Heather E. Canary

The mediation of policy knowledge: An interpretive analysis of intersecting activity systems

We use structurating activity theory,an integration of structuration and cultural-historical activity theories, to examine how individuals construct policy knowledge.The study was conducted over 5 months with participants from related activity systems who interacted regarding special education policy. Qualitative analysis focused on how participants drew on system-specific and structural rules and resources to construct policy knowledge within and between activity systems. Results reveal how participants developed policy knowledge that was mediated by system elements of divisions of labor, communities, rules, subjects, and both material and symbolic mediating resources.The mediated knowledge construction process also reproduced broad structural features. Results interpreted through structurating activity theory extend current understandings of policy and knowledge processes and offer directions for future research.

Teaching Ethics in Communication Courses: An Investigation of Instructional Methods, Course Foci, and Student Outcomes

This study investigates the impact of ethics instruction in communication courses on students’ moral reasoning competence. Using a quasi-experiment, participants in interpersonal conflict courses and communication ethics courses were exposed to different levels of ethics instruction through a variety of instructional methods. Results indicate that students who completed conflict courses demonstrated significant gains in moral-reasoning abilities, whereas students in communication ethics courses demonstrated small but insignificant gains in moral reasoning. Additionally, significant differences in gains in moral-reasoning competence occurred between students who had high pretest scores and students who had low pretest scores. Instructional methods significantly affected students’ reports of the degree to which ethics had been addressed in courses.

Negotiating Dis/Ability in Families: Constructions and Contradictions

This project uses a narrative view of identity to interrogate how individuals construct notions of ability and disability within their families. Participants include children with disabilities from diverse ethnic backgrounds, their parents, siblings, and extended family members. Interactions within four families are explored as well as interactions family members have with people outside their families. Interview and observational data demonstrate ways that participants construct identities that highlight intersections of ability/disability and individuality/relationships. Results indicate that families primarily construct identities of “normal” through their interactions and routines as they negotiate contradictions inherent in their everyday lives. Theoretic implications of narrative dimensions of constructions and contradictions are offered. Finally, practical applications for professionals and families of children with disabilities are suggested with future directions for research and practice.

The Policy Communication Index: a theoretically-based measure of organizational policy communication practices

Despite recent scholarly contributions regarding policy communication, much remains to be known about policy communication processes. This article reports two studies that resulted in a survey instrument that measures policy communication in organizations. Study One included 197 full-time employees across occupations and industries. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in five factors of the Policy Communication Index: Meeting Discussions, Human Resources Communication, Coworker Interactions, Supervisor/Coworker Written Instructions, and Personal Expressions. Study Two included 245 full-time employees across job functions and industries. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a five-factor Policy Communication Index. Results are interpreted with structurating activity theory and implications are posed for future organizational communication research and practice.

Beyond Hospital Discharge Mechanics: Managing the Discharge Paradox and Bridging the Care Chasm

Hospital discharge processes are complex and confusing, and can detrimentally affect patients, families, and providers. This qualitative study investigated pediatric hospital discharge experiences from the perspectives of parents of children with acute and chronic health conditions, primary care providers, and hospitalists. Focus groups and interviews with parents, primary care providers, and hospitalists were used to explore discharge experiences and ideas for improvement offered by participants. Using an iterative approach to analyze data resulted in five major themes for discharge experiences: (a) discharge problems, (b) teamwork, (c) ideal discharge, (d) care chasm, and (e) discharge paradox. The first three themes concern practical issues, whereas the last two themes reflect negative emotional experiences as well as practical problems encountered in the discharge process. Improvements in communication were viewed as a primary strategy for improving the discharge process for better outcomes for patients, their families, and providers.

Organizing Prostitution Through Silence^Discourse: Unveiling Masks of a Masquerade

Prostitution operates as a hidden organized activity relying on covert organizing processes in order to function. This study analyzes how both talk and silence discursively construct prostitution. Data, including prostitution policies and in-depth interviews, revealed that certain participants are marked silent while others are made visible. Results are presented through a metaphor of a masquerade in order to illuminate the complexity of hidden organizing. This metaphor offers a way to examine systematic and pervasive silence(s) within hidden organizing. Implications are offered for theory and research of the discursive construction of hidden organizations.

Business and Breakthrough: Framing (Expanded) Genetic Carrier Screening for the Public

ABSTRACT A growing body of research has given attention to issues surrounding genetic testing, including expanded carrier screening (ECS), an elective medical test that allows planning or expecting parents to consider the potential occurrence of genetic diseases and disorders in their children. These studies have noted the role of the mass media in driving public perceptions about such testing, giving particular attention to ways in which coverage of genetics and genetic testing broadly may drive public attitudes and choices concerning the morality, legality, ethics, and parental well-being involved in genetic technologies. However, few studies have explored how mass media are covering the newer test, ECS. Drawing on health-related framing studies that have shown in varying degrees the impact particular frames such as gain/loss and thematic/episodic can have on the public, this study examines the frame selection employed by online media in its coverage of ECS. This analysis—combined with an analysis of the sources and topics used in such coverage and how they relate to selected frames—helps to clarify how mass media are covering an increasingly important medical test and offers considerations of how such coverage may inform mass media scholarship as well as health-related practices.

Making Decisions about Children's Disabilities: Mediation and Structuration in Cross-System Meetings

This study examined parent–professional decision-making regarding children with disabilities. Structurating activity theory guided the qualitative interpretive analysis of transcripts from 16 meetings regarding special education decisions for students, including 10 meetings in English and 6 meetings in Spanish. Results reveal how professional elements, such as documents, influenced decision-making more than family elements, such as parent knowledge. Interpreters influenced interactions based on their abilities to connect multiple elements of family and professional systems. Decision-making was structurating as participants used and reproduced broad social structures, such as expert power and the authority of policy. Conclusions offer theoretical and practical implications of findings.

Structuring Health in Colorectal Cancer Screening Conversations: An Analysis of Intersecting Activity Systems

This study used structurating activity theory to analyze 21 conversations between genetic counselors and individuals at increased risk for familial colorectal cancer. The qualitative analysis revealed ways elements of family, primary health care, cancer prevention and treatment, and other systems emerged in intervention conversations as shaping colorectal cancer screening attitudes and behaviors. Results indicate that family stories, norms, and roles are resources for enacting health practices in families and that the authority of health care providers is a resource for making screening decisions. Conclusions include practical implications for using findings in clinical applications as well as future research directions to build on this exploratory study.

Crystalline Empowerment: Negotiating Tensions in Refugee Resettlement

As the number of forcibly displaced people continues to rise worldwide, humanitarian organizations are playing a growing role in finding solutions. This study investigates one of the world’s largest refugee resettlement organizations as it pilots innovative empowerment programs. With very little research regarding organizational rhetoric, discourse, and practices within resettlement agencies, there is great need for understanding the tensions that arise amid empowerment processes. This participant ethnography identifies distinct formations of empowerment and disempowerment. The analysis identifies tensions between (1) active/passive and (2) material/symbolic interpretations of empowerment, as well as (3) the enabling/constraining effects of communication technologies. The metaphor, crystalline empowerment, is introduced to connect a tension-centered approach with a view of empowerment that prioritizes organic, contingent interpretations while identifying practical opportunities for inclusion and agency in resettlement contexts.