Narrative Analysis (narrative + analysis)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Medical Sciences


Selected Abstracts


"A Large Object with a Small Museum": A Narrative Analysis of Tlotlo's Experience of an Astronomy Science Center

CURATOR THE MUSEUM JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009
Anthony Lelliott
We illustrate the power of narrative in illuminating the importance of the student's perspective in understanding the conditions for learning in a museum setting. Using principles of narrative presentation, the paper describes Tlotlo's thinking throughout his participation in a school visit to the visitors' center at a radio telescope. The paper discusses six features of the visit: student misconceptions; inadequate preparation and followup; memories and imaginings; enjoyment; discussing the visit afterwards; and socioeconomic constraints on visits. These features are examined within the context of a developing country: both confirming previous research on school visits and providing new insights into how such visits can be interpreted. The significance of narrative analysis for science center educators is discussed and suggested as appropriate for current research in museums. [source]


Coherent Accounts of Coping with a Chronic Illness: Convergences and Divergences in Family Measurement Using a Narrative Analysis

FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 4 2003
BARBARA H. FIESE Ph.D.
Researchers and clinicians have shown increasing interest in family narratives as an avenue for accessing the family meaning-making process. In this study, we examine the convergences and divergences between narrative assessment, family self-report, and verbal accounts of family climate. Sixty-two families with a child with pediatric asthma were interviewed about the impact that asthma had on family life. These interviews were coded for narrative coherence, relationship expectations, and engagement with the interviewer. Primary caregivers were also interviewed using the Five Minute Speech sample (FMSS) and completed self-report assessments of family functioning (Family Assessment Device [FAD] Impact on the Family Scale [IOF]). Contrary to prediction. Narrative coherence was higher in those cases where Emotional Over-involvement (EOI) was present on the FMSS. Narrative coherence and engagement with the interviewer were positively related to self-report of family problem solving, communication, and affective responsiveness as measured on the FAD. Divergences and convergences between different types of family measurement are discussed in light of meaning-making processes associated with coping with a chronic illness. [source]


Leadership, Accounting, and the Reform Process of a Public Sector Agency: A Narrative Analysis

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006
Monir Zaman Mir
First page of article [source]


Critical Narrative Analysis in Psychology.

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2007
A Guide to Practice by Peter Emerson, Stephen Frosh
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Some Evidence of a Pluralistic Discipline: A Narrative Analysis of Public Administration Symposia

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 6 2005
Hugh T. Miller
This article investigates the discipline of public administration as it is manifested in symposium articles published during the period 1985,99. What was the field trying to accomplish? The method of investigation is narrative analysis. Using specific discourse markers (method, substantive contents, and authorial intentions), the authors found a wide variety of purposes and projects in the symposia investigated. The condition of public administration, they conclude, is distinguished by a radical pluralism,a striking absence of any singular conception of public administration scholarship. [source]


Thriving as Becoming Resolute in Narratives of Women Surviving Childhood Maltreatment

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2009
Joanne M. Hall PhD
The purpose of this feminist interpretive study was to portray the experience of women thriving after childhood maltreatment (CM) through personal narratives. An interdisciplinary team conducted multiple in-depth interviews of 44 women survivors of CM who identified themselves as successful and doing well. The interviews focused on "what worked" and "what did not" with the aim of exploring aftereffects of CM; strengths and strategies; interactions helpful in overcoming abuse; and related sociopolitical contexts. Narrative analyses revealed a distinct, dynamic process of becoming resolute characterized by six dimensions that were not sequential steps but characteristics, actions, and interactions. This study offers a new understanding of the experience of women gaining solid footing in their lives, the peace of knowing the abuse is over, and power to move in an upward trajectory. [source]


ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Lessons from families and communities about interpersonal violence, victimization, and seeking help

JOURNAL OF FORENSIC NURSING, Issue 3 2010
Angela Frederick Amar PhD
Abstract Despite significant incidence and physical and mental health consequences, most college-age women do not tell anyone about experiences of interpersonal violence. Limited research explores the sociocultural context of seeking help related to violence in young women. The overall purpose of this research was to understand socially and culturally relevant factors associated with violence help seeking in college women. Eight focus groups were held with 64 participants. Narrative analysis was the primary method of analysis. Four qualitative categories emerged from the data: "Learning from one's mother"; "We're strong women; we fight"; "We didn't talk about it"; and "Where I'm from." Findings suggest that help seeking is influenced by the messages from and experiences of mothers and extended family members. An understanding of familial and cultural determinants of help seeking is essential for relevant and effective prevention efforts. [source]


