Papers by Debbie Laliberte Rudman
Evidence-based practice requires that clinicians interpret the best research evidence in the cont... more Evidence-based practice requires that clinicians interpret the best research evidence in the context of their clinical experience, while at the same time considering client knowledge and experiences. Although clinicians are becoming increasingly skilled at the evaluation of research evidence, the evidence-based practice process often neglects client values and self-identified health issues. Ignoring these key aspects of client-centered practice may lead to interventions that fail to target the implications of a client’s disease that are important to occupational participation and quality of life (QOL). A focus on client-centeredness is particularly important in progressive neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, where there are no known curative treatments, and interventions must instead focus on symptom management. In this paper, we explore the published literature on the psychosocial aspects of the lived experience among individuals with Parkinson’s disease, argu...
South African Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2021
Occupation-based scholars are striving to mobilize socially responsive scholarship to address occ... more Occupation-based scholars are striving to mobilize socially responsive scholarship to address occupational injustices from local to global scales. Moving forward involves expanding beyond Western, Anglophonic, female, able-bodied, adult perspectives on occupation, with critically informed participatory methodologies providing one key means to incorporate diverse perspectives on occupation and occupational justice. Drawing upon a participatory action research project with children with disabilities from rural South India, this paper puts forward an understanding of participatory action research as an occupational process (i.e., embodying a variety of occupations) and an occupation-based process (i.e., informed by an occupational lens). We forefront how 'occupation' was centered and mobilized within the process of this participatory action research. In addition, drawing on select study findings, we illustrate and discuss how participatory action research provided a forum to pa...
Quality assessment in qualitative research has been, and remains, a contentious issue. The qualit... more Quality assessment in qualitative research has been, and remains, a contentious issue. The qualitative literature contains a diversity of opinions on definitions of and criteria for quality. This article attempts to organize this diversity, drawing on several examples of existing quality criteria, into four main approaches: qualitative as quantitative criteria, paradigm-specific criteria, individualized assessment, and bridging criteria. These different approaches can be mapped onto the historical transitions, or moments, in qualitative research presented by Denzin and Lincoln and, as such, they are presented alongside the various criteria reviewed. Socio-political conditions that have led us to a fractured future, where the value and significance of qualitative work may be marginalized, support the adoption of bridging criteria. These broadly applicable criteria provide means to assess quality and can be flexibly applied among the diversity of qualitative approaches used by researc...
The Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 2018
Despite the existence of policies aimed at ensuring equitable opportunities for individuals with ... more Despite the existence of policies aimed at ensuring equitable opportunities for individuals with disabilities, at the postsecondary level, students with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder have lower enrollment and completion rates than those without disabilities. To optimize policies and practices to support students with learning disabilities, it is crucial to incorporate the perspectives and experiences of such students. This paper presents the results of a scoping review of research based in the United States and Canada that addressed the perspectives and experiences of students with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder regarding postsecondary education. The five-step process for scoping reviews outlined by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) was used. A search of 10 databases resulted in 44 articles meeting the inclusion criteria, with most studies conducted in the United States (n=35) and using qualitative designs (n=3...
