Tuesday, May 11, 2010

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

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

IJCAIP Shaping Field of Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice


IJCAIP Beginnings.....

T
he 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"

Monday, April 19, 2010

SIU brings MD, novelist, playwright to conference




SIU School of Medicine event Friday June 25, 2010

to feature Stephen Bergman, MD, Doctor, Novelist, Playwright

Staying Human in Medicine: From “The House of God” to “The Spirit of the Place”

Samuel Shem, pen-name of Stephen Bergman, is a doctor, novelist, playwright and activist. A Rhodes scholar, he is a graduate of Harvard College Phi Beta Kappa, received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and his Ph.D. in Physiology from Oxford University. He was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for three decades.

The CME event will be a blend of medical humanities and clinical updates.


(It is good to see the intersections of arts and medicine featured at SIU.)

We invite you to check out the full program here:


See program pdf

Thursday, March 11, 2010

IJCAIP Journal to feature supplementary section addressing new approaches in arts based health research

The publisher of The International Journal of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice IJCAIP would like to announce we will be publishing a sponsored supplementary section of the Winter 2011 IJCAIP issue featuring news and articles from an academic collaborative organization in Toronto exploring the translation of new knowledge through arts based health research.

As an open access interdisciplinary and international journal accessed globally, at IJCAIP we are proud to support international researchers active in the field of the creative arts in interdisciplinary practice exploring progressive approaches and methods which may have the potential to benefit individuals and communities worldwide.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Dietitians of Canada Recognize Value of Story and Arts approaches for Leadership and Change in Dietetics

I am inspired by the progressive programme for the Dietitians of Canada Annual Conference to be held at The Hyatt Regency in Montreal, Quebec, May 27 - 29. Creativity, leadership and change themes will figure prominently throughout the programme. On Friday May 28 there will be a session titled, "Crafting Our Stories: Art, Leadership and Change in Dietetics" coordinated by Dr. Jacqui Gingras, Assistant Professor at Ryerson University's School of Nutrition and hosted by The Advisory Committee for Professional Affairs. Panel participants will introduce significant interdisciplinary connections between the arts and dietetics education and practice. Arts and research will be highlighted as well as approaches such as ethnodrama, non-fiction, poetry, textile art and filmmaking and other creative approaches for today's agents of change in the dietetics profession.

This session will feature panelist/speakers Lucy Aphramor, Co-Director of the Coventry based National health Service, Atrium Health Ltd., Coventry University, United Kingdom, Dr. Jacqui Gingras, Ryerson, Cheryl McLean, Publisher International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice and Dr. Catherine Morley, consulting dietitian, independent researcher and textile artist and filmmaker.
Both Jacqui Gingras and Catherine Morley and their work will be featured in the soon to be released research text "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change". , the inaugural textbook in the CAIP Research series.

Friday evening there will be an inaugural exhibit, "Dietitian as Artist" which will take place featuring works by dietitians expressing their creativity through a variety of media including painting, knitting, film, pottery, sculpting, quilting, music, theatre, fiction, drama and creative non-fiction writing, poetry, drawing, collage and photography.

For more information visit the website

Cheryl McLean, Publisher, International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice
Editor, Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice Research Series

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Notes to My Prostate

Notes To My Prostate

written by,John J. Guiney Yallop

Poetry Reading and Chapbook Launch

Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

The Box of Delights Bookshop

466 Main Street, Wolfville, Nova Scotia

Notes To My Prostate, a poetry chapbook of twenty-five poems written after my diagnosis with prostate cancer, through surgery, and to recovery, is now available from The Box of Delights Bookshop, 466 Main Street, Wolfville, NS B4P 1E2, Phone: 902-542-9511, E-mail: boxofdelights@ns.aliantzinc.ca, Website: www.boxofdelightsbooks.com (Two dollars from the the sale of each chapbook will be donated to prostate cancer reasearch or to a support group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.)

