Same Situation - different view: A mother and child's interpretation of school adjustments for a young person with chronic Glue Ear
Author(s):
Carmel Capewell (presenting / submitting) sue Ralph
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

25 SES 05, Children's Rights and Additional Support Needs

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-03
11:00-12:30
Room:
B034 Anfiteatro
Chair:
Vicki Coppock

Contribution

The research presented in this paper, directly asked young people about their experiences of having long term Glue Ear with comparisons and contrasts made with the description of similar situations described by their mothers.  Since the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), there has been increasing awareness of the value of listening to, and involving, young people in research which is directly relevant to them and impacts on their performance in all aspects of their lives. Glue Ear is a form of conductive hearing loss, which is usually temporary, and intermittent. For a small proportion of young people, rather than resolving by the age of 7 years, they go on to have continuing episodes of Glue Ear with periods of deafness (Bluestone 2003). It is a condition which affects children across the globe. Generally it is considered to be a medical condition in which any consequences will resolve without long-term implications for the ‘average’ child (Paradise, Feldman, Campbell et al 2007).  There has been limited research on the psycho-social aspects of the condition and how it can impact on school and home (Higson and Haggard 2005).

An important methodological consideration was listening to ‘marginalised voices’ and for participants to establish the scope of issues to be discussed. In previous research in Glue Ear, parental proxies have been the main way in which the experience of young people has been explored (Asmussen, Olson and Sullivan 1999; Dube, De Wals, Gilca et al 2011).   Recent research (Lagattuta, Sayfan and Bamford 2012) suggests that parental proxies may not accurately reflect the emotional experiences of young people. Involving and listening to young people as well as their mothers was an important aspect of this research. 

Photovoice (Wang and Burris 1997) was used whereby participants were asked to construct photomontages of images which depicted events, feelings and perceptions relating to their experiences of Glue Ear. The images were explained to the researcher in a participant-led discussion so that the researcher was seeing the images for the first time when they were discussed, giving control of the topics discussed to the participants. This is in contrast to the more usual situation where the researcher sets the agenda and schedule for the interview with the participant not having the opportunity to reflect on the questions and content beforehand. Photovoice is usually used in group settings rather than in one-to-one discussions as in this research. To compensate for the lack of depth of exploration of issues which happens in groups, where what one person says may trigger further thoughts and discussion in others, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to explore the participant’s words in detail (Smith, Flowers and Larkin 2009).

This presentation focuses on a small sub-section of a larger research project. Taking a case study approach, issues described by both members of a mother-child dyad highlight the similarities and differences in perspectives about experiences in school and leisure activities. The findings highlight the importance of listening to young people, particularly in situations where the mother is not present, such as school. The words of the young people demonstrate how articulate and analytical they can be in describing their experiences and situations. The findings highlight the importance of involving them in the research process.  Consideration of a wider range of ethical issues and greater creativity may be required in methods when researching with young people. The findings presented here suggest that young people provide worthwhile insight regarding effective adaptations in classroom practice. Involving young people’s perspectives in data may have greater validity than using proxies.

Method

When researching with young people, ethical considerations must be a focus throughout. In the planning stages it is important to identify possible emotional responses which may emerge and to have safeguards to protect participants from possible psychological harm. Really thinking about the young person’s involvement and contribution goes well beyond adhering to legal and professional guidelines (Masson 2000). Data collection in qualitative research is usually through various types of interviews (Nunkoosing, 2005). Researchers usually prepare schedules prior to meeting participants, tending to bring their own ideas and beliefs to the research thus possibly influencing the direction of the interview. Consequently, participants have little or no input (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009), nor can they reflect on the interview questions beforehand (Kvale 1994). Our methodology aims to encourage participants to recognise their own ‘expertise’ in their situation, sharing some of that knowledge with the researcher. A phenomenological approach was chosen for this study as the research question focused on the ‘lived experience’ of the participants. It was seen as important that there was an ‘emancipatory’ element where participants’ priorities and words are at the centre of exploring the impact that Glue Ear has on their lives (Goodley, Lawthom, Clough and Moore 2004). We do acknowledge that the participants may still see the researcher as having the greater power. In Photovoice (Wang and Burris 1997) both the 'photo' and the 'voice' parts of the process are controlled by participants. Baker and Wang (2006) concluded that when used with individuals, Photovoice did not elicit the same depth of reflection as in group situations. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009) has been added to the methodology which allows the researcher to interpret the dialogue. However, the researcher grounds the interpretation in the participant’s words and language so that the participant is central in the process. The rigour of the interpretation is maintained through checking back with the participant and encouraging them to make changes. This helps to move the power back to the participant. Participants prepared photomontages of the issues important to them. The examples used in this presentation come from the spontaneous examples which both mother and child identified, but are compared and contrasted from their different perspectives, using their words to explore the individual’s interpretation of the incident.

