Meta PHoDcast 174: Ana Šemrov, psihologinja

Z Ano Šemrov o kakovosti življenja ter duševnem zdravju slepih in slabovidnih otrok ter mladostnikov in njihovih skrbnic ter skrbnikov. #MetaPHoDcast Ana je tik...

Z Ano Šemrov o kakovosti življenja ter duševnem zdravju slepih in slabovidnih otrok ter mladostnikov in njihovih skrbnic ter skrbnikov.

#MetaPHoDcast

Ana je tik pred uradnim dokončanjem doktorata, ki ga je opravljala na Londonskem univerzitetnem kolidžu, UCL. Tam je bila članica Great Ormond Street Inštituta za zdravje otrok. Projekt sta financirala sklad Fight for Sight in fundacija Ulverscroft.

Ana se je v doktorski disertaciji posvetila vprašanjema, kateri dejavniki vplivajo na kakovost življenja in osebno prožnost (angl. resilience) slabovidnih in slepih otrok ter njihovih družin in kdaj imajo ti dejavniki največji vpliv. V raziskovanju je uporabila mešane metode, tako kvantitativne kot kvalitativne. Da je več izvedela o slabovidnih in slepih otrocih ter mladostnikih, jih je povabila v raziskavo, v kateri je za prvo oceno dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na njihovo kakovost življenja, uporabila vprašalnike. Da pa bi dobila podrobnejši vpogled v njihovo življenje, je to metodo nadgradila še s polstrukturiranimi intervjuji.

V raziskavi je ugotovila, da objektivna klinična mera stopnje okvare vida teh otrok ni neposredno povezana z njihovo kakovostjo življenja.

Ta je namreč močno povezana s subjektivno oceno svoje lastne oviranosti zaradi slabovidnosti ali slepote, s tem, kako jih sprejema okolica, s podporo vrstnikov, z načinom, na katerega se na diagnozo odzovejo svojci, ter z drugimi dejavniki, ki jih Ana predstavlja v pogovoru.

Ana sedaj z raziskovalno ekipo, s katero je sodelovala med doktoratom, pripravlja priporočila za družine z otroki s slabovidnostjo in slepoto, za zdravstveno osebje in tudi za nevladne organizacije, ki imajo pomembno vlogo pri izboljševanju kakovosti življenja teh otrok. Ana izpostavlja tudi, kako pomembno je, da v raziskavah o otrocih in mladostnikih poslušamo ravno njih in jih obravnavamo kot enakopravne sogovornike in sogovornice, ki svoje izkušnje razkrijejo raziskovalkam in raziskovalcem.

Ana priporoča ogled filma The Worst Person in the World, režiserja Joachima Trierja, in v branje knjigo Hana, avtorice Alene Mornštajnove. Knjiga govori o življenju judovske družine v času druge svetovne vojne.

Ana priporoča drugim doktorskim študentom in študentkam, ne glede na področje študija, pisanje dnevnika dela, s kronološko urejenimi mislimi in razmisleki, do katerih prihajajo pri svojem raziskovanju. Dodatno se ji zdi pomembno povezovanje z drugimi raziskovalkami in raziskovalci na enaki ravni kariere, saj lahko eden drugega podpirajo, si izmenjujejo izkušnje in se skupaj soočajo s težavami ter prediskutirajo probleme, s katerimi se soočajo.

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Meta PHoDcast 174: Ana Šemrov, psychologist

With Ana Šemrov on the quality of life and mental health of children and young people with visual impairment.

Ana carried out her doctoral studies at University College London, UCL. She was a member of the UCL Institute of Child Health at Great Ormond Street Hospital. The project was funded by Fight for Sight and the Ulverscroft Foundation.

In her doctoral dissertation, Ana focused on which factors shape the quality of life and resilience of children and young people with visual impairment and their families, and when these factors employ the greatest impact. In her research, she used mixed methods, both quantitative and qualitative. In order to learn more about visually impaired and blind children and adolescents, she invited them to participate in a survey, in which she used questionnaires to assess the factors that affect them. Later, to gain a more detailed insight into their lives, she invited participants to semi-structured interviews.

Ana’s research showed that a clinical measure of vision impairment does not necessarily determine quality of life of children and young people with visual impairment or blindness. Their quality of life is closely related to their subjective experience of their functional vision impairment,how they are accepted in the community, peer support, family’s adjustment to their visual impairment diagnosis, and other factors that Ana presents in the podcast.

Ana and the research team she collaborated with during her PhD are now preparing recommendations for families of children and young people with visual impairment or blindness, for healthcare workers, and also for non-governmental organizations that play an important role in improving the quality of life of these children. Ana also stresses how important it is to give a voice to children and adolescents in research and to treat them as equal partners in the conversation, who have invaluable and important first hand experiences and want to share them with researchers.

Ana recommends watching the film The Worst Person in the World directed by Joachim Trier and reading the book Hana by Alena Mornštajnová. The book is about the life of a Jewish family during World War II.

Regardless of the field of study, Ana recommends to other doctoral students to create a work diary, where you have chronologically organized thoughts and reflections that occur during your research. Additionally, she finds it important that they connect with other researchers at the same career level to support each other and to share and discuss the problems they face.

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Meta PHoDcast so pogovori z mladimi raziskovalci in raziskovalkami o življenju, vesolju in sploh vsem.

Gostitelji in gostje smo znanstveniki in znanstvenice z različnih področij znanosti. Večinoma gre za doktorske študente in študentke pred zaključkom doktorata, občasno pa so naši sogovorniki tudi podoktorski raziskovalci in raziskovalke v tujini.