Helen Chalmers

Using social network analysis to evaluate a complex policy network

There are many challenges in evaluating international networks within the fields of health and international development. Use of conventional tools is not only difficult but may fail to provide the kind of information that is developmentally useful. Social network analysis tools offer many benefits for network evaluators. In particular, they allow documentation and analysis of inter-relationships between individuals and organizations, pointing to potential gaps as well as areas of development. This article describes the use of such tools in the evaluation of Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW), a global forum of organizations and individuals active within the field of sexuality, health and rights. It highlights the potential of these tools to provide visual representations of complex relationships within networks. In this case, the tools enabled the representation of SPW as a complex but ordered network, focused on sexual and reproductive rights, composed of individuals with a multiplicity of organizational affiliations.

Roy’s Adaptation Model of Nursing

In looking at previous models of nursing, it has been emphasised that, in developing these, nurse theorists have frequently used existing theoretical insights from the biological and social sciences. Because of this, models of nursing often relate to more generally held perspectives about the causes of human behaviour. Such a characteristic is particularly true of the model of nursing devised by Roy (1980, 1984), which seeks to extend Helson’s (1964) concept of psychological adaptation to the field of nursing care.

Sex and Relationships Education in Schools--Evaluation of a Pilot Programme for the Certification of Community Nurses.

Objective In support of the UK Government’s teenage pregnancy and sexual health strategies, a certificated programme of professional development for school nurses and other community nurses was developed to provide support for personal, social and health education (PSHE) work, including sex and relationships education (SRE), for young people. Design and setting This paper reports on findings from a multi-method formative evaluation of the pilot programme, which commenced in June 2003 and focused on six of the nine centres taking part: namely Sunderland, Lancashire, Birmingham, Hertfordshire, Ealing and Plymouth. Method Face-to-face and telephone interviews took place with national officers, local leads, community nurses on the programme, their line managers, professional colleagues working with the community nurses, and national assessors. Data were collected using semi-structured interview schedules. Partial transcription of tape recordings and notes took place and a thematic analysis was carried out using constant comparative method. Results The evaluation of the programme suggests considerable benefits for local collaborative working between health and education. In addition, nurses who undertook the programme gained in confidence and skill. Some tensions remain including concern about the need for dedicated time for nurses to complete the programme. Conclusion Findings suggest that a well-designed scheme of the type described is likely to be well received by community nurses and facilitates cooperative working between health and education in the support of PSHE and SRE. There is a need to respect the unique contribution of the community nurse and to value the one-to-one work that she does.

Orem’s Self-Care Model of Nursing

Like the models of nursing developed by Johnson (1980) and Roy (1980), Orem’s Self-Care model emphasises the existence of biological, psychological and social systems within the person. Butterfield (1983), however, has argued that Orem’s model of nursing differs from these other models in terms of its commitment to the concept of the person as a whole.

The Medical Model of Care

In Chapter 1 it was suggested that some nurses might welcome the introduction of nursing models because these may offer understandings about people which are distinct from those offered by the medical, natural and social sciences.

Evaluation of a certification process for community nurses involved in sex and relationship education

Purpose – Alongside teachers, community nurses have been identified as having an important role to play in the provision of school‐based personal, social and health education (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE). However, there currently exist few programmes of preparation for this work that recognise the specific contribution of community nurses to SRE. This paper reports on findings from a formative evaluation of a pilot certification scheme for community nurses involved in SRE provision and recently implemented in England. The evaluation sought specifically to access views about the value of the educational experience in preparing school nurses to better fulfil their SRE role.Design/methodology/approach – During the implementation of the pilot scheme, 124 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders, including national players, local scheme support leads, nurses participating in the pilot scheme, nurse managers and other colleagues. Data gathering adopted a close‐f...

Riehl’s Interactionist Model of Nursing

The models of nursing so far described offer nurses a variety of approaches to the planning and delivery of patient care. However, to a greater or lesser extent, they have certain features in common, in that they emphasise the existence of bodily, psychological and social systems within people which influence behaviour. In recent years a number of nurses have begun to criticise models such as these for being too mechanistic in their identification of human needs. It has been argued, for example, that drawing an analogy between a human being and a machine with parts and systems within it, is likely to dehumanise the process of nursing itself. Instead such critics have argued for the development of nursing models which take as their starting point the human ability to reason and act in ways that are meaningful.

Roper, Logan and Tierney’s Activities of Living Model of Nursing

One of the most familiar models of nursing to practising nurses in Britain is that originally devised by Roper (1976) and subsequently elaborated upon in work by Roper, Logan and Tierney (1980, 1981, 1983). Like Henderson’s model of nursing, the one proposed by these writers has been widely used in a variety of nursing settings.

Henderson’s Model of Nursing

In this chapter one of the most well-known models of nursing will be examined—that developed in the work of Virginia Henderson. Like the medical model of care described in Chapter 2, Henderson’s model of nursing emphasises the existence of biological needs within people. As will be seen, however, unlike the former, Henderson’s nursing model also argues that people have important psychological and social needs that can sometimes lead to a need for nursing care.

Rogers’s Unitary Field Model of Nursing

In helping nurses to understand patients and their health-related needs, many of the models of nursing so far considered have focused either on the existence of physiological, psychological and social sub-systems within the individual or on the human quality of symbolising and ‘making sense’ of social experience. Some nurses, however, have argued that both of these rather different approaches to nursing practice share certain assumptions, since they take their origins from within what may be viewed as peculiarly western ways of understanding people and their needs.