Narrative and Stories in Health Care Illness, Dying, and Bereavement

The use of narrative methods has a long history in palliative care, pioneered by Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the hospice movement. Patient stories can be used to make sense of experiences of illness and care, to create and express meaning, to mediate and reconstruct identifications, andto encapsulate the complex relationships between the individual and their wider social and material contexts. Modern palliative care encourages user empowerment and involvement in end of life care strategies, with patient narratives becoming a powerful lobbying tool, and 'personalised care' emergingas a significant agenda.This multidisciplinary book provides a vibrant examination of work with narrative and stories in contemporary health and social care, with focus on the care of people who are ill and dying. It animates the academic literature with provocative 'real-world' examples from international contributors,including palliative care service users and those working in the social and human sciences, medicine, theology, and the creative arts. It addresses and clarifies core issues: What is a narrative? What is a story? What are some of the main methods and models that can be used and for what purposes?What practical and ethical dilemmas can the methods entail in work with illness, death and dying? How does a researcher or clinician harness and maximise the meanings and/or experience that can be manifest in patient and carer stories? As well as highlighting the power of stories to create newpossibilities, the book also acknowledges the problems inherent in narrative work, and the importance of the ethics surrounding it.As the hospice and palliative care movement evolves to meet the challenges of 21st century health care and end of life care, this fascinating book highlights how narratives and stories can be worked with in ways that are rigorous, productive, ethical, and caring.DT .