4th Global Conference: Making Sense of: The Patient: Therapeutic Approaches

4th Global Conference Making Sense of: The Patient: Therapeutic Approaches Tuesday 18th March - Thursday 20th March 2014 Prague, Czech Republic Call for Presentations To witness and be aware of the fullness of the impact of exceptional nursing... is a sacred emotional uplifting experience... This realisation permeates ones whole being, bringing peace, endless gratitude and the deepest respect. As a result one can become a better person, simply wanting to radiate the same love to all within oneâ 셲 reach. (A Patient) A significant focus for this interdisciplinary project is our annual conference which provides valuable opportunities for participants to become involved in thoughtful, unique, and creative dialogues with one another. In this engaging and responsive forum presenters are encouraged to enthusiastically share something of themselves and their disciplines, and through the exploration, examination, and discussion of their work with colleagues nurture new knowledge and interdisciplinary relationships. Through its research and publications, and from a number of health and therapeutic care perspectives, this project began by characterising the patient as a liminal figure in an unstable landscape. As a result conference participants have begun discussions that explore the positioning of patients, families and institutions, helping professionals and clinicians, the nature of practice and the significance of theory in terms of: quality of care; professional and personal expectations; reluctance and resistance; institutional and individual needs; and, the value and role of education. In this next stage of the project we would like to warmly encourage participants to consider the patient in terms of collaborative therapeutic relationships - to site the patient in a place of care where she might be defined by the quality and strength of her relationships rather than her liminality. In addition, this project invites a critical examination of those therapeutic approaches, roles, skills, and conditions of relationship that make agency possible, establish collaboration, and assist in mutually helpful outcomes. Often the practice of these approaches is narrowly defined in terms of the curative benefits to the patient or client. However, this conference will add to the scope of previous discussions by capturing and examining the myriad roles that relationships play in effectively assisting individual patients and client groups toward the achievement of their therapeutic goals. Presentations, papers, workshops, presentations and pre-formed panels are all invited on any of the following themes: -The heart of patient/helper relationships - theory and practice -: past; present; and, future; -Re-visioning patient experience through a humanist lens; -On the ground - the sacred and the profane - therapeutic relationships from patients', helpers', and organisational perspectives; -Identifying and supporting patients' relational needs in different settings; -Collaborative projects that assist patients to be, and to help, themselves; -Patient-centred education and training; -Key philosophical, ethical, and legal issues in the organisation and management of patient and helper relationships across the lifespan; -Cultural perceptions of relationship in patient care; -Changing states - from person to patient - accounts of experience and representations from literature, the Arts, film, and the digital media; -Preserving and nurturing relationships in a therapeutic setting - case studies, personal and experiential accounts, and institutional facts; -The present and future roles of new global technologies in patient care. -Choosing life - perceiving and seeking positive and growthful positions in the face of difficult life situations ('Krankheitsgewinn'), attending to opportunities for psycho-spiritual, psychological, psycho-social and physical development. Presentations that deal with related themes will also be considered. It is our aim that a number of these interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary dialogues will be ongoing and that they will ultimately develop into a series of related cross context research project. It is also anticipated that these will support and encourage the establishment of useful collaborative networks, and the creation, presentation, and publication of original research. Through such richness and diversity it is expected that a body of knowledge and expertise will be established that serves both individuals and organisations. What to Send 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 11th October 2013. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 17th January 2014. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word or RTF formats with the following information and in this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract, f) up to 10 keywords. E-mails should be entitled: THE PATIENT 4 Abstract Submission. Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). Please note that a Book of Abstracts is planned for the end of the year. All accepted abstracts will be included in this publication. We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend. Organising Chairs Peter Bray: pbray@eit.ac.nz Rob Fisher: pat4@inter-disciplinary.net The conference is part of the Persons series of ongoing research and publications projects conferences, run within the Probing the Boundaries domain which aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore innovative and challenging routes of intellectual and academic exploration. For further details of the conference, please visit: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/persons/the-patient/call-for-papers/ Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.