Expected Outcomes

Although researchers have acknowledged that young people with Glue Ear have a place in giving their views (Dube et al 2011; Haggard, Smith and Nicholls 2003) there has been a tendency to focus on the methodological difficulties of accessing those opinions. We conclude that young people are keen to give their perspective and that parental proxies may not truly reflect their child’s standpoint, particularly with pre-teens and teenagers. Byrnes and Rickards (2011) demonstrate the benefits of asking young people about the best way for them to access how they are supported in their learning and to identify effective teaching strategies to help pupils achieve their full potential. In the examples used from our research, it becomes apparent that the mother may not always be best placed to identify what her child is feeling or be able to provide a true reflection of how he/she experiences the learning environment. By asking both mother and child about their perspectives, in a way which gives them control over what is discussed, a wider range of issues was covered than is currently found in the literature. Young people with an intermittent hearing impairment are aware of how their performance changes between when they can and can not hear. This may mean that they benefit from different teaching and learning strategies as their condition alters. Including the parental perspective does provide a more complete picture, as the nature of hearing loss means that young people are not always aware of situations where they haven’t heard. Encouraging young people, parents and educational professionals to work in partnership, recognising the expertise which each brings, is likely to engage and motivate young people in learning thus achieving their full potential. Teachers can recognise that small adjustments may have a big impact.

References

Asmussen, L., Olson, L.M. and Sullivan, S.A. (1999) “You have to live with it to understand it…” Family experiences with chronic otitis media in children in Ambulatory Child Health 5(4) 303-312 Baker, T.A. and Wang, C. (2006) Photovoice: Use of Participatory Action Research Method to Explore the Chronic Pain Experience in Older Adults. Qualitative Health Research 16 1405-1413 Bluestone, C.D. (2003) Definitions, Terminology and Classification in Rosenfeld, R.M. and Bluestone, C.D. (eds) in Evidence-Based Otitis Media 2nd edition. B C Decker Hamilton 120-135 Byrnes, L.J. and Rickards, F.W. (2011) Listening to the voices of students with disabilities: Can such voices inform practice? In Australasian Journal of Special Education 35(1) 25-34 Dube, E., DeWals, P., Gilca, V., Boulianne, N., Ouakki, M. Lavoie, F. and Bradet, R. (2011) Burden of acute otitis media on Canadian families In Canadian Family Physician, 57(1) 60-65 Goodley, D. Lawthom, R., Clough, P. and Moore, M. (2004) Researching life stories: Method, theory and analyses in a biographical age Routledge Falmer London Higson, J. and Haggard, M.P. (2005) "Parent versus Professional Views of the developmental impact of a multi-faceted condition at school age: Otitis Media with effusion (Glue Ear)" in British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75,(4): 623-643 Lagattuta, K.H., Sayfan, L. and Bamford, C. (2012) Do you know how I feel? Parents underestimate worry and overestimate optimism compared to child self-report in Journal of experimental child psychology 113(2) 211-232 Masson, J. (2000) Researching children’s perspectives: legal issues in Lewis, A. and Lindsay, G. (eds) Researching Children’s perspectives Open University Maidenhead 34-45 Nunkoosing, K. (2005) The Problems With Interviews Qualitative Health Research 15(5) 698-706. Paradise, J.L., Feldman, H.M., Campbell, T.F., Dollaghan, C.A., Rockette, H.E., Pitcairn, D.L., Smith, C.G., Colborn, D.K., Bernard, B.S. Kurs-Lasky, M., Janosky, J.E., Sabo, D.L., O’Connor, R.E. and Pelham, W.E.J. (2007) Tympanostomy tubes and developmental outcomes at 9 to 11 years of age New England Journal of Medicine Vol 18 (3) 248-261 Smith, J.A., Flowers, P. and Larkin, M. (2009) Interpretative Phenomenological Research Theory, Method and Research London Sage Wang, C. and Burris, M.A. (1997) Photovoice: Concept, Methodology, and Use for Participatory Needs Assessment. Health Education & Behavior 24(3) 369-387

Author Information

Carmel Capewell (presenting / submitting)
The University of Northampton
School of Education
Brackley
sue Ralph
University of Northampton and nasen
Education
manchester

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