The role of “science” in occupational science, as well as its scope and contribution to society, ... more The role of “science” in occupational science, as well as its scope and contribution to society, has been contested. In doing so, scholars have taken up critical perspectives to expose the dominance of positivist/postpositivist notions of science that have bounded the discipline to objective and “value-free” knowledge production and limited its contributions to social reform (Laliberte Rudman, 2014; Magalhães, 2012). Furthermore, the incorporation of critical perspectives into occupational science has resulted in a re-conceptualization of occupation as a political phenomenon with a role in the reproduction of unequal power relations in society (e.g. Angell, 2012; Townsend, 2012). This disciplinary development has involved a shift in political awareness from a political discourse about the positioning of the discipline within health and/or social sciences, towards a discourse about the politics of everyday occupations and the potential of occupation for enacting resistance and social transformation. Although this critical work represents a valuable contribution from occupational science, it is still not sufficient to advance an emancipatory agenda in which the power of occupation is stressed to address the occupational injustices and inequities that are being deconstructed and critiqued (Farias & Laliberte Rudman, 2014). What is more, while exposing the role of occupation in oppressive practices is fundamental, social change may not arise unless we embrace new ways of thinking and doing research that break down the barriers between science/research and action. It is therefore vital to explore and discuss alternative philosophical and methodological frameworks of “science” or research that can provide a robust foundation to enact social transformation through occupation. Consequently, the authors present an exploration of alternative philosophical and methodological frameworks that challenge the often taken-for-granted notions of science and evidence, and recognize that all inquiry is moral and political. Building on the existing theoretical incorporation of critical perspectives into occupational science, this presentation aims to advance the discipline beyond knowledge generation and critical questioning, towards a study of occupation that is socially meaningful, responsible and committed to social change. In addition, this presentation will advance current discussions within occupational science regarding the need for more critical and action-oriented scholarship by engaging the audience with the “qualitative revolution” that has been taking place in the social sciences and qualitative inquiry. The authors’ objectives for the discussion period are to: - Challenge foundational assumptions of what constitutes ‘good’ qualitative research and open up a discussion about research as a form of radical practice oriented towards social change. - Facilitate discussion regarding how to integrate and embrace occupation scholarship that is socially responsible and meaningful for all stakeholders. - Engage the audience with current discussions within qualitative inquiry and social sciences regarding research and action. Key words: Occupational science, Alternative frameworks, Social transformatio
Alternate routes: a journal of Critical Social Research, 2017
Neoliberal activation logic has intensified in the employment services sector, accompanied by aus... more Neoliberal activation logic has intensified in the employment services sector, accompanied by austerity measures and new public management (NPM). We report findings from the Canadian site of a collaborative ethnographic study addressing the negotiation of longterm unemployment, specifically focusing on local-scale implications of administrative reforms to employment service delivery. Informed by street-level bureaucracy and governmentality, we demonstrate how the articulation of managerialism in activation-focused employment services and the emphasis on ‘making the numbers work’ results in a series of inter-related effects, including: work intensification; reconfiguration of key relationships; and heightened insecurity. Simultaneously, frontline staff engage in forms of service provision unaccounted for under official metrics, but central to their perceptions of service users’ needs. Our analysis confirms the necessity of ethnographic approaches to documenting street level enactment...
Background: Since the 2008 global recession, people unemployed for 26 weeks or longer have consti... more Background: Since the 2008 global recession, people unemployed for 26 weeks or longer have constituted a greater proportion of the unemployed population in the United States (USA) and Canada (CAN). Yet, little attention has been paid to how people’s everyday lives during long-term unemployment are structured by social policies. Neoliberal unemployment policies link participation in expected activities to the receipt of supports such as unemployment insurance. Although scholars have critiqued this activation policy approach, few studies have explored how neoliberal activity expectations relate to everyday participation and inclusion during long-term unemployment.
Societies, 2020
Inquiries that rely on temporal framings to demarcate long-term unemployment risk generating part... more Inquiries that rely on temporal framings to demarcate long-term unemployment risk generating partial understandings and grounding unrealistic policy solutions. In contrast, this four-phase two-context study aimed to generate complex understandings of post-recession long-term unemployment in North America. Grounded in a critical occupational perspective, this collaborative ethnographic study also drew on street-level bureaucracy and governmentality perspectives to understand how social policies and discursive constructions shaped people’s everyday ‘doing’ within the arena of long-term unemployment. Across three phases, study methods included interviews with 15 organizational stakeholders who oversaw employment support services; interviews, participant observations, and focus groups with 18 people who provided front-line employment support services; and interviews, participant observations, time diaries, and occupational mapping with 23 people who self-identified as being long-term un...
Journal of Occupational Science, 2021
As occupation-focused discussions and applications of critical theoretical perspectives increase,... more As occupation-focused discussions and applications of critical theoretical perspectives increase, attention must also be paid to how different spaces of knowledge dissemination, exchange, and production support critically informed learning and knowing about occupation. This paper presents the reflections of a group of international scholars and lecturers whose shared interest in critical theoretical perspectives prompted the incremental co-development of a series of conference engagements. We describe how our group came together, what kinds of learning experiences we developed to promote and support engagement with critical theoretical perspectives, and what understandings we gained through ongoing critical reflexivity about those learning experiences. Our discussion addresses two problematics related to conferences as learning spaces: inclusion, and sustained engagement with epistemic communities and ideas that may form through critically oriented conference sessions. We also discuss how enacting critical pedagogies and principles of 'unconferencing' may better promote critically informed ways of learning and knowing occupation than typical conference structures. The paper ends with a call for continued integration of varied critically informed teaching and learning opportunities at conferences, as a means of further encouraging diverse types of knowledge production, sharing, and learning about occupation.