Use of Computer Technology to Enhance Immigrant Families' Adaptation

JOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 1 2006
Jenny Hsin-Chun Tsai
Purpose: To summarize how computer technology influenced immigrant families' adaptation to life in the United States. Design: Critical ethnography. Methods: Data were collected from 1998 to 2000 from 13 parents and 16 children from nine Taiwanese immigrant families using semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. Narrative analysis was used with interview data. Findings: Participants faced the demands of language proficiency, economic survival, loss of social networks, and social disconnection during resettlement. Computer technology provided participants with new occupational opportunities and strategies to overcome the barriers and stress created by resettlement. Internet and E-mail access greatly facilitated these participant families' adaptation. Conclusions: Study findings warrant further exploration to assess how new computer technology promotes immigrant families' adaptation and alleviates stress associated with resettlement, including information about their health and health care. [source]


Narrative analysis as a strategy for understanding interview talk in geographic research

AREA, Issue 1 2005
Janine L Wiles
Narrative analysis produces strategies to inform the conduct, interpretation and presentation of interview talk, and encourages and enables researchers to take account of research participants' own evaluations. We suggest this to be a useful method for geographers because it focuses on how people talk about and evaluate places, experiences and situations, as well as what they say. With an example from health geography, we show how it allows for interactive texts, thus providing a tool for geographers doing qualitative research to connect intimate details of experience to broader social and spatial relations. [source]


"A Large Object with a Small Museum": A Narrative Analysis of Tlotlo's Experience of an Astronomy Science Center

CURATOR THE MUSEUM JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009
Anthony Lelliott
We illustrate the power of narrative in illuminating the importance of the student's perspective in understanding the conditions for learning in a museum setting. Using principles of narrative presentation, the paper describes Tlotlo's thinking throughout his participation in a school visit to the visitors' center at a radio telescope. The paper discusses six features of the visit: student misconceptions; inadequate preparation and followup; memories and imaginings; enjoyment; discussing the visit afterwards; and socioeconomic constraints on visits. These features are examined within the context of a developing country: both confirming previous research on school visits and providing new insights into how such visits can be interpreted. The significance of narrative analysis for science center educators is discussed and suggested as appropriate for current research in museums. [source]


Relating information-needs to the cancer experience.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CANCER CARE, Issue 1 2000

This paper is based on a phenomenological study that used narratives to explore lived cancer experiences. The aim of the study was to determine the important issues for people with cancer that arose out of their cancer experience, and to place their information-needs within the stages of the cancer trajectory. The literature highlights the importance of information-giving; however, many problems are encountered with its provision. People with cancer frequently express dissatisfaction with the information given to them and experience difficulty in retaining and processing information. Six individuals were invited to tell the story of their cancer experience through in-depth interviews and narrative analysis uncovered thematic aspects of the lived experience. One interview in particular stood out as capturing the essence of a lived experience. Jenny's narrative had a beginning, a middle and an end, features that are traditionally associated with stories. This paper focuses on her story in depth, and illustrates the extent to which cancer can impinge on normal coping mechanisms. A diagnosis of cancer cannot be isolated from the other events in an individual's life, and themes emerged which showed that cancer impacts on different aspects of an individual's self-identity, including body image, family, social and work relationships. The cancer experience invariably begins before the point of diagnosis and information-needs clearly change over time. [source]


Living with a terminal illness: patients' priorities

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 6 2004
Helen Carter BSc MD MBChB MPH
Background., Our understanding of terminal illness and its consequences has been predominantly based on models derived from expert definition, rather than the patient's perspective. More recently, quality of life tools have been developed to enable patient choice in responses. However, an even broader approach may be needed to help identify goals for care for patients who are terminally ill. Aim., The aim of this paper is to report on an exploratory, qualitative study exploring what people living with terminal illness considered were the areas of priority in their lives. Methods., Ten people living with terminal cancer were interviewed. Analysis of the interviews incorporated principles of narrative analysis and grounded theory. Findings., Over 30 categories were identified and collated into five inter-related themes (personal/intrinsic factors, external/extrinsic factors, future issues, perceptions of normality and taking charge) encompassing the issues of importance to all participants. Each theme focused on ,life and living' in relation to life as it was or would be without illness. Practical issues of daily living and the opportunity to address philosophical issues around the meaning of life emerged as important areas. The central theme, ,taking charge', concerned with people's levels of life engagement, was integrally connected to all other themes. Conclusions., The findings suggest that the way in which health professionals manage patients' involvement in matters such as symptom relief can impact on existential areas of concern. Understanding patients' perspectives in relation to each theme may assist health professionals to develop management strategies appropriate to their needs. The findings challenge some aspects of traditional ,expert-defined' outcome measures. As this was an exploratory study, further work is needed to test and develop the model presented. [source]


Nursing the clinic vs. nursing the patient: nurses' experience of a day hospital chemotherapy service

