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Eliciting client narratives and creating community-informed interventions have been effective methods of engaging those who are unstably housed in care. Previous studies have shown that these approaches foster client empowerment and provide insight as to the importance of creating community-driven solutions. However, few studies report the impact of these methods on homeless people living with HIV. The purpose of this paper is to describe methods used to engage consumers in sharing their stories, including formative focus groups, qualitative interviews, and feedback from peer staff.

Data for the case study were derived from program notes, board minutes, and feedback from founding board members of The Open Door. Two researchers who were involved with the program from its inception reviewed these data and then developed a schematic of the methods used to develop and inform the program itself. The authors determined that three methods were used to elicit client and community narratives to inform program decisions. These include a formative focus group that helped to structure and implement the program in its earliest stages; qualitative interviews, which helped to pinpoint effective program components and enabled the rapid expansion of the service delivery model; and feedback from peer staff, which has consistently allowed for the refinement and prioritization of services. Data were collected for the purposes of program development and improvement but since qualitative interviews were conducted by faculty affiliated with an academic institution, the institutional review board of that institution was consulted and the qualitative interviews were determined to be exempt from review.

The focus group informed the authors that they wanted to live in their own apartments but have on-site supports. They also indicated that traditional housing program rules such as abstinence were too restrictive for them to navigate. In the qualitative interviews, the clients reported an increased sense of community with peers and peer staff members, which helped to reduce stigma. Second, residents reported that supportive services helped them to connect to and maintain in HIV clinical care. Third, residents reported that the representative payee services were a key factor in helping them improve housing and financial stability.

There are a number of limitations to this case study that demand the need for caution in interpreting results. Although the authors used several different methods to elicit client narratives and community feedback, sample sizes were small, control groups were not utilized, and data were specific to individuals receiving services through one housing program. Thus, results are not generalizable. In addition, the methods reported herein mix those conducted for the purposes of research (in-depth qualitative interviews) with others conducted specifically to inform program delivery and improvement (focus group and peer staff feedback). Thus, rigor is not equally applied across all methods. In addition, the individuals conducting research and authoring this paper were directly involved with the creation of the program and ongoing service delivery. Therefore, interviewer and reporting bias also present threats to validity.

There are many strengths involved in utilizing the narrative feedback of the residents and peer staff to inform the practice. One is that this method is an incredibly cost-efficient way to assess client and program needs to inform intervention development and improvement. The results are also very transparent and easily translatable to the agency’s everyday work. These methods are practical in both their approach to clients and their ability to be easily incorporated into the daily work of clients and staff. These methods allow for rapid application as results are immediate and feedback can be implemented quickly.

When seeking client and staff feedback, it is important to be cognizant of believing the client and recognizing that all people have their own personal perspectives, including their own version of the “truth.” Eliciting this type of feedback puts individuals in a vulnerable place, so it is critical to guarantee their safety. All information solicited must be regarded in a positive light to inform improved service delivery and not as a means to receive information that “tells on” clients or peer staff. Feedback should be reviewed as an opportunity for learning and not as a mechanism for retaliation.

The clients and staff have been significantly marginalized in the society. It is possible that having providers be kind and respectful to them and asking for their opinions is a very new experience which might make them feel grateful and more likely to be favorable in their responses. Clients may feel loyal to the program and be much more likely to speak of it positively. Regardless of these potential biases, the quantitative results of improved health outcomes published elsewhere indicate that the clients may not just be being nice, but may in fact be receiving interventions that are working.

This paper provides a brief chronicle of medicine and narratives, the aim being to understand the role of people's narratives historically, including how they have developed and changed over time, and in particular the rising interest in the neuro‐narrative. The paper ends by reflecting on what practicing physicians, nurses, therapists, and social care workers might want to think about when considering the use of narratives with their clients.

This paper introduces narrative theory and therapy, showing its relevance to addiction and recovery. A variety of techniques and clinical sensitivities are illustrated, the purpose of which is to enable clients to change.

This study aims at a better understanding of parents’ identity work when their parenting skills are questioned, in an organizational setting. The parents in this study were assessed as at risk of unsatisfactory parental functioning because of problems related to drugs, mental health and/or psychosocial functioning, and they were observed and offered guidance at an extended health centre in Norway. The study explores how individual self-presentations are interwoven with and dependent on organizational narratives of identity.

Based on an analysis of 16 qualitative interviews, three exemplary cases are analyzed in detail. Narrative identity and professional gaze constitute the theoretical framework.