Journal of Occupational Science, 2020
Journal of Occupational Science, 2020
Ageing and Society, 2018
Within research on ageing in neighbourhoods, older adults are often positioned as impacted by nei... more Within research on ageing in neighbourhoods, older adults are often positioned as impacted by neighbourhood features; their impact on neighbourhoods is less often considered. Drawing on a study exploring how person and place transact to shape older adults’ social connectedness, inclusion and engagement in neighbourhoods, this paper explores how older adults take action in efforts to create neighbourhoods that meet individual and collective needs and wants. We drew on ethnographic and community-based participatory approaches and employed qualitative and geospatial methods with 14 older adults in two neighbourhoods. Analysis identified three themes that described the ways that older adults enact agency at the neighbourhood level: being present and inviting casual social interaction, helping others and taking community action. The participants appeared to contribute to a collective sense of connectedness and creation of social spaces doing everyday neighbourhood activities and interact...
Methodological Innovations, 2019
Children with disabilities often experience exclusion within their communities, and this exclusio... more Children with disabilities often experience exclusion within their communities, and this exclusion can extend into research processes. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, however, emphasizes that children of all abilities need to be involved as decision makers in matters affecting them. This article provides an in-depth description of the process of a participatory action research project carried out with children with disabilities from a rural village in India. It argues for the utility of participatory filmmaking as a research methodology that supports inclusion of children with disabilities as co-researchers in research and action processes. The different phases of the research project, namely the preparatory, participatory research, and the action phase, are made transparent along with the details of activities carried out within each phase. The technical and pragmatic challenges faced within this participatory filmmaking process are pointed out, and strate...
British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2019
Statement of context: Despite recognition of the potential of occupation for enacting social tran... more Statement of context: Despite recognition of the potential of occupation for enacting social transformation, occupational therapy continues to struggle in developing and enacting practice approaches that address sociopolitical barriers to people’s right to engage in occupations. Critical reflection on practice: Ways of thinking and writing about problems and solutions, that is discourses, shape occupational therapy practices. This article draws attention to three dominant discourses that constrain the development of occupational therapy practices aimed at social transformation, specifically, individualism, healthism and managerialism. Implications for practice: Examining discourses that bound occupational therapy practice can open spaces for alternative ways of thinking and more socially responsive practices addressing sociopolitical barriers to occupation.
Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie, 2018
Advances in surgical techniques combined with multimodal analgesia and early rehabilitation have ... more Advances in surgical techniques combined with multimodal analgesia and early rehabilitation have potentiated early mobilization in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA). Given an increasing push from patients to accelerate recovery and health care budgetary limitations, there has been growing interest in the implementation of outpatient THA in selected patients. Understanding the patient and primary caregiver experience of outpatient THA is important to optimize care. We aimed to gain insight into patient and caregiver perspectives regarding the perceived advantages and disadvantages of same-day discharge to identify areas of care that can be improved. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, we conducted in-depth semistructured interviews with patient-primary caregiver dyads who experienced same-day discharge or standard care after primary THA with the direct anterior approach in 2016-2017. Two members of the research team coded the data independently, implementing a th...
The Gerontologist, 2017
Background and Objectives: Emerging research regarding aging in neighborhoods emphasizes the impo... more Background and Objectives: Emerging research regarding aging in neighborhoods emphasizes the importance of this context for well-being; however, in-depth information about the nature of person-place relationships is lacking. The interwoven and complex nature of person and place points to methods that can examine these relationships in situ and explore meanings attached to places. Participatory geospatial methods can capture situated details about place that are not verbalized during interviews or otherwise discerned, and qualitative methods can explore interpretations, both helping to generate deep understandings of the relationships between person and place. This article describes a combined qualitative-geospatial approach for studying of older adults in neighborhoods and investigates the qualitative-geospatial approach developed, including its utility and feasibility in exploring person-place transactions in neighborhoods. Research Design and Methods: We developed and implemented a qualitative-geospatial approach to explore how neighborhood and person transact to shape sense of social connectedness in older adults. Methods included narrative interviews, go-along interviews, and global positioning system tracking with activity/travel diary completion followed by map-based interviews. We used a variety of data analysis methods with attention to fully utilizing diverse forms of data and integrating data during analysis. We reflected on and examined the utility and feasibility of the approach through a variety of methods. Results: Findings indicate the unique understandings that each method contributes, the strengths of the overall approach, and the feasibility of implementing the approach. Discussion and Implications: The developed approach has strong potential to generate knowledge about person-place transactions that can inform practice, planning, policy, and research to promote older adults' well-being.
