Appendix
Focus Group Schedule
Introduction:
Hi everyone, thank you for taking the time to take part in the group today. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone of why we are here. Your teachers may have already explained this to you, but we are conducting a research project looking at the experience of adolescents living with a chronic illness in educational settings. The objective of this group is to get views from yourselves and work towards improving the available services and help accommodate you all during your years of school in a way that benefits you most. I would like to remind you all that if you are not comfortable with any of the topics we are going to talk about today, then you do not have to respond. All of your views are safe and your names will not be used outside of this room. There are no right or wrong answers, and
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I would like to start off by introducing ourselves: tell us your name, how old you are, and what year of school you are in.
School experience/attitudes towards education:
2. What do you enjoy most about learning and attending school?
3. In what ways do you think your health has impacted your experience of school and education?
- Prompt: Positive/Negative?
4. Have your attitudes toward education changed as a result of attending school while living with a chronic condition?
5. Some researchers have said that people your age have developed a tougher skin to their condition and a sort of ‘educational resilience’ by staying in school – how do you feel about this?
- Prompt: do you agree/disagree? Why?
Difficulties and problems faced/solutions, coping strategies:
6. Can you tell me any ways that helps motivate you in school?
- Prompt: how did you find this helpful? / Would you recommend this?
7. What parts of education, present or past, have you found most difficult?
- Prompt: do you think there is a pressure to keep up with your peers’ academic level?
8. What kind of support do your teachers offer in regards to your
I would like to properly introduce myself to the individuals in this class who do not already know who I am, by providing some quick facts about my background, career goals, employment, favorite activities and communication skills.
Being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder has been a major obstacle and inspiration for me. I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder when I was in first grade; from that time through high school I received services and medication to alleviate its effects. The day I entered college as a first year student I stopped taking that medication and I have never used the services offered at the Office of Students with Disabilities. My goal was to succeed in college on my own. My experiences with my disability have influenced to become a teacher.
The hardships that I had to deal with in my life had to start with being born with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). This disorder made it hard for me at a young age to be successful in their work as others, more specifically, in terms of reading comprehension and writing. With a slow start, it didn't really make me feel that encouraged with myself to speak and answer questions in class. But it really wasn't just complications in the classroom, it had to deal with my social life as well. I was really shy and awkward and back then really have a lot of friends.
Missing so much school had definitely taken a toll on me. All of my assignments weren't always complete but my teachers gave me slack. Today I am a way different student then I was back then. Doing grade 1 twice certainly helped me with reading. Second grade I was able to read chapter books without help.
About 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 experiences a severe mental disorder at least once in their lifetime. Over one-third of students with a mental health condition, age 14–21 drops out—the highest dropout rate of any disability group. With these statistics, it shows how many people are not gaining support and are just giving up because they cannot find convenient help. If this issue is shown in the classroom, then the awareness rates will rise, making more establishments for support and treatment.
Although Berg and Lune (2012) cite Barbour (2008) who states that focus groups are small groups of unrelated individuals, I personally tend to side with Schein who states, "If you want to access your organization's culture, bring together a group of employees who represent the parts of the organization that may be most involved with solving the business problem...” (2009, p. 82). By its very term, a focus group focuses on something. I believe that in ethnographic studies, the "something” is the culture or microculture which relates the participants to each other. Focus groups allow the researcher to obtain large amounts of data in a short amount of time. With a good moderator of the focus group, the researcher should be able to discover
I have also expierenced disruption in my schooling as i have a sister that is cronically ill with a genetic deformety that doctors have been trying to dyignose for many months this year. We have had to addent numerious doctor's and speicalites appointments to help dignose her condition. It is only recently that they have come to a prognoses on her illness.
Last year I was diagnosed with chronic daily headaches which lead me to miss two months of school. That absence of education gave me time to think, and I realized that pity is the enemy of success. After that lightbulb moment, I started school
so I try to always get high grades. Lastly, I understand what life can turn out like if I end up doing poorly in school and getting a low-paying job, and I don’t want that for myself. I want to live in a nice house and have a great life, even if I’m not the richest person in my neighborhood. Academic pressure is definitely something felt by most kids, especially ones in the more prestigious classes such as the ones provided at Welton
Focus group is a qualitative technique used mostly in marketing research and also other areas of research. This technique is used to collect primary data. This document consists of information about focus group.
One very big problem I had to deal with was trying to keep my grades up while I had mono. This was a such an enormous problem, because I spent about a week in the hospital, and then after that I was only able to go to school for half days for a couple months. I still received almost the same amount of work from most teachers, but I didn’t get any of the class time and it felt as though I was playing catch up everyday at school. If I was well and did half days at school I could easily keep up without a doubt, but some of the effects of mono made me feel constantly tired, drained of energy, and lacking motivation. Obviously I spent a lot of time sleeping, because another effect of mono includes not wanting to do anything like talking to others,
As a infant at only three months old i was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease. Being hospitalized is one of my earliest memories, sickle cell crises was the cause for me to be admitted in and out of hospitals. i would return to school and hurry to catch up on work, however not because i wanted to learn or succeed in my class, i just didn't want to feel different anymore. I was different in every other aspect from my peers, i needed on part of me to be normal, so i mean it my mission to return to school after every hospitalizations and work my hardest. Most people would think i worked so hard because i had a thirst for education, but all the hunger i had was hunger to fit in. i didn't find my love for a higher education until my freshman year
I had numerous health problems through my college career starting in spring 2014 and extending through my senior year that made it difficult to reach my full academic potential. During this time I had several extended hospital stays that made it difficult to complete course work, including final exams, that resulted in grades that do not reflect my hard work, or my interest in those subjects. After taking time away from school to heal, I do not believe I will have similar problems in the future.
Normalcy and routine helped me play my part, but at times it only highlighted my limits. I was switched into a more understanding classroom environment in one such case in fifth grade; there I not only kept pace but also drew appreciation from my peers for my love of learning. My cancer then returned unexpectedly a few months later. It took my weaker eye but brought a surprising opportunity to be open and lighthearted about a life factor I usually downplayed and that was mysterious at best to others. Explaining my experience to an audience of my concerned and curious classmates was an important step outside my comfort zone toward a fuller connection with people. Soon there were more people I would teach. To substitute for physical education, I mentored
I know I’m joking around about this, but being a teenager with disabling illness is a painfully isolating experience. I used to think I was invincible. I wish that that were true. But the reality is that it as you descend into complex medical blackhole, life moves on without you. While your peers are creating relationships and gaining their independence, yours is being stripped away leaving you dispossessed and quite frankly, angry. I have missed out on a lot. I never learned how to drive a car, or ride a bike, I