Managing expectations in participatory research involving older people: what’s in it for whom?

Participatory research actively engages participants in some or all stages of the research process – from deciding on scope and problem statement to actively collecting data to disseminating results and effecting change. Considering the shifting roles of participants and researchers in participatory ageing research, to the academic, participatory research becomes a venture into project and people management, local politics, consultancy and community building. First, we present a literature overview of the promises and pitfalls of participatory research. Then, drawing on a university initiated participatory study involving older people as co-researchers in a neighbourhood in Groningen, the Netherlands, we discuss the shifting roles and expectations of all of those involved in the participatory research process. We conclude that a central question that requires continuous negotiation in the participatory research process is: what’s in in for whom?     

Ergonomics and sustainability in the design of everyday use products

The relationship between Ergonomics and Design is a key element in the sustainability project, as well as in many other areas of experimental design. In the Design for Sustainability field, Ergonomics is a strategic factor for design culture innovation, providing designers with the necessary knowledge and skills regarding human characteristics and capabilities, as well as user needs and desires during use and interaction with products in work activities and everyday life. Ergonomics is also a strategic innovative factor in design development and manufacturing processes. In fact, ergonomics provides a methodological approach in user-product interaction evaluation processes through the use of participatory design and survey methods, user trials, direct observation, savings and resource conservation, etc.On the other hand, design offers solutions able to interpret user needs and expectations, at the same time suggesting new behaviors and lifestyles.In Design for Sustainability, the ergonomic and user-centered approach contributes greatly to lifestyles and innovative use of products--making it possible to understand and interpret real people needs and expectations in their everyday actions and behavior.New consumption patterns, new awareness of lifestyles, energy source consumption, purchasing methods and consumption style etc. can be supported by design innovation, responding to expressed and unexpressed user needs. With this in mind, the ergonomic approach represents the starting point for design choices and at the same time, a tool for assessing their appropriateness and effectiveness.     

Effects of a participatory ergonomics intervention computer workshop for university students: a pilot intervention to prevent disability in tomorrow's workers

A participatory approach was used to create a computer ergonomics workshop for college students, incorporating an instructional systems design process and adult learning inquiry perspectives. The primary objective of this participatory ergonomic pilot intervention was to involve students throughout the training design process in solving computer workstation ergonomic problems and adopting healthy computing behaviors. Students' level of participation included becoming part of the training design team, a co-facilitator, or a student trainee. A second objective was to examine the translation of an industrial office ergonomics training program into a college computer ergonomics training program. The long term goal was to reduce upper extremity symptoms and disability. The program was piloted at one private university. The three student trainees significantly increased their knowledge of computer ergonomics from 69% of test items answered correctly pre-training to 82% post-training. Trainees were also successful in conducting computer ergonomic evaluations of students' computing work areas. They achieved 100% accuracy in identifying ergonomic problems and proposing solutions in five ergonomic workstation assessments in the field. This approach was successful in creating a sense of ownership among the student developers and facilitators as reflected in their self-reports during a post-intervention debriefing. The results of this pilot study justify formal controlled trials of this intervention in university students, who will become tomorrow's workers.     

The promotion of participatory methods for group events in Zambia: a process evaluation report for unicef 1994–1997

Beginning in early 1994, UNICEF Zambia made a commitment to emphasize the use of participatory methods in conducting its business. Specifically, this has meant adopting and experimenting with a participatory methodology named VIPP (Visualization in Participatory Programmes) which had been used in a wide variety of group events, ranging from planning and review meetings to training and team building. Three years later, a process evaluation was commissioned to examine the question: How has this initiative been accepted and what effect is it having on UNICEF-supported programmes in Zambia?Employing a widely-utilized framework for evaluating training effectiveness, the evaluation team traced the history of VIPP implementation in Zambia through document reviews and interviews. In addition, the evaluators collected data from three different programme sites in Zambia where VIPP had been used. Several participatory evaluation techniques were used to conduct this evaluation, the first exercise of its kind for assessing VIPP application in Africa.Through this evaluation exercise, the evaluation team has gained knowledge about the strategic benefits and application of VIPP that will help with future planning for VIPP in Zambia and that will also inform other UNICEF offices and organizations about the experience of implementing a participatory methodology for programme and organisational purposes. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.     

Participatory ergonomic processes to reduce musculoskeletal disorders: summary of a Québec experience

This article critically reviews 11 participatory ergonomic interventions carried out in Québec by the Occupational Health and Safety Research Institute (IRSST). In the introduction, the characteristics of the approach used are situated in relation to the literature on this subject. Based on the "Ergo team" formula, the approach aims to provide company personnel with the skills to analyze and correct hazardous workstations in relation to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), using an analysis process that the researchers developed. Although isolated workstations were corrected, the process aims for more general impacts on the company. In the 11 interventions, 40 work situations were analyzed, and in 31 cases, changes were implemented to reduce MSD risks. The most common changes dealt with the tools/equipment (77.4% and physical layouts (84%); changes involving work methods (29% and work organization (12.9%) were less common. The difficulties encountered in the interventions are summarized, and the possible impacts of the interventions on the organization and psychosocial factors are discussed. The authors then address the limitations of the paper and the factors that should be considered in evaluating such a participatory process. The authors conclude that the participatory process was successful in implementing changes in companies and that other studies are necessary for a better understanding of the process and its impacts.     

