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Transcript of Making IT Work
Book reviews
A Handbook for Action Research in Health and Social Care
by Richard Winter & Carol Munn-Giddings. 2001. Routledge,
London. ISBN 041522 484 5. 281 pp. price: £15.99.
This book aims to do three things: first, to introduce potential
action researchers to the methodological and philosophical ideas
underlying the approach; second, to present case studies from the
broad field of health and social care; and third, to offer a step-
by-step guide or �how to� manual for the neophyte. The authors’
concluding remarks state that action research (AR) �has much to
recommend it� (p. 265), and the same could be said of this book.
There are four parts to the book. Part I, �The Nature of Action
Research�, outlines the key methodological elements of AR, and
looks briefly at several of its �strands�. There is a useful definition
of AR on page 8, which is loose enough to encompass the
diversity of AR, and emphasizes the practice context, and the need
for flexibility and responsiveness. Indeed, the concluding para-
graphs to this section (p. 62) provide as good a summary of AR as
I have seen.
Part II, �Examples: The Variety of Action Research�, presents 10
case studies by action researchers. I would have liked to have been
told whether these had been published previously. Nevertheless, the
case studies are generally very good, giving the reader a sense of
what is possible in AR in health and social care, and how AR
overlaps with practice development and change management
projects. I particularly enjoyed Brenda Dennett’s work (chapter 8)
with clients and staff in a learning disabilities service setting, which
shows just how a collaborative approach can generate new
knowledge and change practice. This chapter is just the sort of
advertisement AR needs!
Part III, �Undertaking an AR Project: a Practical Guide�, presents
ideas on �how to do� action research. There are some good ideas
here, interspersed with activities, cross-referenced to previous
chapters in the book. The material on reflexivity (pp. 212–213) is
particularly helpful. However, to my mind there are two problems
with Part III. First, the discussion of ethical issues is far too
simplistic, as there are serious potential ethical conflicts in AR that
are generally not well discussed in the literature. Winter and Munn-
Giddings suggest that a participant’s reputation at work is likely to
be enhanced by an AR project. This is by no means clear and,
indeed, Dennett’s case study shows how some staff can be alienated
and excluded in the workplace as a result of their lukewarm support
for change processes (p. 128). A second problem concerns the
material on data collection. Again, this is so simplistic as to be
almost no help to all but the absolute novice, and much more work
would be necessary for anyone engaging in an AR project for a
postgraduate qualification.
Part IV, �AR as a Form of Social Inquiry: A ‘‘Theoretical’’
Justification�, discusses some of the philosophical rationales for
using AR, as opposed to more �traditional� forms of research (i.e.
quantitative and qualitative methods used with no emphasis on
changing practice). This focuses on the arguments from a critical
realist perspective, and is an entertaining, if short, read.
In summary, this is a useful introductory book for those thinking
about using AR for the first time. It is generally well written, and
even the more philosophical aspects of the arguments (in Part IV)
are accessible. It should be useful to practitioners in a wide variety
of health and social care settings. In this, the authors have succeeded
in their intention and the case studies reinforce this conclusion.
However, the book presents only a short summary of the
methodological, practical and philosophical issues in AR and, in
places, it is rather simplistic for the more knowledgeable reader.
GRAHAM R. WILLIAMSON
Senior Lecturer
University of Plymouth
Chronic and Terminal Illness: New Perspectives on Caring
and Carers by Sheila Payne and Caroline Ellis-Hill (eds). 2001.
Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 019263 167 5.
178 pp. price: £24.95.
This is an excellent book, edited by Sheila Payne and Caroline Ellis-
Hill, with chapters contributed by leading academics who have
undertaken substantive research and endeavour in the fields of
caring and chronic or terminal illness. The book tends to focus on
the care of adults as opposed to children, with a focus on physical
illness or disability rather than mental health issues or dementia.
The book comprises nine chapters, with chapter one defining who
constitutes a carer as well as serving as an overall introduction to the
book and what the reader can expect.
Chapter one includes social support and social relations and
explores the nature of caring, including research and policy on
carers and caring. It also examines what is meant by chronic illness
and palliative care and challenges myths related to dying with
malignant conditions, placing an emphasis on living with chronic
illness and challenging negative stereotypes. In this chapter,
Sheila Payne and Caroline Ellis-Hill consider theories of family
functioning that can exacerbate or relieve stress or burden. They
also look at the growing interest in carers, the gendered nature of
informal caring, and carers’ contribution to community-based care.