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 9 2006
Sonja Mcilfatrick PhD
Aims and objectives., This study sought to explore the nurses' experience of a day hospital chemotherapy service in an acute general hospital in Northern Ireland and how this compared with their experience of working in an inpatient setting. Background., Despite the many changes taking place in cancer care delivery, little research has been conducted on nurses' experience of working in more acute cancer treatment settings. Research conducted to date has tended to focus on the role of nurses in wards, hospices and palliative care settings. Design., This Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological study explored nurses' lived experience of day hospital chemotherapy service. Method., Face-to-face focused in-depth interviews were conducted with the total population of nurses who worked in the day hospital at the time of data collection (n = 10). Data analysis involved a two-staged approach, the analysis of narratives and narrative analysis, based on the work of Polkinghorne (1995). Conclusions., The nurses' viewed their experience of the chemotherapy day hospital as having both positive and negative dimensions. The positive dimensions included an increased sense of autonomy and the challenge of developing new skills, while the negative dimension included a perceived decrease in their caring role: (i),The individual characteristics of the nurse were seen to have a key influence on caring experience; (ii),Role changes led to a perceived dichotomy between their actual and aspired role and their caring and clinical role. Relevance to clinical practice., There is a need to achieve a balance between delivering a clinical role (administering chemotherapy) while maintaining the centrality of the nurse,patient relationship. This can be likened to achieving a balance between ,nursing the clinic' alongside ,nursing the patient'. These findings have implications for the discourse on caring within other outpatient type clinics and discourse on cancer nursing as therapy and the culture of the cancer clinic. [source]


Pasifika in the news: the portrayal of Pacific peoples in the New Zealand press

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2006
Robert Loto
Abstract Pacific Islanders have faced discrimination in New Zealand particularly since the 1960s when communities began to be transplanted from their home nations to Aotearoa as cheap immigrant labour. Subsequently, the New Zealand vernacular has contained references to Pacific Islanders as ,overstayers', ,coconuts', ,bungas' and ,fresh off the boat' [FOB]. However, the legacy of a domineering relationship between the Palagi1 majority group and Pacific minorities2 that is captured by such derogatory terms is still evident in public forums such as the media. Using a quantitative content and qualitative narrative analysis, this paper documents portrayals of Pacific Islanders in New Zealand print media reports (n,=,65) published over a 3 month period. Findings reveal that Pacific people are predominantly portrayed as unmotivated, unhealthy and criminal others who are overly dependent on Palagi support. We consider this offered pacific identity formation with that implied for Palagi, which is active, independent, competent and caring. Issues in coverage are discussed in relation to how Pacific Islanders are encouraged to see themselves, and the health and social consequences of dominant practices in press coverage. We offer some suggestions as to how more equitable representations of Pacific people could be fostered in news media. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


A mixed motive approach to lobbying: applying game theory to analyse the impact of co-operation and conflict on perceived lobbying success

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2006
Freya Aitken-Turff
This study was motivated by the apparent discrepancy between guidance for public relations best practice using co-operation and collaboration to resolve conflict, and the potential to use the positive elements of conflict and competition to lobby more effectively. Game theory matrix was applied to nine lobbying campaigns, and used narrative analysis to identify themes of co-operation, conflict, and mixed motive lobbying in the transcripts. The primary research identified that: Conflict, co-operation and mixed-motive lobbying were apparent in all the case studies. Mixed motive lobbying was unattainable between organizations with diametrically opposed interests and this may limit its application. A further obstacle to mixed motive strategies is the high level of resources it uses. The numerical game theory matrix used in this study was of limited use, however, the conceptual framework the theory provided was effective at modelling conflict and co-operation strategies. Formal co-operative alliances were common in the sample. Smaller coalitions appeared to be more effective than the larger ones. Those engaged in high conflict campaigns perceived themselves to be more effective than those engaged in lower conflict campaigns, however, this would need to be examined more exhaustively to establish causality. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


,You tell all the stories': Using narrative to explore hierarchy within a Community of Practice1

JOURNAL OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS, Issue 5 2006
Emma Moore
Recent discussion of the Community of Practice (CofP) (Davies 2005) has suggested that there are certain limitations to the approach with regard to how it accounts for internal hierarchy and community membership. Eckert and Wenger (2005: 588) have suggested that the only way to evaluate such criticism (and avoid building an inappropriately rigid conception of power into CofP theory) is to explore how hierarchies operate within CofPs. This paper offers such an exploration. Using data from a long-term ethnographic study of a high school in the north-west of England, this paper will use narrative analysis (drawing upon the work of Labov and Waletsky [1967] 1997 amongst others) to explore the interactional space in which speakers actively negotiate their personal and community behaviour. The analysis focuses upon the role individuals play as narrators of community practice and illustrates that status inequalities between individual CofP members do not necessarily result in inequitable allocation of control within the CofP. [source]


