The disease as a learning source
Understanding the process of a disease in order to learn is one of the work premises of the Hospital Education Research Group on Neonatology and Paediatrics of the UB. Although this group was created in 2014 they have been working for more than fifteen years with health professionals to apply pedagogical strategies and resources during disease processes in children, teenagers, and their families. Also, they work with people who take part in premature births so that they have the best information on how to act. According to Verónica Violant, lecturer at the UB and coordinator of the research group, “the objective is to offer useful tools to the kids, their families, and the medical staff”.
Understanding the process of a disease in order to learn is one of the work premises of the Hospital Education Research Group on Neonatology and Paediatrics of the UB. Although this group was created in 2014 they have been working for more than fifteen years with health professionals to apply pedagogical strategies and resources during disease processes in children, teenagers, and their families. Also, they work with people who take part in premature births so that they have the best information on how to act. According to Verónica Violant, lecturer at the UB and coordinator of the research group, “the objective is to offer useful tools to the kids, their families, and the medical staff”.
Projects with the involvement of the families, health and education professionals
At the moment, the team is working on several projects. The most distinguishing one is carried out through in collaboration with the Department of Education of Generalitat de Catalunya, on home teaching services. This service is an educational resource aimed at the students who have an extended sick leave and cannot attend their educational centers during the years of mandatory education, over a period of more than thirty days. Its aim, regulated in the Resolution EDU/3699/2007, is to guarantee the educational continuity for these kids, so a teacher is assigned to teach them at home during their convalescence time. The UB project will end with a guideline paper aimed at the improvement of the home teaching service in Catalonia, to be finished during 2018.
This project has the collaboration of a total of 253 people have participated in different ways to collect data: debate groups in ten different areas and questionnaires given to home teaching service teachers, kids, teenagers, and families.
The Research Group on Hospital Education on Neonatology and Paedriatics is also conducting projects with the Vall dʼHebron University Hospital and Hospital de Sant Pau i Santa Creu, on the abilities of parents when facing a premature birth. Also, in collaboration with Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, they are working on a project on teenagersʼ transition to adults as patients regarding medical assistance.
In the international field, the group is collaborating with Childrenʼs Heart Foundation - Institute of Cardiology in Bogota to establish a Unit on research and formation on Hospital Education.
The lecturer Verónica Violant says these projects usually accomplish improvements in the development of the study already, since research involves dialogue and an exchange of experiences among the different involved collectives.
Violant regards the joint work among education and health professionals as “pioneer”. This is not only about transferring knowledge in the university, but also researchers doing research together with other social actors, in this case health professionals and families. “This makes it different than a lab research, we see how changes are done step by step”.
Publications and work protocols
Usually, the final results are published in work protocols, such as the Protocol on prematurity prevention and assistance. This is a paper edited by Generalitat de Catalunya and aimed at the medical staff which gathers guidelines to assist patients before, during and after pregnancy.
Other different publications, resulting from research as well, with the participation of members of the group, are books aimed at children and families, such as the guideline for parents of children with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
Postgraduate studies
Another field work of the researchers of the group is the training in postgraduate studies, like the case of the postgraduate degree in Hospital Education in Neonatology and Paediatrics. These studies are designed for and aimed at both health and education professionals. Violant stated one of the goals is to create “a shared language” between educators and medical staff.