Clara Rübner Jørgensen

Three advantages of cross-national comparative ethnography – methodological reflections from a study of migrants and minority ethnic youth in English and Spanish schools

This paper discusses the strengths of using ethnographic research methods in cross-national comparative research. It focuses particularly on the potential of applying such methods to the study of migrants and minority ethnic youth in education, where large-scale quantitative studies or single-sited ethnographies are currently dominant. By linking findings and methodological reflections from a research study into the schooling experiences and life projects of migrants and minority ethnic youth in England and Spain, the paper shows how cross-national comparative ethnographies enable researchers to (1) contextualise and compare topics identified by research participants in the course of the fieldwork, (2) analyse topics, which only appear in one research setting and (3) explore and challenge how concepts and categories are employed by research participants in different settings. This, it is argued, makes such research methods particularly well placed to identify issues, which young people themselves find important to their schooling, and explore how these interlink with local practice.

What Facilitates "Patient Empowerment" in Cancer Patients During Follow-Up: A Qualitative Systematic Review of the Literature

Empowerment is a concept of growing importance in cancer care, but little is known about cancer patients’ experiences of empowerment during follow-up. To explore this area, a qualitative systematic literature review was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. A total of 2,292 papers were identified and 38 articles selected and included in the review. The thematic synthesis of the papers resulted in seven analytical themes being identified: empowerment as an ongoing process, knowledge is power, having an active role, communication and interaction between patients and health care professionals, support from being in a group, religion and spirituality, and gender. Very few articles explicitly explored the empowerment of cancer patients during follow-up, and the review identified a lack of attention to patients’ own understandings of empowerment, a lack of specific focus on empowerment during follow-up, and insufficient attention to collective empowerment, as well as ethnic, social, and gender differences.

‘The problem is that I don’t know’ – Agency and life projects of transnational migrant children and young people in England and Spain

This article discusses the life projects of migrant children and young people in England and Spain and illustrates the importance of exploring family dynamics, contextual legal constraints, and ‘transnational uncertainties’ as part of young migrants’ ideas about the future. It reflects on the dilemma posed by acknowledging the agency of migrant children in relation to their future while at the same time considering the constraints they meet as minors and migrants within a broader family and societal context.This article discusses the life projects of migrant children and young people in England and Spain and illustrates the importance of exploring family dynamics, contextual legal constraints, and ‘transnational uncertainties’ as part of young migrants’ ideas about the future. It reflects on the dilemma posed by acknowledging the agency of migrant children in relation to their future while at the same time considering the constraints they meet as minors and migrants within a broader family and societal context.

Peer social capital and networks of migrants and minority ethnic youth in England and Spain

Abstract This article discusses friendships and peer groups of migrant and minority ethnic youth in schools in England and Spain, and critically considers them in relation to existing notions of ‘peer social capital’ and bridging (heterogeneous) and bonding (homogeneous) peer networks. The article argues for an extended understanding of peer social capital and discusses the complex composition and outcomes of bridging and bonding peer networks. It critically discusses both facilitators and barriers to friendships experienced by migrant and minority ethnic youth in schools, and considers them in relation to school practices.

Conceptualizing patient empowerment in cancer follow-up by combining theory and qualitative data

Abstract Background: Patient empowerment (PE) may be defined as the opportunity for patients to master issues important to their own health. The aim of this study was to conceptualize PE and how the concept manifests itself for cancer patients attending follow-up, in order to develop a relevant and sensitive questionnaire for this population. Material and methods: A theoretical model of PE was made, based on Zimmerman’s theory of psychological empowerment. Patients who were in follow-up after first line treatment for their cancer (n = 16) were interviewed about their experiences with follow-up. A deductive thematic analysis was conducted to contextualize the theory and find concrete manifestations of empowerment. Data were analyzed to find situations that expressed empowerment or lack of empowerment. We then analyzed what abilities these situations called for and we further analyzed how these abilities fitted Zimmerman’s theory. Results: In all, 16 patients from two different hospitals participated in the interviews. PE in cancer follow-up was conceptualized as: (1) the perception that one had the possibility of mastering treatment and care (e.g. the possibility of ‘saying no’ to treatment and getting in contact with health care when needed); (2) having knowledge and skills regarding, for example treatment, care, plan of treatment and care, normal reactions and late effects, although knowledge and information was not always considered positively; and (3) being able to make the health care system address one’s concerns and needs and, for some patients, also being able to monitor one’s treatment, tests and care. Conclusion: We conceptualized PE based on Zimmerman’s theory and empirical data to contextualize the concept in cancer follow-up. When developing a patient reported outcome measure measuring PE for this group of patients, one needs to be attentive to differences in wishes regarding mastery.

The impact of using peer interviewers in a study of patient empowerment amongst people in cancer follow-up

A range of benefits have been reported from engaging peer interviewers in qualitative interviews, but little systematic evaluation exists to assess their impact on both process and outcomes of qualitative interviews in health research.