Parents and service providers negotiate which organizational narratives of identity are available, and the narratives are integrated in parents’ self-presentations in different ways. The most common strategy is to accept the organizational narratives offered, but they are also transformed and rejected. The experience of being seen by an empathic professional gaze contributes to the creation of an acceptable self-narrative.

Tending to parents’ identity needs should be an integral part of services provided. If parents are to cooperate with state services and engage in interventions, their needs for preserving an acceptable and coherent self-narrative must be considered.

This paper adds to the understanding of how identity work is a central feature of service provision. It also adds to the literature on relationships between identity narratives at different levels of society.

This article addresses the issues of career counseling and career‐based satisfaction. It is argued that taking a narrative approach to career counseling is both theoretically and practically justified. The article explores narrative theory in relation to career counseling and identity, and illustrates the central notions that arise from the theory, with a brief case study. It is concluded that a narrative approach to career counseling can assist clients who are uncertain about where to go next in their careers, particularly within the context of the boundaryless career.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how service professionals involved in the provision of services to clientele who use solvents and are often without stable housing understand the process of healing and recovery in their work.

Using a narrative methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 human service professionals (i.e. social workers, case managers, etc.) employed in providing recovery-based services to individuals who use volatile solvents.

Despite the dominant cultural story about “street addicts” and solvent users’ limited possibilities for recovery, professionals indicate that they view their clients as “just like everyone else.” The dominant storyline was that of advocating for the capability of the client group. These stories are discussed in relation to hope for professionals who provide health and housing services to clientele with complex and multi-systemic needs.

The findings have implications for how human service providers maintain hope and purpose in their work with stigmatized populations (e.g. homeless individuals, those with alcohol or other drug-related problems). This study highlights how human service professionals make sense of their role in their work and how they maintain hope for themselves and for the recovery of the clientele they work alongside.

Purpose: Artists with disabilities use their bodies and minds to create art. Yet, the prevailing cultural narrative that art is “therapeutic” for people with disabilities shifts attention from their creative accomplishments to their disabilities. Some ally organizations attempt to challenge the narrative that art is merely therapy for people with disabilities. However, drawing on narratives of “helping” people with disabilities attracts funding. This chapter examines how organizations navigate empowering allies while still maintaining funding.

Methods/Approach: This chapter uses narrative analysis of material accessed through a nonprofit arts-based disability ally organization's website to address two research questions: 1. How do ally organizations both draw on and resist cultural narratives of disability in order to garner public support?; and 2. How do personal narratives of disabled artists associated with ally organizations support and/or resist organizational and cultural narratives about the connection between disability and art?

Findings: The organization uses narratives to address important and sometimes conflicting goals. Personal narratives from artists with disabilities that are available through the website tell a range of stories about art and disability. The organization draws on these heterogeneous stories to position itself as an ally. By including such personal narratives on its website, the organization challenges the cultural narrative that the art produced by disabled artists is merely therapeutic.

Implication/Value: Much of the work on allyship focuses on how individuals can be allies. Examining ways in which organizations frame themselves as allies can help us to more fully understand allyship on multiple levels of social life.

Carers play a vital role in looking after people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Caring role can be stressful and challenging in nature. Carers use various coping strategies to deal with stressors. The purpose of this paper is to explore coping strategies of carers looking after people with ID and dementia.

Qualitative methodology was used to explore coping strategies. Focus groups and face-to-face interviews were carried out. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

Nine interviews with carers (six paid carers and three family carers) and two focus groups with nursing staff looking after people with ID were carried out. Three key themes of “Narrative”, “Strategy toolbox” and “Compartmentalisation” emerged from analysis. Narrative and strategy took box were further subthemed. Carers had narratives about them and the person they look after. These “narratives” helped them to deal with day to day stressors. They also carried a “strategy toolbox”, which they used when they were in stressful situations. Compartmentalisation helped them to separate their personal life from work life as a carer.

Understanding carers’ coping strategies is important when planning services to help carers who play an important role in our society. Professionals can support carers to understand and improve their existing coping skills and help them to thrive in their role as carers.

In this chapter, I examine stories that foster care youth tell to legislatures, courts, policymakers, and the public to influence policy decisions. The stories told by these children are analogized to victim truth testimony, analyzed as a therapeutic, procedural, and developmental process, and examined as a catalyst for systemic accountability and change. Youth stories take different forms and appear in different media: testimony in legislatures, courts, research surveys or studies; opinion editorials and interviews in newspapers or blog posts; digital stories on YouTube; and artistic expression. Lawyers often serve as conduits for youth storytelling, translating their clients’ stories to the public. Organized advocacy by youth also informs and animates policy development. One recent example fosters youth organizing to promote “normalcy” in child welfare practices in Florida, and in related federal legislation.