Abstract
Social support is vital in promoting the health, well-being, and performance of students and clinicians in health professions. Health settings' demanding and competitive nature imposes unique challenges on students and clinicians with disabilities. This paper aims to explore the trajectories and experiences of social support interactions amongst students and clinicians with disabilities in health professions. In a qualitative longitudinal study, 124 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 health students and 29 health clinicians with disabilities. Data analysis was informed by grounded theory as an adapted analytic approach involving constant comparisons. A few main characteristics of social support and trajectories in which social support is negotiated emerged from the data: (1) The need to be accepted and not questioned when asking for support, (2) Support interactions that do not heighten otherness, (3) Failure to acknowledge the challenges, (4) Interactions that support the process of disclosure (5) Interactions that allow mobilization of social support without strain or an extra effort. These findings have important implications for designing more supportive health professions, educational programs, and workplaces for people living with disabilities.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In this work we intentionally move between “person-first” (“a person living with a disability”) and “identity-first” (“disabled person”) language, to recognize the various preferences of disabled people for these language constructions (for more details, see Dunn & Andrews, 2015; Gernsbacher, 2017).
References
Baldridge, D. C., & Veiga, J. F. (2006). The impact of anticipated social consequences on recurring disability accommodation requests. Journal of Management, 32, 158–179. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305277800
Battalova, A., Bulk, L., Hole, R., Krupa, T., Lee, M., Mayer, Y., & Jarus, T. (2020). “I can understand where they’re coming from”: How clinicians’ disability experiences shape their interaction with clients. Qualitative Health Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732320922193
Beatty, J. E., & Kirby, S. L. (2006). Beyond the legal environment: How stigma influences invisible identity groups in the workplace. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 18, 29–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-005-9003-6
Botham, K. A., & Nicholson, J. (2014). Supporting the transition of disabled students from university to practice placement. Disability & Society, 29(3), 460–476. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2013.823078
Brown, K., James, C., & MacKenzie, L. (2006). The practice placement education experience: An Australian pilot study exploring the perspectives of health professions students with a disability. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69(1), 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/030802260606900106
Buckley, H., Steinert, Y., Regehr, G., & Nimmon, L. (2019). When I say… community of practice. Medical Education, 53(8), 763–765.
Bulk, L. Y., Easterbrook, A., Roberts, E., Groening, M., Murphy, S., Lee, M., Ghanouni, P., Gagnon, J., & Jarus, T. (2017). ‘We are not anything alike’: Marginalization of health professionss with disabilities. Disability & Society, 32(5), 615–634.
Bulk, L. Y., Tikhonova, J., Gagnon, J. M., Battalova, A., Mayer, Y., Krupa, T., Lee, M., Nimmon, L., & Jarus, T. (2020). Disabled healthcare professionals’ diverse, embodied, and socially embedded experiences. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 25(1), 111–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-019-09912-6
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. SAGE.
Charmaz, K. (2016). Shifting the grounds: Constructivist grounded theory methods. In J. M. Morse, P. N. Stern, J. Corbin, B. Bowers, K. Charmaz, & A. E. Clarke (Eds.), Developing grounded theory. The second generation (pp. 397–412). Routledge.
Earnshaw, V. A., & Quinn, D. M. (2012). The impact of stigma in healthcare on people living with chronic illnesses. Journal of Health Psychology, 17, 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105311414952
Easterbrook, A., Bulk, L., Ghanouni, P., Lee, M., Opini, B., Roberts, E., Parhar, G., & Jarus, T. (2015). The legitimization process of students with disabilities in health and human service educational programs in Canada”. Disability & Society, 30(10), 1505–1520. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2015.1108183
Easterbrook, A., Bulk, L. Y., Jarus, T., Hahn, B., Ghanouni, P., Lee, M., Groening, M., Opini, B., & Parhar, G. (2018). University gatekeepers’ use of the rhetoric of citizenship to relegate the status of students with disabilities in Canada. Disability & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2018.1505603
Ennals, P., Fossey, E., & Howie, L. (2015). Postsecondary study and mental ill-health: A meta-synthesis of qualitative research exploring students’ lived experiences. Journal of Mental Health, 24(2), 111–119. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638237.2015.1019052
Epstein, I., Stephens, L., Severino, S. M., Khanlou, N., Mack, T., Barker, D., & Dadashi, N. (2020). “Ask me what I need”: A call for shifting responsibility upwards and creating inclusive learning environments in clinical placement. Nurse Education Today. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104505
Frank, H., McLinden, M., & Douglas, G. (2020). Accessing the curriculum; university based learning experiences of visually impaired physiotherapy students. Nurse Education in Practice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2019.102620
Goffman, E. (1971). Encounters: Two studies in the sociology of interaction. Publisher.
Grue, J. (2016). The problem with inspiration porn: A tentative definition and a provisional critique. Disability & Society, 31(6), 838–849.
