Watching, waiting and hoping: temporality and emotions in forensic secure hospitals

The ways in which individuals perceive time are viewed as providing an important contribution to the development of conscious thought and behaviour.

Speaker: Professor Ruth McDonald from the University of Manchester

Temporal orientation refers to the relative emphasis people place on the past, present and future. Future-oriented thinking is often viewed in positive terms and has been reported as promoting healthy behaviours. Drawing on interviews and observation in secure hospitals, the seminar challenges this positive view of future orientation. It also goes beyond the secure care context to consider the subject of temporal orientation and its importance for patients and healthcare providers, more generally.

Biography

Ruth McDonald is a recently retired and now honorary Professor at the University of Manchester. She has held posts at the universities of Warwick, Nottingham, Liverpool and Leeds and also spent 1 year as a Harkness Fellow at the University of California Berkeley from 2007 to 2008. She is a former Vice President of the European Sociological Association and former Chair of its Sociology of Professions Research Network. Ruth joined the NHS as a trainee shortly after graduating and prior to embarking on an academic career was an NHS Finance Director.

Cost is free of charge, all are welcome!