Biomedical subjects

Fiona McDermott

Publications and source records attributed to Fiona McDermott.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

A cluster analysis of people on Community Treatment Orders in Victoria, Australia.

This paper explores the clinical, social and demographic characteristics of 164 people on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) in one area mental health service in Victoria, Australia. The results of an exploratory cluster analysis are presented to address the question of whether people on Community Treatment Orders can be categorised into statistically reliable, qualitatively distinct groupings. The data are presented in the context of key stakeholder perspectives on the current use and purpose of CTOs. Three stable clusters emerged and each potentially reflects how social dimensions, as well as clinical issues, influence decision making regarding the implementation of CTOs. These findings are important in the context of policy and practice in Victoria, where the use of CTOs is common practice, and orders are generally made for a 12 month period. The potential for improved targeting of CTOs and more specific treatment planning is identified.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Therapy with women with metastatic breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To describe some clinical issues encountered in individual and group therapy with women with metastatic breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The pressure to 'keep positive' poses dilemmas for patients and therapists alike, whether in individual or group therapy. The basis of skilled supportive care rests on the ability of therapists to assist patients and their families to face death rather than avoid it. Paradoxically, facing issues of death and dying leads to a greater sense of control, and empowers patients to reorder life's priorities, thus improving quality of life and relationships. In addition to the obvious need to detect and treat illness such as depression, working with women with metastatic breast cancer requires flexibility on the part of the therapist to adapt to her physical state of health, to include partners and family members where possible, and to liaise with colleagues in the treating team to facilitate communication and understanding of specific difficulties that may be encountered.

Attitude to Death↗

PubMed2004

Supportive-expressive group therapy: the transformation of existential ambivalence into creative living while enhancing adherence to anti-cancer therapies.

Supportive-Expressive Group Therapy (SEGT) has been developed and manualised in the research setting, but there have been few clinical accounts of its utility. In this qualitative review of its application in the Melbourne-based randomised control trial (RCT) for women with advanced breast cancer, SEGT is considered from the perspective of the structure and framework of therapy, its therapists, the issues that develop in exploring its common themes and what constitutes a well functioning group. Groups move through identifiable developmental phases. The mature group process transforms existential ambivalence into creative living, evidenced by humour, celebration, assertiveness, altruism, new creative pursuits and eventually courageous acceptance of dying. Challenges and pitfalls include avoidance, non-containment of ambivalence, intolerance of difference, anti-group phenomena and splitting. A key element is the medicalization of the group culture whereby members and co-therapists explore health beliefs and attitudes about care. This promotes compliance with anti-cancer treatments, including both the initiation of and perseverance with chemotherapy. This mechanism could prove to be a potentially important pathway in promoting longer survival.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Music therapy's relevance in a cancer hospital researched through a constructivist lens.

The constructivist research paradigm informed a research investigation on the relevance of music therapy in a cancer hospital, that is, what did the music therapy do and did it help? Over 3 months, criterion sampling was used to elicit interpretations in 5 studies from 5 sources: 128 patients who participated, 27 patients who overheard or witnessed music therapy, 41 visitors, 61 staff, and the music therapist-researcher. Fifty-seven percent of the patients who participated had advanced or end stage cancer. The music therapist's interpretations were recorded in a reflexive clinical journal and the respondents' interpretations were written on anonymous open-ended questionnaires. Thematic and content analyses were performed on the 5 groups of data with the support of qualitative data management software. Findings from the 5 data groups were contrasted and compared. Many patients', visitors' and staff members' affective, contemplative, and imagined moments in music therapy affirmed their "aliveness," resonating with an expanded consciousness, in a context where life's vulnerability is constantly apparent. Philosophical depictions about the relevance of music in human life, including theories by Addis and Winnicott, substantiated the therapeutic reactions.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Understanding and evaluating qualitative research.

Qualitative research aims to address questions concerned with developing an understanding of the meaning and experience dimensions of humans' lives and social worlds. Central to good qualitative research is whether the research participants' subjective meanings, actions and social contexts, as understood by them, are illuminated. This paper aims to provide beginning researchers, and those unfamiliar with qualitative research, with an orientation to the principles that inform the evaluation of the design, conduct, findings and interpretation of qualitative research. It orients the reader to two philosophical perspectives, the interpretive and critical research paradigms, which underpin both the qualitative research methodologies most often used in mental health research, and how qualitative research is evaluated. Criteria for evaluating quality are interconnected with standards for ethics in qualitative research. They include principles for good practice in the conduct of qualitative research, and for trustworthiness in the interpretation of qualitative data. The paper reviews these criteria, and discusses how they may be used to evaluate qualitative research presented in research reports. These principles also offer some guidance about the conduct of sound qualitative research for the beginner qualitative researcher.

Comprehension↗