The benefits of Play therapy for children with a traumatic illness. The course session on research will enable you to include relevant material in your essay.  The main part of the half-day course session will be a short presentation by each participant with an accompanying group discussion and critique.  You will need to spend an adequate amount of time beforehand to do yourself justice. The slot for each participant will be between 15 and 30 minutes, depending upon the size of the group.

In order to prepare for the session you will need to have narrowed your choice of topic down to one or two.

• Something you are curious about
• Something you are enthusiastic about
• Something you are passionate about
• It doesn’t necessarily have to be a therapeutic medium or a condition

Reading the two papers for this assignment may give you new ideas for your topic.

Your essay is not expected to be a research project in its own right, but could be the basis of your topic for the Masters in Play Therapy dissertation, if you wish to proceed to this stage.  Your essay must show your understanding of how you are able to apply an understanding of research methodology to your topic, after assessing the literature published on the subject, suggesting questions that should be the basis of further research and the research method(s) that you would recommend.  To satisfy the latter point you must list the criteria that you use to make your choice of method and the pros and cons for the methods that you have considered.

Your essay should be based on your experience in delivering therapeutic play and play therapy sessions and clinical supervision.  This must be linked this to informing theories drawn from psychology, neurobiology and other relevant disciplines.

In order to prepare adequately for your essay presentation you need to:

First, read ‘A Brief Introduction to Research & Research Methods’ by Dr John Bates. You may have covered some of these topics on previous courses but please read it to refresh your memory.

Secondly, read and absorb ‘Play Therapy Research – Diploma Level – Essay Content’ by Jeff Thomas. This introduces concepts and policies specifically for the field of play therapy drawing upon non-academic sources, with an emphasis on real life practice.  Although some of this material was covered at the Certificate stage, much will be new to most students.

Finally, draft notes for your presentation upon the application of research to your topic.  Include material from both papers. You are not required to use PowerPoint but can do if you wish.

Be prepared to answer questions that will elicit your grasp of developing a good research methodology and demonstrate how you will assess the literature that you have read relating to your topic.

Your essay will lose marks if research has not been adequately covered.  You will gain marks if your coverage of research methods is thorough and relates to your topic

Introduction

This paper builds upon ‘A Brief Introduction to Research & Research Methods’ by Dr John Bates.’

Our objective is to introduce principles and methods that are drawn from non-academic sources that are relevant to the real life practice of play therapy. These complement and in some cases overlap those covered by John.  It’s very important that you read ALL of this paper, perhaps several times, to digest and absorb the concepts so that you can refer to many of them in your essay.  The abbreviation PTUK covers both Play Therapy UK and Play Therapy International research activities.

We are covering:

• A systemic view of play therapy practice – this might provide ideas for your topic
• Research methodology – many students get it wrong and lose marks
• Levels of play therapy research – use PTUK’s three frameworks to identify the level of the research featured in your essay
• Questions – stressing the importance of getting them right
• Population – designing the right sampling frame
• Critiquing published research – a review of the relevant literature should be a an important part of your essay
• PTUK research guidelines to help you understand our approach to research
• Pragmatic psychology – an important component of PTUK’s research strategy – why we want to integrate research with practice
• Single-case research methods – one of the most applicable method for play therapy practitioners

Write a 2- to 3-page paper that explains your personal philosophy of nursing. It should examine and identify your own perspective (definition) of the metaparadigm of nursing, person, health, and environment, as well as identify other concepts you believe should be a part of our meta paradigm. Additionally, your paper must:

• Discuss how these concepts are interrelated in terms of how you understand and accomplish your work.
• Include one or more examples from your work that captures the essence of your philosophy.
• Explain what is important in your practice of nursing. Consider including your values, beliefs, and assumptions about nursing as a science and as an art. Answer this question from one of the following perspectives:
  • Pediatric nurses: What is your philosophy regarding the nursing care of children?
  • Hospice nurses: What is your philosophy regarding the care of people at the end of life?
  • Mental health nurses: What is your philosophy of mental health nursing?
• Include a global view of nursing. Examples include your experience in practice and your particular area of practice.
• This paper should be written in your own words but without any use of first person. It may be difficult to write about your personal philosophy, including personal examples, without using the first person. However, it will be good practice to write a scholarly paper in this manner. Consider using “The author believes…” or “One might expect…” instead.
• No citations are required; however, if the writings or statements of others have influenced your philosophy, these can be included and should be properly cited.
• The paper should be double spaced and formatted according to APA (American Psychological Association) standards.

Based on “Case Study: Fetal Abnormality” and the required topic study materials, write a 750-1,000-word reflection that answers the following questions:
What is the Christian view of the nature of human persons, and which theory of moral status is it compatible with? How is this related to intrinsic human value and dignity?
Which theory or theories are being used by Jessica, Marco, Maria, and Dr. Wilson to determine the moral status of the fetus? What from the case study specifically leads you to believe that they hold the theory you selected?
How does the theory determine or influence each of their recommendations for action?
What theory do you agree with? Why? How would that theory determine or influence the recommendation for action?

Case Study: Fetal Abnormality
Jessica is a 30-year-old immigrant from Mexico City. She and her husband Marco have been in the United States for the last three years and have finally earned enough money to move out of their Aunt Maria’s home and into an apartment of their own. They are both hard workers. Jessica works 50 hours a week at a local restaurant and Marco has been contracting side jobs in construction. Six months before their move to an apartment, Jessica finds out she is pregnant.
Four months later, Jessica and Marco arrive at the county hospital, a large, public, nonteaching hospital. A preliminary ultrasound indicates a possible abnormality with the fetus. Further scans are conducted, and it is determined that the fetus has a rare condition in which it has not developed any arms and will not likely develop them. There is also a 25% chance that the fetus may have Down syndrome.
Dr. Wilson, the primary attending physician, is seeing Jessica for the first time, since she and Marco did not receive earlier prenatal care over concerns about finances. Marco insists that Dr. Wilson refrain from telling Jessica the scan results, assuring him that he will tell his wife himself when she is emotionally ready for the news. While Marco and Dr. Wilson are talking in another room, Aunt Maria walks into the room with a distressed look on her face. She can tell that something is wrong and inquires of Dr. Wilson. After hearing of the diagnosis, she walks out of the room wailing loudly and praying aloud.
Marco and Dr. Wilson continue their discussion, and Dr. Wilson insists that he has an obligation to Jessica as his patient and that she has a right to know the diagnosis of the fetus. He furthermore is intent on discussing all relevant factors and options regarding the next step, including abortion. Marco insists on taking some time to think of how to break the news to Jessica, but Dr. Wilson, frustrated with the direction of the conversation, informs the husband that such a choice is not his to make. Dr. Wilson proceeds back across the hall, where he walks in on Aunt Maria awkwardly praying with Jessica and phoning the priest. At that point, Dr. Wilson gently but briefly informs Jessica of the diagnosis and lays out the option for abortion as a responsible medical alternative, given the quality of life such a child would have. Jessica looks at him and struggles to hold back her tears.
Jessica is torn between her hopes of a better socioeconomic position and increased independence, along with her conviction that all life is sacred. Marco will support Jessica in whatever decision she makes but is finding it difficult not to view the pregnancy and the prospects of a disabled child as a burden and a barrier to their economic security and plans. Dr. Wilson lays out all of the options but clearly makes his view known that abortion is “scientifically” and medically a wise choice in this situation. Aunt Maria pleads with Jessica to follow through with the pregnancy and allow what “God intends” to take place and urges Jessica to think of her responsibility as a mother.