Narrative-Based Practice in Health and Social Care outlines a vision of how witnessing narratives, paying attention to them, and developing an ability to question them creatively, can make the person’s emerging story the central focus of health and social care, and of healing. This text gives an account of the practical application of ideas and skills from contemporary narrative studies to health and social care. Promoting narrative-based practice in everyday encounters with patients and clients, and in supervision, teaching, teamwork and management, it presents "Conversations Inviting Change," an established narrative-based model of interactional skills. Underpinned by an account of theory from narrative studies and related fields, including communication theory and systems thinking, it is written for students and practitioners across a broad range of professions in primary and secondary health care and social care. More information about "Conversations Inviting Change" is available at www.conversationsinvitingchange.com. This website includes podcasts, presentations and further teaching material as well as details of forthcoming courses, and is continually updated with information about the approach described in this book.

Narrative medicine has developed an identity already. Clinicians of many disciplines are being summoned to a practice that recognizes patients by receiving their accounts of self. Starting from different positions, the four authors have converged in a strong and shared commitment to narrative health care. They conceptualize narrative health care practices within frameworks derived from the social sciences and psychology, and, to a lesser degree, phenomenology and autobiographical theory. They relate the development of narrative medicine to relationship-centered care, patient-centered care, and complex responsive process of relating theory, positing that narrative medicine can help clinicians to develop the skills required to practice relationship-centered care. The book details - with exercises, resource texts, and abundant scholarly apparatus - how these skills can be developed and strengthened. This work will change health care. Because of its scholarly rigor, its multi-voiced sources, and its highly practical features (lists, activities, key ideas and key references, primary texts written by health care professionals and patients), this work will be a guide in the field for those who practice medicine or nursing or social work. The book establishes that there is a field to be practised, a need to practise it, and a means to develop the wherewithal to do so.

This theory-to-practice guide offers mental health practitioners a powerful narrative-based approach to working with clients in clinical practice. It opens with a primer on contemporary narrative theory and offers a robust framework based on the art and techniques of listening for deeper, more meaningful understanding and intervention. Chapters expand on these foundational concepts by applying them to a diverse range of populations and issues, among them race and ethnicity, human sexuality, immigration, and the experience of trauma, grief, and loss. The author’s engaging voice, thoughtful pedagogical style, and extensive use of examples and exercises also work together to inform the reader’s own narrative of growth and self-knowledge. Included in the coverage:• Encountering the self, encountering the other: narratives of race and ethnicity.• Surviving together: individual and communal narratives in the wake of tragedy.• Spiritual stories: exploring ultimate meaning in social work practice.• Sexual stories: narratives of sexual identity, gender, and sexual development.• Leaving home, finding home: narrative practice with immigrant populations.• Moving on: narrative perspectives on grief and loss. Narrative Theory in Clinical Social Work Practice is geared toward students as well as seasoned social workers, and professionals and practitioners in related clinical fields interested in informing their work with a narrative approach.

This book provides an important contribution to the new and growing field of ‘narrative-based medicine’. It specifically addresses the largest area of medical activity, primary care. It provides both a theoretical framework and practical skills for dealing with individual consultations, family work, clinical supervision and teamwork, and offers a comprehensive approach to the whole range of work in primary care. Using a wide range of clinical examples, it shows how professionals in primary care can help clarify patients’ existing stories, and elucidate new stories. It can be used as a training resource and includes exercises and summaries of key points to consider. It is based on, and describes, an established evaluated training method, and is of immediate and significant practical use to readers. It is essential reading for general practitioners, practice nurses and others in the primary care team, psychologists, family therapists, counsellors and other professionals attached to primary care. GP trainers, tutors and course organisers will find it a valuable educational tool. Professionals elsewhere in primary care such as pharmacists, dentists and optometrists, and academics in medical sociology and medical anthropology will also find it very useful.

This progressive resource brings the innovative power of narrative medicine to the forefront of community public health care. Chapters describe community involvement across a continuum of control, from health consultants describing problems and suggesting solutions to health committees designing programs and evaluating results. Narrative strategies to this end, including authentic dialogue and community mapping, are examined in the context of public health and fleshed out with examples of different levels of participation by community members. From the respectful collaboration modeled here, the principles of community public health care can potentially expand beyond the immediate community into other social domains on a greater scale. Included in the coverage: · Narratives, local knowledge, and world entry. · Community and narratives. · What is dialogue? · Storylines, causes, and locus of interventions. · Community mapping tells a story. · The politics of storytelling. Narrative Medicine and Community-Based Health Care and Planning gives health psychologists, sociologists, social workers, and public health administrators realistic practical insights for tapping into the unique resources communities and clients have to offer. This is the next step in the evolution of public health, toward large-scale improvements in care delivery, access to and relevance of services, and patient and community outcomes.

The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine articulates the ideas, methods, and practices of narrative medicine. Written by the originators of the field, this book provides the authoritative starting place for any clinicians or scholars committed to learning of and eventually teaching or practicing narrative medicine.

Scientific, evidence-based medicine is increasingly seen as fundamental to providing effective healthcare, but narrative-based medicine sheds light on social and interpersonal aspects of the practitioner-patient interaction which can also greatly affect healthcare outcomes. The philosophies underlying these two approaches seem to contrast, yet those who can integrate both into their practice are among the most successful medical professionals. Integrating Narrative Medicine and Evidence-based Medicine provides answers to the key question of how medical practitioners can best put both approaches into practice. It anticipates a future where evidence-based practice will be expected of all medical professionals, but contends that the integration of a narrative-based approach will also be crucial, presenting a unique perspective on structuring the patient-professional encounter for optimum results. It develops a cultural analysis and socio-cultural theory of the science of healing, and describes an efficient method by which medical practitioners can find and use medical research at the point of care with current technology and skills. This addresses the need for translational science - moving research into practice - identified by the National Institutes of Health. This book will be essential reading for educators of medical students and postgraduate trainees, behavioral scientists, psychologists, social scientists working in medical settings, and health managers and administrators. Medical students and postgraduate trainees will also find it useful in their learning.