Dr. John J. Guiney Yallop is a parent, a partner, and a poet. Dr. Guiney Yallop’s research includes poetic inquiry, narrative inquiry, autoethnography, and performative social science. He uses these methodologies to explore identities, communities, and emotional landscapes. This book of poetry is a collection based on his recent experiences with prostate cancer. Dr. Guiney Yallop is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Acadia University.


"Many men diagnosed with prostate cancer will recognize themselves in John J. Guiney Yallop’s Notes To My Prostate. Many men aren’t very good at expressing the feelings John describes; they will find strength in his humorous and emotional lines." – Dick Groot, photographer, and founding member of Eastern Valley Prostate Cancer Support Group


"With a poet's precision, John cuts to the visceral heart of the experience of prostate cancer in poems that resonate with poignant loss, courageous hope, and unwavering love."–Carl Leggo, poet and professor, University of British Columbia


"How do you deal with your own mortality, and with losing a part of yourself that is identified with your gender? John J. Guiney Yallop answers in ways that will surprise you, and with a deft economy of words." – John Oughton, author of Counting Out the Millennium


"In experiencing John's work we are privileged witnesses to his deepest thoughts about life and love, loss and survival and one can only wonder at the things we all hold and may need one day to release and let go. John Guiney Yallop writes notes to his prostate with spare poetic honesty and profound courage "an ocean of meaning" and offers it out to the universe so that we all might learn."
– Cheryl McLean, Publisher, The International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice http://www.ijcaip.com

Two dollars from the price of $9.95 will be donated
to prostate cancer research or to a support group
for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Copies available: The Box of Delights Bookshop, 466 Main Street,
Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, B4P 1E2.
Phone: 902-542-9511 E-mail: boxofdelights@ns.aliantzinc.ca Online: www.boxofdelightsbooks.com

John Guiney Yallop's work will also be featured in the upcoming book "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change"




Monday, January 4, 2010

Research Text, Creative Arts Interdisciplinary Practice, Call for Abstracts

CAIP, Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice Research Series

Publisher: Detselig Temeron Press

Editor, Cheryl McLean, Publisher IJCAIP

International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice

Associate Editor, Robert Kelly Ph.D.

Call for Abstracts

Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice

Research for Community Change Across Cultures


The CAIP, Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice research text series was launched with the inaugural text “Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change” published by Detselig Temeron Books, Editor Cheryl McLean, Associate Editor Robert Kelly, scheduled for release in April 2010. (http://www.creativeartpractice.blogspot.com )"Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change" introduced the emerging field with illustrative examples, demonstrating the breadth and depth of the applications of the creative arts in research action and interdisciplinary practice. About the book

New Call for Abstracts:

In the second research text in the series, "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice Research for Community Change Across Cultures" there will be a particular focus on arts and community based research that transforms and empowers individuals and communities. We are interested in arts and research within neighbourhoods and cities, across continents and beyond borders. Currently we are seeking illustrative and accessible research accounts of new work offering hope for change across cultures and communities locally and globally.

These are a just a few of the themes and subjects areas of special interest:

  • arts research and community based research CBR/ arts and participatory methods
  • arts in research and practice re-building or bridging communities in conflict (visual arts, dance, performance, narrative/poetry, installation etc.)
  • arts in research and interdisciplinary practice across cultures for global change
  • ethnographic/oral history field studies leading to arts for social justice, anti-oppression work, empowerment
  • arts in research for improved health and quality of life, poverty, homelessness, environment, disability, youth, crime, aging, urban studies
  • arts in research used in distinctive and innovative ways, transformative new methods and creative approaches to help investigate, explore, articulate and communicate research findings while working actively within communities and beyond borders to foster change.

Submissions for Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice

Research for Community Change Across Cultures

Send an abstract (max. l pg.) as a Word attachment, with a short bio and a brief list of references to CherylMcLean@ijcaip.com with “submission Research for Community Change Across Cultures” in the subject line.

Deadline: March 20, 2010 Selected candidates will be contacted with a request for full articles and additional information will be provided at that time. Due date for full articles will be e/o May 2010. Please be aware that we are seeking research related articles.