Co-Creating Personal and Professional Knowledge Through Peer Support and Peer Appraisal in Nursing

Submitted by Janet C.E. Quinlan

for the Degree of PhD of the University of Bath

1996

COPYRIGHT

Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with its author. This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotations from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author

This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purpose of consultation.

Summary

In this thesis qualitative research methods are used to inquire into whether planned and managed peer support, and peer appraisal, enhance the professional lives of experienced nurses. Research methods were chosen that enabled nurses to explore their own and others' practice, and to share these experiences within a group context. Heron's co-operative Inquiry methodology (1981) was selected to achieve this particular purpose, and other qualitative methods were applied as the research journey progressed.

The fieldwork involved two cycles of research. Twelve participants engaged in the first cycle and met regularly over a period of one year. Eight of these participants engaged in the second cycle meeting regularly over a period of nine months. Rowan's research process (1981) was used to guide the first research cycle. The second cycle developed from the first, with each participant researching their own practice using action inquiry(Torbert 1991). The research group inquired into personal experience, and personal experience methods(Clandinin and Connelly 1995) were used to make sense of this.

During the first research cycle the group sessions were audio taped, and participants used reflective diaries to record personal experiences. During the second cycle reflective diaries, field notes, personal letters and stories provided the field data.

The research process began by exploring the questions: What is there to know about nursing? How do we know what we know about nursing? How do we go about finding out what we know about nursing?

In the first cycle we researched our understanding of 'being' a nurse and nursing. In the second cycle personal practice in the workplace became the focus, and story telling became the vehicle for sharing these experiences. Therefore this thesis is informed by both personal and professional experiences and through these experiences role expectation, life strategies,, power and gender are examined.

Contents

Prologue - (32kb)