Participatory Action Research and Social technology Topics at iSchool Workshop

We recently heard from IJCAIP subscriber Catherine Moravac a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Maternity Care Project, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology St. Michael's Hospital. Catherine has been active in participatory research with young pregnant women in Toronto in a Filmmaker in Residence project at St. Michael's Hospital (a collaborative effort with the National Film Board)

Health Information Collaboration and Exchange First Steps for New Researchers Workshop

In a new workshop with the iSchool Institute, Faculty of Information University of Toronto, Susan Gratsaris and Catherine Moravac will introduce participants to a variety of databases for collecting literature in the health sciences. They will also introduce ways in which social technology can promote collaboration between patients, their caregivers and medical providers as well as qualitative research approaches which have been used in the ‘exchange’ of health information at the community level.

Instructors will also be discussing Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a methodology for advocacy and collaboration with marginalized communities.

A case study will be presented in which a team of researchers, health care providers and filmmakers worked collaboratively with young, homeless pregnant women on a project which strove for social and political change. Participants will learn more about this project including the overall process and outcomes, consent, ethical issues, data collection, community engagement and lessons learned.

This sounds like an excellent workshop for those active in research for hope and change.

More information

IJCAIP Shaping Field of Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice

IJCAIP Beginnings.....

The seeds were planted in the spring of 2006. At that time I had envisioned a global community linked around the creative arts and its broader applications in practice, a network that would extend beyond any single modality, methodology or exclusive field of study drawn from across disciplinary borders in health, education and training.

Art by Robert Kelly

To achieve this goal, and to provide the necessary communication channels for research and information, individuals were identified and organizations interested in arts in health, training and education were contacted personally to ask if they might like to access a web based newsletter that featured articles about the creative arts as applied across disciplines. The response to this gentle inquiry was overwhelmingly positive. The Canadian Creative Arts in Health Training and Education e/newsjournal or CCAHTE as it was known, was launched in September 2006 as an open access (OA) internet news/journal, the interdisciplinary journal of the creative arts in health, training and education. The advisory board was established with representation from leading universities and institutions across North America and diverse disciplines in education, healthcare (nursing, public health, medicine) fine arts and design. We operated CCAHTE on a free subscription basis and welcomed articles from contributors worldwide.

Three years later, in consultation with the journal advisory board and to reflect the publication's broadening scope and international status as the open access peer reviewed academic journal in the field, the journal was renamed The International Journal of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, IJCAIP.

Today, The International Journal of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, IJCAIP, has a large international subscriber base and is accessible to researchers, educators and students in over 15,000 libraries in 60 countries around the world including developing nations.

Publishing activities at IJCAIP have contributed significantly to propagating a new and fertile knowledge base for research and information about the creative arts in interdisciplinary practice. The publication sponsors a number of interconnected IJCAIP websites as well as a monthly newsletter and several creative arts in interdisciplinary practice blogs. This year, IJCAIP, with Editor, Cheryl McLean (Publisher of IJCAIP) and Advisory Board member and Associate Editor, Robert Kelly, University of Calgary, will be publishing two new research texts, "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change" and "Creative Arts in Research for Community and Cultural Change" (Detselig Temeron Press).

It has been our intention to illustrate the considerable breadth and scope of this field while featuring leaders active in the work in action and practice. We continue to foster and encourage new research as well as carry the message across disciplines sharing news about the many applications of the creative arts in interdisciplinary practice with a growing worldwide readership.

The journey continues,

Cheryl McLean, Publisher IJCAIP

subscription to IJCAIP Journal is free with an email to CherylMcLean@ijcaip.com "please subscribe"