Summary slides panel discussion

Panel discussion summary

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Moving on

Please assist us in planning new events and complete this short poll. Thank you!

Read Hazel White’s reflections on the conference

You can find Hazel’s blog here http://bit.ly/oN3b63

Introduction Slides to Conference

Intro Rehab Participation Conference

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Follow SDHI on its new blog

We have launched a newsblog where you will find updates on current and planned SDHI events, activities, projects and publications. The conference blog remains but all new postings will be made on our newsblog at http://sdhi.wordpress.com/news/

You may also want to follow us on Twitter @SDHIresearch
Or on Facebook www.facebook.com/Social-Dimensions-of-Health-Institute/

Updates of SDHI’s online and social media presence

We are in the process of updating the website and social media applications of the Social Dimensions of Health Institute (SDHI) with the aim of providing Twitter, WordPress and Facebook users with more current information about SDHI’s activities. We will inform you via this blog about any changes in our online addresses.

The current Twitter address is http://twitter.com/#!/SDHIrehab

Check out our facebook page at http://wel.ly/bff

Planning new events

The conference has led to many productive ideas and discussions. We would like to invite you to help us plan follow on events. Please share your views and thoughts with us. Symposia, half day and day events or another 2 day conference. Either post your views as comments on our blog or send us an email.

Topics and impressions

Did you know that 1 out 5 people cannot find the plumber in the yellow pages because they cannot read the words? Low literacy is a significant problem when engaging with the health service. Phillis Easton points out that two-third of people with low literacy may have a long-term condition.

A framework, called Talking Mats R, developed by Dr Joan Murphy and colleagues can facilitate conversations in rehabilitation and other settings. It has been used with various populations, including people with aphasia, dementia, learning difficulties, and others.

Receptivity appears to be a key concept when considering doctor’s offices. Research by Dr Holly Hollingsworth and colleagues at Washington University has sought to uncover the central predictive person and environment variables that determine provider office accessibility.

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Everyone is a designer, says Hazel White. Creativity is not the domain of professionals. Participation requires innovative, ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking and approaches.

How much do we really know about our natural environment? The project ‘Woods for Health’, part-supported by the Forestry Commission, presented by Lisa Gallacher, can contribute to the well-being of people with mental health difficulties.

The power of art in stroke rehabilitation was illustrated by Chris Kelly in his presentation.

Turning your presentation into a published article

Rehabilitation Process and Outcome is a new online journal. The journal seeks to close a gap in its interdisciplinary focus and acceptance of innovative contributions to conceptualisation, measurement and evidence base for rehabilitation and participation. Feel free to contact the editor Dr Thilo Kroll t.kroll @ dundee.ac.uk with queries or publication ideas or submit your paper online. The journal guarantees a quick peer review (3 weeks). All accepted articles are published within days of their acceptance. So, it may be just about a month between reading this and seeing your paper published online. Check out the journal website for more information http://bit.ly/7mMEx

How do we make participation happen?

Have your say. Please continue the dialogue we started at the conference. What are the key ingredients to facilitate participation? What is the role of professionals? Can it be measured? If so, how? What are the different forms of participation? Happy blogging!

Perspectives on participation

“We need to create opportunities”
“Participation is broad…we need to go into the community to understand participation”
“Supporting participation has to go beyond the health service focus”
“We have to help people to become participatory”
“Building capacity for all aspects of life”
“Accessibility, accommodation are features of participation that are obvious. We need to be clear about the goal. We need to be clear what participation is. We glob on concepts such as social capital, community integration etc and pretend that we know what we are talking about”
“the individual only exists as part of the community and the community exists because of individuals; everything is interwoven”
“Maybe it does not matter whether participation is an endpoint or outcome”
“but as scientists we want to measure how we are doing…this is our trajectory. We have to be clear about our outcomes. This is where challenge comes in. We are talking about the human condition as an outcome. It is what we are. Resisting clarity.”
“the differrent beliefs and cultures of health care systems make it difficult to measure.”
“maybe we don’t have to work too hard to manufacture conditions”
“you always participate but how…”
“professionals create ceilings. Instead it is important to give people confidence to grow”
“should we as professionals participate in the individual patient’s life. We need to give back control and reframe support, so that people can use us”
“the one concept that was missing is responsibility. It is an element of dignity.”
“it is a question of good vs bad participation but who says what is what?”
“rehabilitation to support participation is a developmental concept, not restorative, it is forward focused”
“professionals as facilitators…some of the professions are still paternalistic…it requires a philosophical shift…to be creative and not only limit the professional involvement onto the biomedical or functional level.”
“acknowledge reciprocity…that people who are on the receiving end of rehabilitation also give. Need to give greater recognition that this is a two-way process.”
“connections between people, processes and practice are essential to promote participation”
“there is a range of freedom and motivation to engage…”

Participation necessitates dynamic social and physical environments that adapt to the variable and temporal nature of requirements, intentions, preferences, and actions and transactions between human beings.