Vera Caine

Narrative Inquiry as Pedagogy in Education: The Extraordinary Potential of Living, Telling, Retelling, and Reliving Stories of Experience

In a fractured age, when cynicism is god, here is a possible heresy: we live by stories, we also live in them. One way or another we are living the stories planted in us early or—knowingly or unknowingly—in ourselves. We live stories that either give our lives meaning or negate it with meaningless. If we change the stories we live by, quite possibly we change our lives. (Okri, 1997, as cited in King, 2003, p. 153)

A Return to Methodological Commitment: Reflections on Narrative Inquiry

In the 25 years since narrative inquiry emerged as a social science research methodology, it has been rapidly taken up in the social sciences. In what is sometimes called a “narrative revolution,” researchers with diverse understandings have co-opted the concept of narrative inquiry and used narrative inquiry or narrative research to name their methodology. In this paper, we lay out more clearly the ontological and epistemological commitments that underlay the methodological commitments of narrative inquiry. Within narrative inquiry, experience is viewed narratively and necessitates considerations of relational knowing and being, attention to the artistry of and within experience, and sensitivity to the overlapping stories that bring people together in research relationships. Working within the relational three-dimensional narrative inquiry space with dimensions of temporality, sociality, and place, we attend to the living, telling, retelling, and reliving of stories of experience.

Competence and competency-based nursing education: finding our way through the issues.

The language of competence is widely utilized in both the regulation of nursing practice and curricular design in nursing education. The notion of competence defines what it means to be a professional, although it is not the only way of describing nursing practice. Unfortunately, there is much confusion about the concepts of competence, competency, and competency-based education. As well, the notion of competence, despite its global popularity, has flaws. In this paper we will disentangle these terms and critique the use of competence frameworks in nursing education.

Visualizing community: understanding narrative inquiry as action research

Throughout the school year I invited children in a Grade Two/Three learning strategies classroom to participate in a visual narrative inquiry. The intention was to explore children’s knowledge of community in artful ways; the children photographed and wrote in what was often an iterative process, where writing/talking and photographing intermingled. One of the interim research texts was the creation of an alphabet book. During this process the children envisioned images they wanted to photograph, photographed them using a medium format camera, altered the negatives through scratching and writing, and subsequently developed the images in the darkroom. Throughout the project the children and I engaged in sustained conversations and during this process they became (co‐)researchers into their own and each other’s understanding of community. During the creation of the alphabet book the children often resisted placing words alongside the images as they were afraid that they would limit the possible interpretations of their images; they wanted the viewer to respond to their images and imagination. Each photograph entailed a desire to understand community in relation and as lived experience. Learning to know a community and creating a vision of community were central elements in the children’s visual narratives.

The Experience of Waiting: Inquiry Into the Long-term Relational Responsibilities in Narrative Inquiry

Researchers’ experiences as narrative inquirers remind them that stories are important; they sustain and remind people that lives are lived, told, retold, and relived in storied ways. Stories are what people know, how people know, and stories are how people live. Stories are people’s obligation to others, and stories create obligations for these authors as researchers. There are two starting points for narrative inquiry: listening to individuals tell their stories and living alongside participants in the field. It is the living alongside our participants that the authors attend to in this article. To be able to live alongside participants requires researchers to engage in research in profoundly relational ways and calls forth their long-term relational responsibilities.

Narrative Beginnings: Traveling To and Within Unfamiliar Landscapes

Drawing on the life stories of Debra, an Aboriginal woman living with HIV, I reflect on the feeling of (dis)placement from a geographic landscape and cultural heritage that both Debra and I experienced, although in different ways. I explore how place is inscribed onto and into our bodies and how home can be understood as embodied. In this way I explore place as geographic position of home and as ontological. In the living out of her stories, Debra made me not only understand the deeper conditions of human life, but that stories told are not fixed texts, that they are composed in and out of the living and in relation to others. The textual representation and physical inscriptions of Debra’s stories are another way to not only understand, but to inquire into her life and my own. The inquiry deepened my understanding of nursing practice as a particular, contextual, and meaningful relational engagement.

Imagining and Playfulness in Narrative Inquiry.

Our personal and professional lives draw us to a shared interest in ‘identity’ and ‘relationships’, and our understanding is shaped by our lives as narrative inquirers. As we struggle to name this complexity we begin to play with metaphors; the metaphor of ‘kites’, and thus string, kite and kite flyer provide us with a way to think about imagining and playfulness in relationships and in narrative inquiry. As we play with these metaphors we see how much our understanding of relationships shape our being and engagement with others and that imagination is inextricably intertwined within our lives and our relationships. By attending to this playfulness, our spaces of knowing enlarge and spaces of possibility are never ending; yet embedded in these possibilities is also a recognition of how difficult it is to stay in relation, to remain wakeful to the tensions and boulders of the landscapes and stories we live within.

