it is the means by which they can induce significant social reform which enables them to share in the benefits of the affluent society.’ (Arnstein, 1969)
I also include my ontological values in my participatory approach to my research. Hart expresses my ontological values in her definition of participation:

‘The term ‘participation’ is … the process of sharing decisions which affect one’s life and the life of the community in which one lives. It is the means by which a democracy is built and it is a standard against which democracies should be measured. Participation is the fundamental right of citizenship.’ (Hart, 1992, Pg. 5).

This is important in my research as I agree that:

“The consideration of ontology, of one’s being in and toward the world, should be a central feature of any discussion of the value of self-study research”(Bullough & Pinnegar, 2004 p. 319).

My research will also build on Adichie’s concept of ‘The danger of a single story’. In my story, the stories of my staff and the stories of the carers I work with I want to show the complexities of these stories. Adichie describes the relationship stories have with power;

‘It is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power. There is a word, an Igbo word, that I think about whenever I think about the power structures of the world, and it is "nkali." It's a noun that loosely translates to "to be greater than another." Like our economic and political worlds, stories too are defined by the principle of nkali. How they are told, who tells them, when they're told, how many stories are told, are really dependent on power. Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.’ (Adichie, 2009)

I shall also be using visual narratives to communicate meanings of the expression of my embodied values in my explanations of influence (Huxtable, 2010).

Purposes

One of my purposes is to recognise and explore the implications of gender in my research and the importance that:

‘the inclusion of women's voices changed the voice of the conversation, it shifted the paradigm … But the idea that women's entrance would initiate a change in the structure, whether of theory or practice, work or love, by introducing new experiences, new perceptions, new ways of seeing and thinking, that's more contentious’ (Kiegelmann, 2009).

Whilst this may be contentious, I feel it is important to challenge the academy and to raise this voice. I believe whilst it may be seen to be a female voice I have experienced male voices saying the same things and it is important to empower men to bring their personal stories to their practice.

The word consciousness is useful to some degree as in order to be conscious about something we need to reflect on how it happened.  When we do things unconsciously, or a word that is often used is by our intuition, we cannot replicate it when we are in a different situation or explain it to others. One of my purposes is to explore the validity of my belief that in order to improve professions we need to become conscious professionals.  In order to improve society we need to teach people to be conscious.  A term that is used in meditation is mindfulness.  By this it is meant you are fully present, conscious and aware:

‘Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally.  This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present moment reality.   It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments.  And if we’re not fully present for many of those moments, you may not only miss what is most valuable in our lives but also fail to realise the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth and transformation.’  (Kabat Zinn, 1994, Pg. 4)

I shall explore the implications of expressing ‘mindfulness’ in the generation of my living theory of caring.

Significance

My work will be an original piece of research exploring how my lived experiences have influenced my professional practice, how I can support my workers to acknowledge how their lived experience influences their professional practice and how the lived experiences of the carers I now work with and the young carers I previously worked with have impacted on their lives. These experiences are part of our education as people and as professionals and this research will explore how I can understand, support and make public that living learning.

My living theory of caring will build on Adler’Collins’ ideas that,
Caring perspectives are grounded in a relational ontology of being-in-relationship to others, and a world view of unity and the interconnectedness of everything (Rayner, 2003).  My understanding of caring acknowledges  the unity of  life and connections  that move  in webs of connectedness  from selfhood,  to neighbourhood,  to community,  to  the world,  to  Planet  Earth  and  beyond.  Caring investigations embrace inquiries that are reflective, subjective and interpretative as well as objective-empirical, and caring inquiry includes ontological, philosophical, ethical, historical and educational inquiry and studies. In addition, I believe that caring includes multiple epistemological approaches to inquiry including  clinical  and  empirical,  but  is  open  to moving  into  new  areas  of  inquiry  that explore other ways of knowing,  such  as  aesthetic, poetic, narrative, personal,  intuitive, consciousness-evolving, intentional and spiritual, as well as moral-ethical. (Adler-Collins, 2007, Pg. 36.)
The originality will lie in the generation of a living theory of caring that includes sharing narratives of professionals and service users researching together their caring perspectives and practices with carers as unpaid and professionals as paid. I also will bring an additional dimension of being a Chief Executive who is seeking to develop a culture of research, learning and improving what we are doing into a Carers’ Centre.