Young people’s views on sexting education and support needs: findings and recommendations from a UK-based study

ABSTRACT Young people’s sexting is an area of increasing concern amongst parents, educationalists and policy makers, yet little research has been conducted with young people themselves to explore their perspectives on the support they need to navigate relationships in the new digital media landscape. To address this absence, an inter-disciplinary team of researchers undertook a participatory study with students, aged 13 to 15, in a UK secondary school. This paper outlines key study findings, including young people’s views on sexting, their recommendations for improved education around sexting in schools, their preferred sources of support, and their perspectives on the way adults should respond to young people’s sexting. Findings indicate that sexting education needs to be developed within the context of wider relationship issues, such as gender, power dynamics and trust between peers, and improved communication between students and teachers or other responsible adults. Findings may be used to consider ways of designing and communicating messages around sexting to young people within and beyond educational settings.

User involvement in a Danish project on the empowerment of cancer patients – experiences and early recommendations for further practice

BackgroundThis paper reports on the process of involving former and current cancer patients and carers as co-researchers in a Danish mixed methods research project on patient empowerment of cancer patients in follow up (The Empowerment study 2015–2019). User-Involvement in health care research is a relatively new practice in Denmark and the Empowerment project was one of the first to systematically involve patients and carers in its research design, conduct and reporting. The paper has two aims: first, it provides a detailed account of the process of involving co-researchers in the Empowerment project and second, it presents findings from a workshop held with academic researchers and co-researchers on the project to discuss their experiences and recommendations for user-involvement in the Danish context.MethodsThe Empowerment project adopted a consultative and collaborative approach to user involvement and co-researchers were involved from the early stages and all through the project. Users gave feedback on the proposal, helped develop project documents and research tools, acted as peer interviewers in qualitative interviews, participated in data analysis and development of questionnaires, and co-authored journal articles. The workshop held with the academic researchers and co-researchers consisted of two parallel focus groups and a joint group discussion, following an interactive and informal format to facilitate discussion and exchange of ideas.FindingsThe focus group resulted in eleven recommendations for the further development of user-involvement in Denmark. Key issues encountered were the general lack of guidelines on user-involvement in the Danish context and the need for more organisational support. Particular issues, such as payment, recruitment and training, need to be carefully considered within individual projects and within the national context in which projects are carried out.ConclusionThe paper adds to the current very limited knowledge base on user-involvement in the Danish context and provides a set of early recommendations for the further development of the practice in Danish Health Research. User-involvement needs to be developed with consideration to the local context, but common challenges also emphasise the usefulness of cross-country comparisons and knowledge exchange.

Children and sexting : the case for intergenerational co-learning

Children’s sexting is presented as an emergent outcome of technology-based innovation in children’s peer-to-peer relations. We argue that it calls for creative responses that draw on adults’ and children’s understandings and views and on exchanges of these. We describe, and make the case for, intergenerational co-learning as a practice that could foster such creativity, as a pathway for children’s participation in the debate, and as a means by which media regulators, children’s service providers, and social media companies can consider and address their capabilities and responsibilities.

Friendship across Religions: Theological Perspectives on Interreligious Friendship

Jr. analyses the potential for exploring racial tensions between images of St James as pilgrim and ethnic cleanser in a film called St Jacques ... La Mecque. He does this well by showing the eventual co-habitation of these tensions, without any final resolution, through the film’s protagonists. The final section of the volume explores how meaning and identity are created and transformed by Camino pilgrims, tourists, and authors. Material flows have expanded pilgrimage possibilities, as Sánchez y Sánchez neatly shows; when objects and subjects ‘lose’ each other, they create serendipitous spaces to catalyse “personal transformations” (149). Paul Genoni discusses the Camino’s global reach, particularly in the arboreal exchange between Spain and Australia by Salvado, a nineteenth-century Galician monk who transplanted Galician olive trees and Australian eucalyptus trees. This pilgrimage, however, lacks reference to indigenous forms of walking movement through Australia, leading to the extraordinary statement that “if Australians have any claim to a travel experience that meets some of the elements of traditional pilgrimage by combining a spiritual component with a challenging, long-distance trek, it is found outside Australia ... in Papua New Guinea” (180). Nicole Rasch’s chapter outlines the Camino’s modern focus on “healing ... recovering perspective ... reenergising” (194) through Spanish, Galician, and Brazilian literary representations of the pilgrimage. Rasch incorrectly posits a previously ‘pure’ religious aspect to pilgrimage (194), but she nevertheless charts in the texts the increasingly global reach of the pilgrimage as a marketplace of self-creation and identity formation beyond that of “pilgrim” (195). Rasch’s contribution suggests how literary texts about the Camino can provide a means for those drawn to the pilgrimage to travel the route imaginatively, without having physically to travel there. Overall, the collection lacks a cohesive argument; the individual contributions present multiple perspectives that expand the Camino’s horizon of imagination, but they do not converge— only one contributor makes direct reference to another chapter in the book. The volume thus does not come across like a conversation among scholars; rather each scholar makes his or her contribution individually. Many chapters draw on either John Eade and Michael Sallnow’s or Victor Turner’s work without attention to the decades of debate these discourses have engendered. The individual chapters, however, have great merit, and expand the possibilities for pilgrimage studies to look at the Camino with fresh eyes. The volume will, additionally, act as an excellent companion to Ian Reader’s Pilgrimage in the Marketplace (2014), issued as part of the same series.