The Development of a Classification Schema for Arts‐Based Approaches to Knowledge Translation

Background Arts-based approaches to knowledge translation are emerging as powerful interprofessional strategies with potential to facilitate evidence uptake, communication, knowledge, attitude, and behavior change across healthcare provider and consumer groups. These strategies are in the early stages of development. To date, no classification system for arts-based knowledge translation exists, which limits development and understandings of effectiveness in evidence syntheses. Purpose We developed a classification schema of arts-based knowledge translation strategies based on two mechanisms by which these approaches function: (a) the degree of precision in key message delivery, and (b) the degree of end-user participation. We demonstrate how this classification is necessary to explore how context, time, and location shape arts-based knowledge translation strategies. Discussion Classifying arts-based knowledge translation strategies according to their core attributes extends understandings of the appropriateness of these approaches for various healthcare settings and provider groups. The classification schema developed may enhance understanding of how, where, and for whom arts-based knowledge translation approaches are effective, and enable theorizing of essential knowledge translation constructs, such as the influence of context, time, and location on utilization strategies. Linking Evidence to Action The classification schema developed may encourage systematic inquiry into the effectiveness of these approaches in diverse interprofessional contexts.BACKGROUND Arts-based approaches to knowledge translation are emerging as powerful interprofessional strategies with potential to facilitate evidence uptake, communication, knowledge, attitude, and behavior change across healthcare provider and consumer groups. These strategies are in the early stages of development. To date, no classification system for arts-based knowledge translation exists, which limits development and understandings of effectiveness in evidence syntheses. PURPOSE We developed a classification schema of arts-based knowledge translation strategies based on two mechanisms by which these approaches function: (a) the degree of precision in key message delivery, and (b) the degree of end-user participation. We demonstrate how this classification is necessary to explore how context, time, and location shape arts-based knowledge translation strategies. DISCUSSION Classifying arts-based knowledge translation strategies according to their core attributes extends understandings of the appropriateness of these approaches for various healthcare settings and provider groups. The classification schema developed may enhance understanding of how, where, and for whom arts-based knowledge translation approaches are effective, and enable theorizing of essential knowledge translation constructs, such as the influence of context, time, and location on utilization strategies. LINKING EVIDENCE TO ACTION The classification schema developed may encourage systematic inquiry into the effectiveness of these approaches in diverse interprofessional contexts.

Living with and teaching about HIV: Engaging nursing students through body mapping

Body mapping, an artistic method of narrating experiences alongside people living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs), was used to educate first year nursing students about social and personal aspects of the illness, including stigma. Body mapping creates a safe space where individuals can discuss personal, emotional, cultural, political and socio-economic dimensions of their lives in relation to HIV/AIDS. The aim of this study is to understand how individuals from multiple perspectives experience body mapping as an educational tool, including a nursing student, an expert facilitator, a PHA and a course professor. The stories they live and tell motivate and inform the content of this study. We conducted three individual in-depth interviews with a student, a PHA and an expert facilitator on their experiences of participating in body mapping. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Field and observational notes were also collected and reflections have been incorporated in this paper. Three themes were derived from our analyses: 1) stock taking narratives, where body mapping serves as a mediator for reflecting, accessing and organizing past experiences; 2) transactional narratives where body mapping creates safe spaces within which relationships are created, and experiences are shared, and 3) give and take narratives that connote transformation of self as a result of participating in body mapping. In conclusion, the body mapping exercise as an educational tool is an opportunity to share experiences, and to learn about and to shift attitudes surrounding HIV/AIDS. Thus, body mapping can be a valuable tool for HIV education for first year nursing students.

The Experiences of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Participants A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research

Enriched high school curricula like the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Diploma programs are endorsed as “pathway programs” for postsecondary-bound students. Program participation is perceived to have benefits that appeal to a broad stakeholder group of universities, administrators, teachers, students, and parents. In this systematic review, we aim to establish what is known about program experiences by synthesizing pertinent qualitative research on student participation. We identified 20 relevant articles that were published up to July 2013 in English and were listed in commonly accessible databases. Analytical themes explored include the impact of peer relationships, the impact of the teacher–student relationship, the conceptualization of success, the construction of self-image, and perceived preparation for the future. Based on our findings, we offer critical insights into the existing qualitative research and provide recommendations for future research.