Abstract
This chapter reflects on the situational identities used during an ethnographic study on an acute medical unit in the English NHS. This includes an exploration of both the deliberate and the tacit shifting between identities in the field; of student, occupational therapist and researcher. This chapter argues for the need to pay attention to the factors in the field that lead to the use of a certain identity over another and the impact that this has on fieldwork. Taking a reflexive approach to interpreting situational field identities produced an increased depth of understanding of the social and organisational norms of the acute medical unit and its’ wider context beyond my tacit knowledge as a health professional.
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Acknowledgements
The research described above formed part of a clinical doctoral studentship funded by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and hosted by the University of Southampton. Professor Jo Adams and Professor Jackie Bridges provided supervision for the project. The research would not have been possible without the participation of patients, relatives and health professionals.
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Rule, A. (2018). An Occupational Therapist Ethnographer on an Acute Medical Unit: Using Reflexivity to Understand Situational Identities and the Weight of Expectation. In: Garnett, E., Reynolds, J., Milton, S. (eds) Ethnographies and Health. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89396-9_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89396-9_6
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