Harvey, L. (2015). Beyond member-checking: A dialogic approach to the research interview. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 38(1), 23–38.
Hobfoll, S. E. (2002). Social and psychological resources and adaptation. Review of General Psychology, 6(4), 307–324. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.6.4.307
Hu, W. C., Flynn, E., Mann, R., & Woodward-Kron, R. (2017). From paperwork to parenting: Experiences of professions staff in student support. Medical Education, 51(3), 290–301.
Jarvis-Selinger, S., Pratt, D. D., & Regehr, G. (2012). Competency is not enough: Integrating identity formation into the medical education discourse. Academic Medicine, 87(9), 1185–1190. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e3182604968
Joshi, A., & Ray, S. L. (2019). Facilitators and barriers to education for chiropractic students with visual impairment. Journal of Chiropractic Education. https://doi.org/10.7899/JCE-18-14
Jung, B., Baptiste, S., Dhillon, S., Kravchenko, T., Stewart, D., & Vanderkaay, S. (2014). The experience of student occupational therapists with disabilities in Canadian universities. International Journal of Higher Education, 3(1), 146–154.
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. American Medicine Journal, 33(4), 692–724.
Kalka, D., & Lockiewicz, M. (2018). Happiness, life satisfaction, resiliency and social support in students with dyslexia. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 65(5), 493–508. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2017.1411582
Kennedy, T. J., & Lingard, L. A. (2006). Making sense of grounded theory in medical education. Medical Education, 40(2), 101–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02378.x PMID: 16451236.
Kim, B., Jee, S., Lee, J., An, S., & Lee, S. M. (2018). Relationships between social support and student burnout: A meta-analytic approach. Stress and Health, 34(1), 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2771
Koinis, A., Giannou, V., Drantaki, V., Angelaina, S., Stratou, E., & Saridi, M. (2015). The Impact of Healthcare Workers Job Environment on Their Mental-emotional Health. Coping Strategies: The Case of a Local General Hospital. Health psychology research. https://doi.org/10.4081/hpr.2015.1984
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Learning in doing: Social, cognitive, and computational perspectives. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815355
Li, J., Han, X., Wang, W., Sun, G., & Cheng, Z. (2018). How social support influences university students’ academic achievement and emotional exhaustion: The mediating role of self-esteem. Learning and Individual Differences, 61, 120–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.11.016
Lombardi, A., Murray, C., & Kowitt, J. (2016). Social support and academic success for college students with disabilities: Do relationship types matter? Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 44(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-150776
Meeks, L. M., Bisagno, J., Jain, M., & Herzer, K. (2015). Support students with disabilities in medicine and health care programs. Disability Compliance for Higher Education, 21(3), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1002/dhe.30103
Nahum-Shani, I., Bamberger, P. A., & Bacharach, S. B. (2011). Social support and employee well being: The conditioning effect of perceived patterns of supportive exchange. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52(1), 123–139. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146510395024
Neal-Boylan, L., & Miller, M. (2017). Treat me like everyone else: The experience of nurses who had disabilities while in school. Nursing Education, 42(4), 176–180. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000348
Nimmon, L., & Atherley, A. (2022). Qualitative ego networks in health professions education: Capturing the self in relation to others. Medical Education, 56(1), 71–81.
Pierce, G. R., Lakey, B., Sarason, I. G., Sarason, B., & Joseph, H. J. (1997). Personality and social process: A conceptual overview. In G. R. Pierce, B. Lakey, I. G. Sarason, & B. R. Sarason (Eds.), Sourcebook of social support and personality (pp. 3–18). Plenum Press.
Quinn, D. M., & Earnshaw, V. A. (2011). Understanding concealable stigmatized identities: The role of identity in psychological, physical, and behavioral outcomes. Social Issues and Policy Review, 5, 160–190. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-2409.2011.01029.x
Santuzzi, A. M., & Waltz, P. R. (2016). Disability in the workplace: A unique and variable identity. Journal of Management, 42(5), 1111–1135.
Shoji, K., Bock, J., Cieslak, R., Zukowska, K., Luszczynska, A., & Benight, C. C. (2014). Cultivating Secondary Traumatic Growth Among Healthcare Workers: The Role of Social Support and Self-Efficacy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 70, 831–846. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22070
Stergiopoulos, E., Fernando, O., & Martimianakis, M. A. (2018). “Being on Both Sides”: Canadian medical students’ experiences with disability, the hidden curriculum, and professional identity construction. Academic Medicine, 93(10), 1550–1559. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002300
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research: This study was supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), application Number 312411.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Mayer, Y., Shalev, M., Nimmon, L. et al. Social support experiences of students and clinicians with disabilities in health professions. Adv in Health Sci Educ 28, 477–497 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10169-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10169-9