What is clinical scholarship, you ask? It is a form of knowledge creation that focuses on being immersed in clinical practice, observing practice, analyzing practice, and synthesizing what you have learned from practice (Bell, 2003; Diers, 1995). It is not formal research per se, but a distant cousin; recognized as a form of scholarship but undervalued–even within practice professions like nursing.
Dr. Lorraine Wright offers a therapeutic conversation to a family in the Family Nursing Unit, University of Calgary
For 25 years, the Family Nursing Unit (FNU) at the University of Calgary provided a place where family-focused clinical scholarship was valued and encouraged (Bell, 2008; Bell & Wright, 2007). A clinical team of faculty and graduate students offered therapeutic conversations to families experiencing serious illness. The structure of clinical sessions was based on a variation of the five part session first suggested by the Milan Family Therapy Team (Tomm, 1984): 1) a pre session conversation between the clinical team members; 2) the clinical therapeutic conversation between the family and the clinician; 3) an intersession, in the form of offering a “reflecting team” (Andersen, 1991) where the family observed the clinical team members discuss their observations and reflections amongst themselves; 4) a concluding conversation between the family and the clinician; and 5) a post session conversation between the clinical members. The nurse clinicians for the family were faculty members, doctoral nursing students, or second year masters nursing students, and all family sessions received live supervision by a faculty member. All clinical sessions, as well as the clinical team’s pre and post sessions, were videotaped and archived after consent was obtained from family members and students.
This context provided an incredibly rich learning environment that provided all of the key ingredients for clinical scholarship to flourish: immersion in clinical practice with families, opportunities to observe and analyze the therapeutic conversation occurring between the family and the clinician/clinical team; and a quest to share our evolving understanding of family nursing practice through the publication of books, journal articles, etc. (See my new Favorites section at www.janicembell.com)
The Illness Beliefs Model, Trinity Model, and the Calgary Family Assessment and Intervention Models are all products of family-focused clinical scholarship. The FNU closed in December 2007 and recent publications (2008-2009) written by former graduate students and/or faculty highlight a continuing legacy of clinical scholarship about practice with families:
Bell, J.M., Moules, N.J., & Wright, L.M. (2009). Therapeutic letters and the Family Nursing Unit: A legacy of advanced nursing practice. Journal of Family Nursing, 15(1), 6-30.
Bell. J.M. (2008). The Family Nursing Unit, University of Calgary: Reflections on 25 years of clinical scholarship (1982-2007) and closure announcement [Editorial]. Journal of Family Nursing, 14(3), 275-288.
Boyd, M.A., & Houger Limacher, L. (2008). Famiily assessment and intervention. In W. Austin & M.A. Boyd (Eds.), Psychiatric care for Canadian practice (pp. 270-286). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Duhamel, F., Dupuis, F., Wright, L.M. (in press). Families’ and nurses’ responses to the “One Question Question”: Reflections for clinical practice, education, and research in family nursing. Journal of Family Nursing.
Fast Braun, V., Hyndman, K., & Foster, C. (in press). Family nursing for undergraduate nursing students: The Brandon University Family Case Model approach. Journal of Family Nursing.
Flowers, K., St. John, W., & Bell, J.M. (2008). The role of the clinical laboratory in teaching and learning family nursing skills. Journal of Family Nursing, 14(2), 242-267.
Harper-Jaques, S., McElheran, N., Slive, A., & Leahey, M. (2008). A comparison of two approaches to the delivery of walk-in single session mental health therapy. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 27(4), 40-53.
Houger Limacher, L. (2008). Locating relationships at the heart of commending practices. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 27(4), 90-105.
Marshall, A.J., & Harper-Jaques, S. (2008). Depression and family relationships: Ideas for healing. Journal of Family Nursing, 14(1), 56-73.
McLeod, D.L., & Wright, L.M. (2008). Living the as-yet unanswered: Spiritual care practices in Family Systems Nursing. Journal of Family Nursing, 14(1), 118-141.
Marshall, A.J., & Harper-Jaques, S. (2008). Depression and family relationships: Ideas for healing. Journal of Family Nursing, 14(1), 56-73.
McLeod, D.L., & Wright, L.M. (2008). Living the as-yet unanswered: Spiritual care practices in Family Systems Nursing. Journal of Family Nursing, 14(1), 118-141.
Moules, N.J. (2009). Therapeutic letters in nursing: Examining the character and influence of the written word in clinical work with families experiencing illness. Journal of Family Nursing, 15(1), 31-49.
Moules, N.J. (2009). The past and future of therapeutic letters: Family suffering and healing words. Journal of Family Nursing, 15(1), 102-111.
Moules, N.J., & Simonson, K. (in press). Following in behind: An interview with the Reverend Bob Glasgow on his practice with grief work. Illness, Crisis, & Loss.
Moules, N.J. (in press). A parent’s worst nightmare: Grief, families, and the death of a child. Journal of Relational Child and Youth Care Practice.
Moules, N.J., MacLeod, M., Thirsk, L.M, & Hanlon, N. (in press). “and then you’ll see her in the grocery store”: The working relationships of public health nurses and high priority families in northern communities. Journal of Pediatric Nursing.
Slive, A., McElheran, N., & Lawson, A. (2008). How brief does it get? Walk-in single session therapy. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 27(4), 5-22.
Wright, L.M. (2008). Softening suffering through spiritual care practices: One possibility for healing families. Journal of Family Nursing, 14(4), 394-411.
Wright, L.M., & Bell, J.M. (in press). Beliefs and illness: A model for healing. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: 4th Floor Press.
Wright, L.M., & Leahey, M. (2009). Nurses and families: A guide to family assessment and intervention (5th ed.). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.
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If you have any publications that have used the “Calgary Practice Models” as a clinical model or as a conceptual framework in your research (including the Calgary Family Assessment Model, Calgary Family Intervention Model, Illness Beliefs Model, or the Trinity Model) please email me so that we can add your publication(s) to our database.
Janice M. Bell, RN, PhD
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