Participatory Design in Women’s Organizations: The Social World of Organizational Structure and the Gendered Nature of Expertise

Participatory design is an approach to designing technological systems that differs from traditional approaches to design in many respects. The goal of participatory design is to encourage users of technological systems to actively participate in the process of designing technological systems. The end goal of participatory design is to enable users of technological systems to articulate their needs, and to develop technological systems that account for those needs. In this paper I attempt to extend the analysis of gender as a factor in participatory design initiative by focusing on the challenges of implementing participatory design in the context of non-profit women’s organizations. The context for my discussion is set by outlining a recent initiative to design a nationwide feminist computer network in Canada. Scholarship on participatory design, feminist organizing and the implementation of computer systems in non-profit organizations is discussed in relation to original research carried out in the Canadian province of Newfoundland. Organizational structures that differentiate feminist non-profit organizations from other organizational forms and the gendered nature of expertise are identified as particular challenges that must be addressed in order for participatory design to be successful when women’s groups are the participatory designers.     

Participatory research and the voice‐centred relational method of data analysis: is it worth it?

Much has been written about participatory approaches in planning and implementing research. The process and practice of participatory data interpretation and analysis is, however, less discussed. This article explores the value of the Voice‐Centred Relational (VCR) method of data analysis and interpretation in the context of participatory research with socially excluded teenagers. Focussing on participatory data analysis, the implementation of the method with teenagers in a West of Ireland town who have left school early is described. Written from the perspectives of academic researchers, members of a research team that included teenagers and a Community Arts artist, this article introduces the VCR method and describes the participatory processes, practices and pitfalls. The challenges of doing participatory interpretation with VCR method are considered.     

Determinants of management’s organizational structure in the public sector

A model is developed to identify factors that are important in determining whether a municipality employs a labor relations specialist as chief negotiator and, if not, whether a municipality has a labor relations specialist on its collective bargaining team. Results indicate that municipal organizational structure for collective bargaining is influenced by the economic and legal environments within which collective bargaining occurs, the complexity of municipal collective bargaining, and various other demographic characteristics of the municipality.     

Influence of Expectations for Parental Support on Intergenerational Coresidence Behavior

Abstract

Using the 1988 and 1992 waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), this study examines whether the expectation of support by young adults is widely held and if such a belief predicts if young adults will at some point live with their parents before their final launch. At issue is whether or not the increase in young adults in the parental home represents a normative shift in the expectations that children have of their parents or perhaps is indicative of some other process. The findings suggest that expectation of support does in fact predict living at home but only 31% of the respondents felt that parents were obligated to let their adult children live with them. Findings are placed within a broader context of how shifts in age at first marriage and educational attainment influence young adults' transitions out of the home.     

Behavioral and Cortical Measures of Infants' Visual Expectations

Features of the habituation paradigm were combined with the visual expectation paradigm to examine behavioral and cortical indexes of infants' visual expectations. Eight 3‐month‐old infants watched an alternating picture sequence while their eye movements were videotaped and their cortical electrophysiological activity (event‐related potential [ERP]) was recorded. Two ERP epochs were examined: a 3,000‐msec stimulus‐locked epoch included 1,000 msec before stimulus onset through 1,000 msec after stimulus offset; and a 1,200‐msec response‐locked epoch included 700 msec before saccade onset through 500 msec after the saccade. All infants anticipated upcoming pictures, and eye movement latencies for pictures that were not anticipated were comparable to saccade latencies reported in other visual expectation studies of infants at this age. Three components were identified in the stimulus‐locked ERP waveform: a slowly developing negativity prior to picture onset, a postonset negative slow wave, and a late negative deflection that peaked about 750 msec after picture onset. All stimulus‐locked components were larger for familiar than for unfamiliar pictures; prestimulus negativity was also greater before anticipated pictures. The response‐locked waveform contained 2 prominent features: a slowly increasing negative shift (NS) that began about 500 msec before saccade onset and a positive presaccadic potential that occurred about 30 to 90 msec before the saccade. Response‐locked components were larger for anticipatory saccades at the frontal scalp site; for reactive saccades, response‐locked components were larger at the vertex. Results are informative about ERPs in infants, cortical control of eye movements, and the development of visual expectations.     

30 years of ergonomics at 3M: a case study

The added value of the Ergonomics Program at 3M was found to be improved employee safety, compliance with regulations and reduction of work-related illness, increases in productivity, and quality and operating efficiency. This paper describes the thirty years of existence of this program. For the first twenty years, the program objectives were to: respond to requests for assistance related to work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) concerns, raise employee awareness of MSDs and ergonomics; educate engineers in ergonomics design; and develop ergonomics teams at manufacturing locations. Since the year 2000, 3M's Ergonomics Program has been in transition from a US-centric and corporate-based technical-expertled program to a global program applying participatory ergonomics strategies within a macroergonomics framework. During that transition, the existing program requirements were revised, new methods and program tools were created, and expectations for implementation at the manufacturing locations clarified. This paper focuses on the company's manufacturing ergonomics program activities during the past ten years and includes specifics of the program's objectives, risk assessment reduction process, and ergonomics technical expertise development. The main benefit achieved throughout the company is reducing employee injury while also increasing productivity and operating efficiency.     

