Narrative

Question 1

Narrative

Answer 1

An area of study that contemplates the acts of creating, writing, telling and hearing stories as fundamental human mechanisms and strategies for coming to terms with core elements of our existence, experience, and condition, and seeks to understand the structure and meaning of those acts.

Question 2

Illness narratives

Answer 2

The stories people tell themselves and others about the meaning of suffering.

Question 3

Narrative Medicine

Answer 3

Medicine practiced with competence in the skills of acknowledging, absorbing, interpreting, being moved by, and acting on stories of illness

Question 4

Talcott Parsons’ “sick role” theory

Answer 4

describes the societal expectations and obligations associated with illness, viewing it as a form of sanctioned deviance where individuals are temporarily excused from normal social roles but obligated to seek medical care and strive for recovery.

Question 5

Narrative in health is a ….

Answer 5

reactionary discipline

Question 6

professionalism movement in medicine

Answer 6

emphasizes prioritizing patient interests, fostering ethical conduct, and upholding high standards of competence and integrity, forming the basis of a doctor’s social contract with patients and society

Question 7

Illness narratives provide a bridge between …

Answer 7

internal experience of illness and social meanings of illness/ disease

Question 8

Narrative ethics

Answer 8

• a critical response to the dominance of principlism
• an approach to ethical decision-making that emphasizes the importance of stories and storytelling in understanding and navigating moral dilemmas, focusing on the context, situatedness, and personal experiences rather than abstract rules or principles.

Question 9

What did Arthur Frank do?

Answer 9

-Author of a memoir of critical illness, At the Will of the Body, describing his own experience of illness (heart attack at age 39,
subsequent diagnosis with testicular cancer)
-Moves the discussion of narrative from the societal level to the level of clinical practice

Question 10

Types of illness naratives

Answer 10

Restitution Stories
Chaos Stories
Quest Stories

Question 11

What are some ways to practice narrative medicine?

Answer 11

● In the clinic:
○ Taking the time to listen to patients closely.
○ Constructing story collaboratively by writing notes alongside them.
● Outside of the clinic:
○ Engaging in reflective writing practice.
● In education:
○ Hosting writing workshops
○ Reading stories and poems with groups of students and “close reading” them.

Question 12

Pathography

Answer 12

Writing about illness

Question 13

Autopathography

Answer 13

writing about one’s own illness