Exploring the emotional landscapes of placement learning:

implications for student support

Joan Healey and Catherine Cooper

Background to research

• creative writing and reflective practice option hidden aspects to placement learning

• EdD• Pilot study 2012• Main study 2012 /13

Methodology

• Situated research - feminism post structuralist

• Narrative - explicit creation of story / narrative - creative / fiction

main research design

creative writing groups interviews around one piece of writing data analysis - narrative

analysis textual and spoken data

issues emerging

• stress of being on placement • students in the middle - feeling the

patients' pain• emotional resonances with own life or

position • fear

The land of placement and occupational therapists

Stress of placement

• G' s poem• Professional faces B, F

the big thing for me and kind of like why I didn't get anywhere was I couldn’t get past 'Alone'

AloneBut part of a team, it’s only for a while, no friends hereConstantly watched, judgedDoing better today?Every day differentFeedback stings, falling behind stillGood or bad? Not getting anywhereHope I am doing okI can make every day a battle. A Group 3

'Putting on the face'• As a professional my face is always smiling for others to

see. No matter how stressed or flustered I may feel inside that smile is fixed to show others I'm ok. My face likes to convey a sense of calm and serenity. You will not see it show panic, fear or anger unless you look very closely at those micro expressions; a little furrowing of the brow or a slight tightness around the mouth. All the stressed out gurning occurs away from the public eye. A stolen moment in the toilets or crumpling onto the sofa when I get home to offload on someone I know and trust

F Group 2

students in the middle - feeling the patients' pain

E' s poemD's poem

Through the eyes of a patientI'm frightenedIn a place full of peopleI feel aloneI want to go home The pain is unbearableWhat should I doThey said I could go homeTomorrow they saidI want to go home

If I tell themWhat will they doI'll ask the studentShe'll tell me the truthI want to go home She said trust themI need help with the painShe'll tell the nursePain relief comes not a moment too soonTomorrow I'll be home

E writing between groups  

you've only got so many breaths in you - so to be taking them away, just to satisfy my learning outcomes.....

Always in the therapy officeBecause I am unsure of where else to go Can't bring myself to Disturb the poor patients with theirEnd of care forms signed off.For my knowledge to build , she encourages me to Get out of the office and in to their rooms, but it's like a Hotel and I'd be Intruding just to satisfy my educator. Knowledge and learning outcomes don’t matter to themKnocking on death's doorPass the oxygen I think they'd preferF Group 3

emotional resonances with own life or position

• B's story

. It is hard to listen to your own problems through someone else.

• My patient picks up another bead with amputated fingers, drops it in the waiting pot. Small smile of satisfaction as she states that red is her lucky colour today. Goes towards another bead and struggles. As she starts to get frustrated a tear rolls down her cheek. I want to cry for her. She states she feels she wants to go back to work. Once she starts talking she can't stop. She talks about how much she relies on her daughter who tries to help her as much as possible. My heart pulls and I want her to stop. Sympathetic face in place I ask her what she means. She says that it is unfair of her daughter for her to rely on her so much, especially as she often snaps at her due to low mood. I tell her that this is perfectly understandable as my voice tries not to choke. Professionalism kicks in and I talk her through her problems offering comforting words of non-advice. we return to the forgotten beads and after she has gone I reflect. It is hard to listen to your own problems through someone else.

Fear

• A's story

There is a light chattering going on in the room and a low hum of people playing games, making teas and coffees and entering into friendly conversation. I walk nervously around the room and look at the people in it . About 8 or 9 clients and 3 professionals, all men, age range from about 25 - 60, all bigger, stronger looking than me ........I feel totally out of my depth , trying to look professional and know what I am doing here, trying to look confident, comfortable and in control but I am scared and I feel like a fish out of water. I don't know how I will be able to relate to all these men, it is so far out of my comfort zone. I look around and wonder which one did which crime....I can't help but think that I am in a room with people who have murdered and raped people , but I want to look professional and friendly and like I know what I am doing

A Group2

spaces for support

• before placement - university - what to expect

• during - practice educator and university tutor and peers

• afterwards - making sense of it , learning from it

• Do you think we could do anything more on placement prep,  • Probably, yeah, probably just, I think what I find with the university

quite often is, I want to just talk to somebody, for me like, as soon as I've got all my problems off my chest it's fine, you don’t need to come up with solutions or anything like that, and I think sort of letting, being there for us to do that, like our personal tutors or whatever, I think often they aren't, often they say well, you know, what do you want me to do about it, kind of just get on with it almost, not quite so bluntly again, but that kind of thing, and I think again with placement, just saying that we know it’s gonna be hard and we know that this, all these things that can happen and stuff, talk to your educator, talk to us, we will just listen, if that's what you need, I think, for me, anyway, I think that would helpful. B Interview

patterns for support

• peer support groups - from one cohort to another?

• articulation - reflective practice and emotional elements pre and post placement at university and in APPLE training (practice educator training) for them to be able to support

wider possibilities

• Schwartz Rounds