Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce Advance Decisions, address low uptake and examine fundamental issues that can inform the development of policy and practice in this area.


Design/methodology/approach
This paper discusses findings from a research project with the charity Compassion in Dying (analysing calls to its telephone helpline) and practical experience of working with the charity Advance Decisions Assistance (helping people write Advance Decisions and training healthcare professionals).


Findings
Older people themselves identify the issues of autonomy, identity and efficacy as key challenges in writing Advance Decisions and having them respected.


Originality/value
This paper shows how addressing the "real world" challenges of advance decision making can inform policy and practice.

This article explores three different approaches - content analytic, biographical and discursive - to analysing the same data set (women with breast cancer talking about causes, and Blaxter's classic work on 'lay aetiology'). It compares these three approaches in relation to the key epistemological problems of 'context', 'footing' and 'multiple versions' - and concludes that a discursive approach offers better solutions to these problems than do the other two approaches. Finally, it suggests that both feminist psychology and health psychology would benefit from increased use of discursive approaches, particularly in relation to theorizing 'experience'.