Research on carers has focused on their roles as proxy informants
and verifiers of experiences, and has explored their needs, the
burden of caring and the lived experience of caring. A definition of
palliative care is given, along with an acknowledgement that the
majority of clients with chronic or terminal illness live at home for
most of the time, with relatively few dying in a hospice. Residential
forms of respite care are, however, recognized and are included.
The accompanying chapters all include specific studies of carers
and caring and provide accounts of the research as well as drawing
on policy and implications for further research. In chapter two,
Journal of Clinical Nursing 2002; 11: 848–849
848 � 2002 Blackwell Science Ltd
Mike Nolan looks at the positive aspects of caring and draws from
his large portfolio of work, which includes family care, moving
beyond burden and the support required by families. In chapter
three, Caroline Ellis-Hill covers the experiences of spouses caring
for partners who have had a stroke or suffer from other chronic
neurological conditions. In chapter four, Karen Rose presents her
longitudinal study on carers providing palliative care and Paula
Smith, in chapter five, looks at experiences of family caregivers in
palliative care.
Chapter six, by Magi Sque, follows the concept of the book but
provides a broader context in the study of dying. Particularly
illuminating is the example of brainstem death. Aspects of organ
donation and consequences for carers are also included, providing
important exploration and perspectives, bearing in mind recent
events and impacts in the UK relating to organ retention. The
contextual meaning of death and bereavement in relation to chronic
illness, palliative care, natural death, accidental death and donation
all need to be studied and would contribute to our understanding
the broader picture. Christina Lee in chapter seven, provides a
gender-based analysis of women’s experiences of family care-giving
and in chapter eight, Frances Sheldon, Pauline Turner and Bee Wee
go on to discuss the contribution of carers to professional education.
In the final chapter, Caroline Ellis-Hill and Sheila Payne draw
together conclusions for the future, relating to interventions,
implications for practice, further research and conceptual issues
on caring and chronic and terminal illness.
It would have been helpful to read more about services, for
example where intermediate care and continuing care fit. Aspects
relating to user and public involvement in services would also have
been of interest. Minimal information is provided about the authors,
only their titles. Some biographical information, setting the authors
in context with their work would have been of interest. In my view,
this is an excellent book and is highly relevant for people with an
interest in carers and caring and living positively with chronic and
terminal illness.
BRENDA ROE
Senior Lecturer in Gerontology
Keele University
Making IT Work by Carol D. Cooper. 2001. UWIC Press, Cardiff,
UK. ISBN 1-902724-35-6. 143 pp. price: £12.99 or £600 + VAT
for multi-licence CD.
A book that aims to teach students the basics and practicalities of
IT to help them in research and the presentation of their work is a
welcome change from the weighty tomes dedicated to the complexities
of technology and applications software. Divided into colour-coded
chapters, the amply illustrated and clearly laid-out pages of the ring-
bound workbook enable readers to dip into whichever topic is most
relevant. These range from computer basics and library tools,
through electronic mail and Internet/information sources, and
culminate in sections on presenting finished work using word-
processors, spreadsheets and presentation software. Each chapter
has a very useful opening section which describes why the chapter is
relevant, for example �Why do you need to use CD-ROM literature
databases?� Each section is regularly interspersed with hints and
exercises that successfully reinforce the text and a comprehensive
section on further reading completes each chapter.
However, there are some negative aspects to the book. Very often
I find that students are shown or told to do something without
understanding why they need to do it. This is an important issue,
particularly in relation to IT matters. In this book, the section on
CD-ROM literature databases, for example, launches into a
description of Boolean operators without adequately explaining
the generic problems associated with querying large indexes.
Students need to understand the reasons for conducting their
searches in a carefully organized way before they are shown the
techniques by which they limit and focus their queries. The section
on electronic mail quickly raises the issues of Internet service
providers and free web space before discussing how to use e-mail
software, or even why you might use it. There are also repeated
spelling mistakes, which for a book stating that �For any document
to be credible it should contain correct spelling� is inexcusable.
Overall, the book is a valuable resource for all students who need
to make use of IT in the course of their studies. Irrespective of
where students are based, much of the text is highly relevant and
useful for newcomers to both IT and electronic-based research
methods. From an IT perspective, whilst not aimed exclusively at
the PC platform, the book is heavily weighted towards Microsoft
solutions as these are what the majority of students at UK
institutions are likely to be using. The topics that are less
application-specific are useful to all.
One problem with books of this type is that some factual
information will become out of date very quickly. The solution
adopted by the author of this book is to complement it with her own
support web-site, which appears to be updated on a regular basis.
This helps to keep the contents of the book up to date with
technological advances and provides additional and updated links to
new Internet resources.
JULES SMITH
Principal Computing Officer
University of Plymouth
� 2002 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 11, 848–849
Book reviews 849