5 minute read
SRG report
The STAT Research Group
SRG REPORT
Advertisement
Photo credit: N. Hanefeld 2020
Experiences of learning AT in the post-natal period: Research coming to fruition Alexander teacher, Nicola Hanefeld is coming to the end of her PhD at the University of Hull, which she has been doing with Lesley Glover as one of her supervisors. Nicola has been looking at how women in the postnatal period apply the Alexander Technique (AT). During her three years, Nicola has undertaken two studies. Firstly, a qualitative study of women who had varying degrees of experience of learning the AT, and had babies under one year. The women who took part used various self-care strategies and were consciously modifying their selfmanagement via awareness. The AT was important for them in providing a practical psychophysical reset and helped in the areas of sleep and rest, and when discomfort or pain arose. Active rest (semi-supine) played an important role in their lives. Significantly it seemed that ‘Alexander mothers’ have a sense of self-agency concerning selfcare which is not the case for many women in the postnatal period. Nicola’s second study was a smallscale feasibility study, shaped to some extent by the Covid pandemic. Fifteen women with no previous AT experience, and with babies under one year, were provided with an AT-based online postnatal self-care package and asked to practise active rest daily for 14 days. Findings suggest the package was easy to use and acceptable, and that it altered women’s sense of wellbeing. This study provides support for the development of an AT postnatal intervention for women to enhance wellbeing. Nicola has submitted abstracts to two international conferences to report the findings and will be submitting her first paper to an academic journal shortly. The project as a whole will make a significant contribution to the academic literature and study of the AT in general, as well as for women in the postnatal period in particular. Nicola will provide a more detailed update in a future issue of STATnews.
Finding your way around Alexander Studies Online (ASO) With the recent re-launch of Alexander Studies Online (ASO) we released a brief video to provide an overview of the projects we’re currently working on. These projects aim to help communicate AT-related research and foster the exchange of ideas, resources, and knowledge by supporting a global community of Alexander teachers, trainees and students; researchers and academics; and others interested in learning more about, or directly contributing to research on the AT. If you’d like to learn more you can watch the ASO overview video via the link below. We hope to see you there! https://www.alexanderstudiesonline. com/blog/welcome-overview-of-aso
Bringing AT research to life Over December 2020/January 2021 Alexander Studies Online (ASO) is releasing a free series of videos with the theme of the AT and dementia; a topic that touches many lives, but which has so far received relatively little attention within the Alexander teaching community. To do this, ASO has released a mini-series of 11 (5–12 minute) video interviews that provide background to the topic and information about two very different AT and dementia related studies. Taking part in the conversations are Charlotte Woods and Lesley Glover of the STAT Research Group, and Emma Wolverson, a clinical psychologist from the University of Hull who specialises in dementia care. To learn more and be notified of how to sign up for the series, you can visit the ASO community page and become a member by subscribing with your email. Visit https://www. alexanderstudiesonline.com/asocommunity and join our growing community!
Covid halts funding opportunity The Alzheimer’s Society has had to cancel their new research grant awards because of the impact of Covid. Hopefully, it will be possible to carry forward to next year, the funding bid for the AT and dementia carers’ project, submitted by Lesley Glover and her colleagues from the University of Hull.
continued overleaf»
«continued from previous page Exploring the impact of Covid on AT teacher training During lockdown, STAT training courses had the choice of going online or effectively temporarily closing for the whole of the Summer term this year. All the training courses made the best decision they could for their particular circumstances. The SRG helped STAT to devise a questionnaire designed to capture the experiences during this period of teacher trainees and their trainers. As in so many areas of life, Covid has necessitated big changes in the way we do things, and teaching and training in the AT is no exception. The information from the questionnaire results will help us to continue to adapt and respond as we move forwards in 2021.
The experiences of older people learning the AT: Update and thank you In the last STATnews, we mentioned a study finding out about the experiences of people aged 65 or over who have had Alexander lessons. Emma Donkersley, (clinical psychology trainee from the University of Hull) who is undertaking this study, asked teachers via STAT to help with recruiting participants for the study. The response has been fantastic so a very big thank you to all who passed the information on to the people you are teaching. The study is ongoing and we’ll report on the findings as soon as these become available. If you become aware of any new research involving the AT, or are interested in our work please do let us know (email alexander@juliawoodman.co.uk). The STAT Research Group is: Lesley Glover, Kathleen Ballard, Erica Donnison, Charlotte Woods, Mark Vasak and Julia Woodman (Chair).
Marshcouch Pro
Treatment couches for the professional
Features; • Smart modern look with anodised aluminium. • Hardwearing vinyl upholstery in a wide choice of colours. • Three strong central hinges and metal support brackets. • Main supports are riveted to ensure they never get loose or rattle. • Cable system ensures that the legs are always locked securely in place when the couch is in use. • Deep cross-banding at the ends give it very good lateral stability. Whatever it is, coronavirus has made the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could. Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to “normality”, trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture. But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality.
Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.
We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.