Accommodation and resistance to the dominant cultural discourse on psychiatric mental health: oral history accounts of family members

NURSING INQUIRY, Issue 4 2007
Geertje Boschma
Oral history makes a critical contribution in articulating the perspectives of people often overlooked in histories written from the standpoint of dominating class, gender, ethnic or professional groups. Using three interrelated approaches , life stories, oral history, and narrative analysis , this paper analyzes family responses to psychiatric care and mental illness in oral history interviews with family members who experienced mental illness themselves or within their family between 1930 and 1975. Interviews with three family members in Alberta, Canada are the primary focus. These stories provide an important avenue to understand the meaning and transformations of mental health-care from the point of view of families. Family members' stories reveal contradictory responses to the dominant cultural discourse. Using a performative framework of interpretation, the narratives reveal a complex interplay between medical, social and cultural conceptions of mental illness, deepening our understanding of its meaning. The history of mental health-care can be substantially enriched by the analysis of family members' stories, not only revealing the constructed nature of mental illness, but also illustrating the family as a mediating context in which the meaning of mental illness is negotiated. [source]


The meaning of psychosocial occupational therapy in a life-story perspective. a long-term follow-up of three cases

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2003
Mona Eklund
Abstract This study is a long-term follow-up in narrative form of three former psychiatric patients who had been discharged eight to nine years earlier from an outpatient occupational therapy programme. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding about the participants' views about the period of therapy from a long-term perspective and of how the outcome of therapy could be understood within the context of the patients' life plots. In-depth retrospective interviews and two former interviews with each participant, conducted at the time of therapy, comprised the data. The interview transcripts were subjected to narrative analysis. The fit between the characteristics of the therapy programme and important life themes of the informants seemed crucial for the long-term outcome of therapy, suggesting that taking life histories is important for occupational therapists in clinical practice in order to design appropriate interventions. Four components of the therapy, the activities, the social interaction, the milieu, and the therapeutic relationship, appeared as vital in re-shaping the informants' life plots. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]


Some Evidence of a Pluralistic Discipline: A Narrative Analysis of Public Administration Symposia

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 6 2005
Hugh T. Miller
This article investigates the discipline of public administration as it is manifested in symposium articles published during the period 1985,99. What was the field trying to accomplish? The method of investigation is narrative analysis. Using specific discourse markers (method, substantive contents, and authorial intentions), the authors found a wide variety of purposes and projects in the symposia investigated. The condition of public administration, they conclude, is distinguished by a radical pluralism,a striking absence of any singular conception of public administration scholarship. [source]


Television Characterizations of Homeless People in the United Kingdom

ANALYSES OF SOCIAL ISSUES & PUBLIC POLICY, Issue 1 2005
Darrin Hodgetts
Media link events in society into meaningful plotlines for public consumption. For social issues such as homelessness this storytelling process continues until an issue is resolved or another concern takes precedence. This article investigates British Independent Television News1 (ITN) portrayals of homelessness from January 1993 to December 2002 (n= 99). News items are explored as instalments in a larger news narrative through which the public is offered engagements with homeless characters. A quantitative content analysis was used to establish the general prevalence of items throughout the year, story locations, causes and solutions offered for homelessness, and character roles. A qualitative narrative analysis was used to explore the function of these story elements in the overall patterning of the ITN story of homelessness. Of particular note was the promotion of a philanthropic approach to service delivery through the characterization of homeless people as needy victims and the maintenance of estranged relationships between the viewing public and homeless people. The significance of ITN's exclusion of homeless people from public deliberations regarding their needs is discussed in relation to the failure of this wealthy nation to resolve homelessness. [source]


Retirement: What will you do?

AUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010
A narrative inquiry of occupation-based planning for retirement: Implications for practice
Aim:,To examine, using a retrospective narrative study, the factors influencing four older people's decision to plan for the activities they would undertake once retired, the planning process undertaken and their subsequent experience of retirement. Method:,Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the factors influencing older people's decision to commence pre-retirement planning, the planning process undertaken and their experience of retirement. In keeping with narrative inquiry, paradigmatic-type narrative analysis led to the development of categories and subsequent themes to reveal the participants' experiences of these issues. Results:,Three themes: environmental influences, the planning process and retirement experiences: the outcome of planning, were derived from the participants' narratives. Overall, retirement activities that were continued or initiated led to a positive experience even when these planned activities were temporarily interrupted or altered. Planning for future years in retirement and older age also continued. Conclusion:,Occupational therapists have a unique understanding of the centrality of occupation to health and wellbeing. Thus occupational therapists are well-positioned to assist people identify, plan and engage in meaningful occupations outside work in retirement. [source]