Using poetry in a critically reflexive action research co-inquiry with nurses

Hopkinson, Clare

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav There are few reports of healthcare action research using collaborative or co-operative inquiry (co-inquiry) while research featuring poetry is also rare. This paper presents a cycle from a critically reflexive action research co-inquiry that explored the tensions and possibilities of nurses’ reflecting during care-giving where poems emerged as data. These poems were inspired by reflections, observations, co-inquirers’ stories and interviews. They formed part of a first-, second- and third-person co-inquiry. Applying Bourdieu’s concepts of doxa, habitus and field to the poems revealed cultural aspects of nursing practice. The poems resonated with nurses’ experiences producing deeper conversations and powerful reflexive co-inquiries about practice. The poems evoked suppressed emotions and empathy. I argue poems derived from practice are embodied knowledge and thus have a legitimate place in healthcare action research. Practice-based poems could be valuable for other practice-orientated professions in producing practice learning and change.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Aug 11, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 10, 2016
• Journal: Action Research
• Print ISSN: 1476-7503
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-2617
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 30-47
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750314565943
• Keywords: poetry, embodied knowledge, habitus and field, reflexive, co-inquiry, collaborative action research, emotions, emotional labour
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/837856
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1476750314565943
• Contract Date: Feb 10, 2016