References

Adichie, C. TEDGlobal 2009; Filmed July 2009; posted October 2009. Retrieved 06/04/2010 from http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Adler-Collins, J., D., 2007. Developing an inclusional pedagogy of the unique:  How do I clarify, live and explain my educational influences in my learning as I pedagogise my healing nurse curriculum in a Japanese University? PhD thesis University of Bath Retrieved from http://www.actionresearch.net/living/jekan.shtml 12/10/10

Arnstein, Sherry R. "A Ladder of Citizen Participation," JAIP, Vol. 35, No. 4, July 1969, pp. 216-224. Retrieved from http://lithgow-schmidt.dk/sherry-arnstein/ladder-of-citizen-participation.html#d0e24 on 12/04/10

Bullough, R. & Pinnegar, S. (2004)  Thinking about the thinking about self-study: An Analysis of Eight Chapters, in Loughran, J. J., Hamilton, M. L. LaBoskey, V. K, Russell, T. International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher-Education Practices. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Cresswell, J. W. (2007) Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing 
Among Five Approaches.  California, London, New Dehli; Sage. 

Dadds, M., & Hart, S. (2001). Doing practitioner research differently. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Eisner, E. (1988) The Primacy of Experience and the Politics of Method, Educational Researcher, Vol. 17, No. 5, 15-20.

Eisner, E. (1993) Forms of Understanding and the Future of Educational Research. Educational Researcher, Vol. 22, No. 7, 5-11.
 
Eisner, E. (1997) The Promise and Perils of Alternative Forms of Data Representation. Educational Researcher, Vol. 26, No. 6, 4-10.

Eisner, E. (2005) Reimaging Schools: The selected works of Elliot W. Eisner, Oxford & New York; Routledge.

Ellis, C., Flaherty, C., & Flaherty, G. (1992). Investigating subjectivity: research on lived experience. Sage Publications, Inc.
Habermas, J. (1976) Communication and the evolution of society. London; Heinemann.
Heron, J. (2001) The Placebo Effect and a Participatory World View, Understanding the Placebo Effect in Complementary Medicine: Theory, Practice, and Research, ed. David Peters. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone

House of Lords (2009) The cumulative impact of statutory instruments on schools: Report with evidence. The Stationery Office Limited: London. Retrieved 8 May 2009 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/13/lords-report-dcsf .

Hutchison, S. (2009). Me, My Mad Mum and Others. Retrieved from http://www.spanglefish.com/soniahutchison/news.asp?intent=viewstory&newsid=25765

Huxtable, M., 2010. Re: communicating Loving Neighbourhood As Self?‏
From:
Practitioner-Researcher (practitioner-researcher@jiscmail.ac.uk) on behalf of Marie Huxtable(marie_huxtable@YAHOO.CO.UK)
Sent:
11 April 2010 09:58:22
To:
PRACTITIONER-RESEARCHER@JISCMAIL.AC.UK

Kabat Zinn, J. (1994) Wherever you go, there you are Mindfulness meditation for everyday life  London: Piatkus

Kiegelmann, M.. Making Oneself Vulnerable to Discovery. Carol Gilligan in Conversation With Mechthild Kiegelmann. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, North America, 10, feb. 2009. Available at: http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1178/2718. Date accessed: 16 May. 2009.

Kremer, W. Jürgen: Ethnoautobiography as Practice of Radical Presence, Revision, 2003
Retrieved 06/04/2010 from http://www.aboutleap.com/ethnoautobio/index.php

MacLure, M. (1996) Telling Transitions: boundary work in narratives of becoming British Educational research Journal, Vol. 22, No. 5, pp. 273-286

Schon, D. (1995) The New Scholarship Requires a New Epistemology. Change, Nov./Dec. 1995 27 (6) pp. 27-34.

Wallace, B. (2000) Teaching the Very Able Child: Developing a Policy and Adopting Strategies for Provision. NACE/Fulton Publication

Wallace, B. Alan. (1996) Choosing Reality: A Buddhist View of Physics and the Mind New York: Snow Lion Publications

Whitehead, J. (1988) Creating A Living Educational Thesis From The Questions Of The Kind ‘How Do I Improve My Practice?’ Department of Education, University of Bath, Bath, UK

Whitehead, J. (2008) How Do I Influence The Generation Of Living Educational Theories For Personal And Social Accountability in Improving Practice? Using A Living Theory Methodology In Improving Educational Practice. Department of Education, University of Bath, Bath, UK.

Whitehead, J., (2002) How Valid Are Multi-Media Communications Of My Embodied Values In Living Theories And Standards Of Educational Judgement And Practice? University of Bath. Retrieved from http://www.actionresearch.net/multimedia/jimenomov/JIMEW98.html on 12/04/10

Whitehead, J. (2010) Improving Practice And Knowledge Through Time And Space With Complex Ecologies And Action Research. DRAFT 2nd April 2010
A paper presented at the 2010 Annual Conference of the American
Educational Research Association in Denver, USA with the theme of
Understanding Complex Ecologies In A Changing World.
Saturday 1st May 2.15K3.45 Colorado Convention Center, Room 703.