Designing the safety of healthcare. Participation of ergonomics to the design of cooperative systems in radiotherapy

This communication deals with the involvement of ergonomists in a research-action design process of a software platform in radiotherapy. The goal of the design project is to enhance patient safety by designing a workflow software that supports cooperation between professionals producing treatment in radiotherapy. The general framework of our approach is the ergonomics management of a design process, which is based in activity analysis and grounded in participatory design. Two fields are concerned by the present action: a design environment which is a participatory design process that involves software designers, caregivers as future users and ergonomists; and a reference real work setting in radiotherapy. Observations, semi-structured interviews and participatory workshops allow the characterization of activity in radiotherapy dealing with uses of cooperative tools, sources of variability and non-ruled strategies to manage the variability of the situations. This production of knowledge about work searches to enhance the articulation between technocentric and anthropocentric approaches, and helps in clarifying design requirements. An issue of this research-action is to develop a framework to define the parameters of the workflow tool, and the conditions of its deployment.     

Social Support,Unfulfilled Expectations,and Affective Well‐being on Return to Employment

We conducted a longitudinal study to investigate how social support from the partner is related to mothers' affective well‐being during their return to employment after maternity leave and whether expectations of that support have an additional impact. We differentiated four forms of support and their respective expectation discrepancies: emotional, instrumental, informational, and companionship. Further, we included the impact of meeting specific support expectations. A convenience sample of 288 women filled out questionnaires 2 weeks before reentry and then 1 month and 2 months afterward. Social support was associated with well‐being, with emotional support having the strongest positive impact. Informational and instrumental support either were not related or were negatively related to affective well‐being. Expectations had an additional influence but were inconsistently associated with affect. They became more important over time.     

Anticipating the “Ball and Chain”? Reciprocal Associations Between Marital Expectations and Delinquency

Marriage has been identified as a mechanism that may explain decreased delinquency among young adults, but whereas marriage is increasingly delayed, crime continues to decrease across the transition to adulthood. Most adolescents and young adults expect to marry one day, and these expectations may suppress delinquency. Conversely, increased delinquency may also predict decreased marital expectations. Longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort (N = 7,057), a sample of youth who were aged 12 to 17 years in 1997, were used to examine the reciprocal association between an expressed expectation to marry soon and participation in delinquent behavior. Results from an autoregressive cross‐lagged structural equation model suggested that greater expectations to marry were significantly associated with less delinquent activity 1 year later. Greater delinquent activity was not significantly associated with subsequent marital expectations. Youth with the greatest expectations to marry may temper their behavior even before vows are taken.     

Understanding the collaborative-participatory design

In this study, the role of collaboration in design is discussed, placing emphasis on how to include end-users in the development process. The study is based on a literature review focusing on aspects of collaboration in design, usability and human factors. Thereby, it introduces, compares and contrasts the characteristics of both collaborative and user-centered design perspectives, leading to the collaborative-participatory design approach. Finally, the advantages, disadvantages and precautions of implementing collaborative and participatory models are pointed out.     

Evaluation of adult protective services: perspectives of community professionals

Due to challenges associated with client characteristics, funding, and the expectation of poor outcomes, few studies have evaluated the services provided by Adult Protective Services (APS). The article reports community-based professionals' satisfaction with APS when investigating cases of suspected elder abuse. Results from a 12-item quantitative survey indicate respondents were most satisfied with the intake process, followed by assessment, and case management. Satisfaction was higher than expected, though areas for improvement are identified. This survey and its results should serve as a starting point for more extensive evaluation methodologies needed to enhance the delivery of services provided by APS.     

User-driven innovation of an outpatient department

This paper presents experiences from a user-driven innovation process of an outpatient department in a hospital. The mixing of methods from user-driven innovation and participatory design contributed to develop an innovative concept of the spatial and organizational design of an outpatient department in a hospital. Design games and tabletop simulation seem to be powerful tools in facilitating such a participatory process.     

Design Teams as Learning Systems for Complex Systems Change

Summary

Systems change in child welfare and cross-systems change involving other service sectors are needed in response to two developments: (1) New policy mandates (e.g., TANF, AS FA) and (2) Research on the co-occurring and interlocking needs of many child welfare families. A four-state initiative was structured in response to these needs. Collaborative learning and action research groups called design teams were structured to identify competencies and to develop new service delivery systems. Faculty facilitators representing social work education programs were assigned to these teams and charged with their development and evaluation. Facilitators served as linkage agents for university-communitystate agency partnerships, and they promoted curriculum change. These study reports two sets of findings related to these design teams: (1) Findings from semi-structured interviews of design team members; and (2) Findings from the participatory action research completed by two faculty facilitators. Key themes related to design team processes are presented. Drawing on these emergent themes, components that help explain effective design team processes are identified. Selected implications for social work education programs and faculty also are identified