Chronic Illness, 2017
Objectives Individuals living with young-onset Parkinson’s disease compose a rare subtype of a di... more Objectives Individuals living with young-onset Parkinson’s disease compose a rare subtype of a disease typically associated with older age. Situated within a large grounded theory study exploring information behavior, this paper describes the core category of the theory, i.e. uncertainty. Methods Data were collected with 39 individuals living with young-onset Parkinson’s disease who took part in in-depth interviews, focus groups and/or an online discussion board. Fourteen autobiographies written by individuals living with young-onset Parkinson’s disease were also used as data sources. Results Through experiencing young-onset Parkinson’s disease, participants were confronted with uncertainty along two main lines. First, they experienced uncertainty with respect to their identities as young- and middle-aged adults, deviating from the idealized age-graded life path marked out within their socio-cultural context. Second, they experienced uncertainty with respect to their functioning, as...
Canadian journal on aging = La revue canadienne du vieillissement, Mar 1, 2017
To date, attention to the environmental production of disability among older adults with age-rela... more To date, attention to the environmental production of disability among older adults with age-related vision loss (ARVL) has been limited. This critical ethnographic study aimed to reveal the ways in which environmental barriers produced and perpetuated disability for 10 older adults with ARVL. A modified version of Carspecken's five-stage approach for critical ethnography was adopted with three methods of data collection used, including a narrative interview, a participant observation session, and a semi-structured, in-depth interview. Findings revealed how disability is shaped for older adults with ARVL when they encounter environmental features that are embedded within an ageist and disablist society. These findings are illustrated via presenting analysis of three commonly discussed activities: shopping, eating, and community mobility. Our discussion suggests that addressing the environmental production of disability requires inclusive social policy, advocacy, and a focus on e...
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement, 2016
RÉSUMÉLa participation sociale, un élément déterminant du vieillissement en santé, est souvent li... more RÉSUMÉLa participation sociale, un élément déterminant du vieillissement en santé, est souvent liée négativement par une perte de vision à l’âge (PVA). Cette étude de théorie ancrée visait à comprendre la participation sociale comme un processus négocié dans la vie quotidienne par les adultes âgés souffrant de PVA. Les entrevues, les agendas audio et les cartes de la vie-espace ont servi à recueillir des données avec 21 aînés dans deux villes de l’Ontario. Les données, qui ont été analysées par induction, ont indiqué un modèle transactionnel du processus de négocier la participation sociale dans le contexte. Ce modèle illustre comment les caractéristiques et les ressources de l’environnement, les compétences et les habiletés, et les risques et les vulnérabilités interagissent avec les valeurs et les priorités d’affecter si et comment la participation sociale s’est produite dans le cadre de la vie quotidienne. Les conclusions soulignent plusieurs façons dont la recherche et les servi...
Societies, 2016
Background: Solutions for the problem of long-term unemployment are increasingly shaped by neolib... more Background: Solutions for the problem of long-term unemployment are increasingly shaped by neoliberally-informed logics of activation and austerity. Because the implications of these governing frameworks for everyday life are not well understood, this pilot study applied a critical occupational science perspective to understand how long-term unemployment is negotiated within contemporary North American socio-political contexts. This perspective highlights the implications of policy and employment service re-configurations for the range of activities that constitute everyday life. Methods: Using a collaborative ethnographic community-engaged research approach, we recruited eight people in Canada and the United States who self-identified as experiencing long-term unemployment. We analyzed interviews and observation notes concerning four participants in each context using open coding, critical discourse analysis, and situational analysis. Results: This pilot study revealed a key contradiction in participants' lives: being "activated, but stuck". This contradiction resulted from the tension between individualizing, homogenizing frames of unemployment and complex, socio-politically shaped lived experiences. Analysis of this tension revealed how participants saw themselves "doing all the right things" to become re-employed, yet still remained stuck across occupational arenas. Conclusion: This pilot study illustrates the importance of understanding how socio-political solutions to long-term unemployment impact daily life and occupational engagement beyond the realm of job seeking and job acquisition.
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Papers by Debbie Laliberte Rudman