Feedback on student presentations

Pleasant session today with third year students on the Health & Lifestyle Management degree - giving feedback on a practice presentation.

We ask our students to prepare a presentation as if for a job interview. Today's was for a post working as a healthy lifestyle support worker in a forensic mental health unit. A particular focus was on the ethical dilemmas that one might face in working in this setting.

We give students video recordings of their presentations so they can view and critique their own performance.

Also advertised another voluntary research internship: focusing on assistance dogs placed with families where a child has a developmental disability.

Testing the interns

Slower going today:

Writing some instructions on literature searching, and designing a test for our (so far) six prospective interns on the disaster management project. Applicants need to pass so we can ensure the quality and consistency of our data analysis.

Also happily signed off the ethics screening protocol for Felicity's survey of assistance dog providers. Looking forward to the data coming in.

Oh and meanwhile... while my hubbie was out treating an elderly patient the other night, he saw a farm offering private allotments.  I talked to them them today and should be getting one in January.  After several years on the waiting list in Warwick I am reaching a fever pitch of excitement!

Trying not to be mechanical...

Busy on campus day today:


Earlier part of morning attending the opening of the conference I mentioned yesterday. Inspired by colleagues’ presentations.

Late morning dealing with usual bunch of emails.

Excellent meeting with three co-researchers, to agree who was going to do what regarding two major data sets: women’s experiences with polycystic ovary syndrome, and families’ experiences with assistance dogs. Looking forward to both.

Then pitched the Disaster Management research internship to a pleasantly substantial group of students (and one graduate) who had expressed an interest. Despite the fact that we have no money to offer, it was gratifying to find that several people remained committed to taking the posts up, even after seeing my PowerPoint presentation.

After that it was back to the conference, where it seems that I missed some controversy and impassioned debate. Replace FGM, the associated project, aims to address problems associated with female genital mutilation, on health and human rights grounds. But the term ‘mutilation’ when applied in this context is problematic for some. Essentially the same surgical procedure requested by a white western woman might be deemed acceptable on the basis that it enhances her self-esteem or sexual confidence, yet condemned as abusive and oppressive in a black African woman. Huge issues here as regards how ‘we’ define ‘health’ and individual autonomy.

Meanwhile it all got a bit nasty at the student fees protests in London.  I know some of our students travelled to the event.  Just hope that none were involved, either as perpetrators of the violence, or innocent onlookers.

Double booked, but in a good cause

Good meeting today with Felicity, the PhD student I co-supervise with colleagues Gill Ward and Sandy Herron-Marx.  We agreed on work to be completed before the annual progress review meeting in early January.  And Felicity is almost ready to go live with her first set of data collection.  Link will appear on her blog soon.

Have also had to book a room for tomorrow to speak to all the prospective interns who've responded to my offer of research assistant experience. Am surprised and delighted that there's been such an enthusiastic response.  I am attending a conference organised by colleagues tomorrow but will have to fore go the afternoon session to talk to the candidates. The topic is one that I think deserves much more attention than it's had to date: recognising, preventing and addressing the problems associated with female genital mutilation.

Delegation...

hmmm... been spending longer than I planned literature reviewing for the Disaster Management paper.  So time for some delegation.  I've set the parameters and analytical framework  - just need someone conscientious to follow my instructions and put the hours in.

I've offered this as a voluntary internship for a student who wants to develop their research skills, with the possibility of joint authorship as a reward at the end.  Hope someone takes it up...

pis credit: nothing to do with post - I just liked the wiki commons picture of the day.