From reality disjunctions to dramatic reality: Bridging realities through the performance of life stories in dementia care

Dramatherapy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 122-133
Author(s):  
Christine Novy
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Therapy ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Drama Therapy ◽  
Dementia Care ◽  
Alternative Framework

This article explores the potential for a performative life story project to build bridges between different realities and, in so doing, to establish common ground between people who are living with dementia and members of their community. The discussion is anchored in a practice vignette from a single-case life story performance. Two features of the methodology, the ‘saying hullo again’ metaphor from narrative therapy and dramatic reality from drama therapy, are highlighted. Their combined effectiveness as an alternative framework for understanding and working with reality disjunctions in dementia care is discussed.

Drama therapy in late life: Taking life-story work one step further

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-36
Author(s):  
Dovrat Harel ◽  
Shoshi Keisari
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Group Process ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Drama Therapy ◽  
Psychological Development ◽  
Unfinished Business ◽  
Integrative View ◽  
One Step ◽  
Story Work

Integrating life-story work with drama therapy creates new opportunities for the psychological development of older adults. In this conceptual article we suggest five qualities of dramatic reality by which this integration can promote psychological development in old age: its ability (1) to evoke a story, (2) to bring together the personal and the collective, (3) to help in processing unfinished business, (4) to create an integrative view of the self and (5) to open the way to imagining the future. We illustrate each of the five qualities using vignettes from our previous research in the field and show how exploring the life stories of older adults through dramatic reality provides opportunities for active self-exploration in the ‘here and now’ of the group process in a way that goes beyond verbal life-story work.

scholarly journals Expanding the Role Repertoire While Aging: A Drama Therapy Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoshi Keisari
Keyword(s):  
Personal Growth ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Group Process ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Therapeutic Process ◽  
Drama Therapy ◽  
Integrative Model ◽  
Group Relationships

Drama therapy has been found to improve various facets of mental health while aging. It provides opportunities for personal growth and creative expression and enhances group relationships. Drama therapy is a widely acknowledged way to explore the life stories in late life. However, only a handful of studies have empirically explored the value of drama therapy for the aging population. This conceptual analysis was designed to address this need by developing a new integrative model of drama therapy. The analysis is based on the review of the results of four studies that explored the integration of life-review and playback theater as a drama therapy approach for older adults. The therapeutic process focused on the exploration of life-crossroads stories, a short unique technique which enables the participants to craft a harmonious view of their life stories in a short-term dramatic creative group process. Combining the four results yielded a multidimensional model which points to three potential transformative routes: the evolution of the life story, the evolution of improvised dramatic expression, and the expansion of social engagement. The transformative routes are described through the lens of role theory in drama therapy.

Vocational Development in Emerging Adulthood

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Pratt ◽  
M. Kyle Matsuba
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Emerging Adult ◽  
Vocational Development ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Concepts

Chapter 6 reviews research on the topic of vocational/occupational development in relation to the McAdams and Pals tripartite personality framework of traits, goals, and life stories. Distinctions between types of motivations for the work role (as a job, career, or calling) are particularly highlighted. The authors then turn to research from the Futures Study on work motivations and their links to personality traits, identity, generativity, and the life story, drawing on analyses and quotes from the data set. To illustrate the key concepts from this vocation chapter, the authors end with a case study on Charles Darwin’s pivotal turning point, his round-the-world voyage as naturalist for the HMS Beagle. Darwin was an emerging adult in his 20s at the time, and we highlight the role of this journey as a turning point in his adult vocational development.

Case Study: Memory Work with Children Affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Denis
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Narrative Therapy ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Memory Work ◽  
Aids Epidemic ◽  
Story Work ◽  
Oral History Interview ◽  
Hiv Aids

This article focuses on working with children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Arica. In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, relief organizations focused their efforts on the material needs of children, but their psychological and emotional needs are no less important. Recognizing this, the Sinomlando Centre for Oral History and Memory Work in Africa, a research and community development center located at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in Pietermaritzburg South Africa, has pioneered a model of psychosocial intervention for children in grief—particularly but not exclusively in the context of HIV/AIDS. This model uses the methodology of oral history in a novel manner, combined with other techniques such as life story work and narrative therapy. During the early years of the project, the model followed for the family visits was the oral history interview. A discussion on caregiver as the narrator and skills required in memory work especially in these cases concludes this article.

scholarly journals Elders’ Life Stories: Impact on the Next Generation of Health Professionals

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy Chippendale
Keyword(s):  
Health Professionals ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Life Review ◽  
Mixed Methods Design ◽  
Intergenerational Exchange ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Images Of Aging ◽  
Quantitative Results

The purpose of this study was to pilot an enhanced version of the “Share your Life Story” life review writing workshop. The enhanced version included the addition of an intergenerational exchange, based on the content of seniors’ writings, with students planning careers in the health sciences. The researcher employed a mixed methods design. Preliminary results using descriptive analysis revealed an increase in positive images of aging and a decrease in negative images of aging among the five student participants. Qualitative results revealed six themes that illuminate the hows and whys of the quantitative results as well as additional program benefits. Feedback from students and seniors helped to refine the intergenerational protocol for a larger scale study.

Mieleltään haavoittuneet

Kuntoutus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Johanna Vilppola ◽  
Markku Vanttaja
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Rehabilitation Process ◽  
Societal Factors ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Health Rehabilitation ◽  
Mental Health Rehabilitation ◽  
Intentions To Participate ◽  
Education Work

Mielenterveyssyistä johtuvat sairauspoissaolot ja työkyvyttömyyseläkkeet ovat lisääntyneet Suomessa viime vuosikymmeninä. Sen vuoksi on tarpeen tutkia mielenterveyskuntoutujien yksilöllisiä elämäntilanteita sekä heidän kuntoutumistaan ja kiinnittymistään yhteiskuntaan. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan mielenterveyskuntoutujien kuntoutusprosessia erityisesti koulutus- ja työtoimijuuden näkökulmasta. Tutkimusaineistona käytetään aikuisten mielenterveyskuntoutujien kirjoittamia elämänkerrontoja (n = 42). Elämänkerrontojen teema-analyysin ja tyypittelyn perusteella kirjoittajat jaettiin kolmeen erilaiseen ryhmään, jotka nimettiin toimijoiksi (9), taistelijoiksi (18) ja tipahtaneiksi (15). Toimijat olivat aktiivisia oman kuntoutumisensa, koulutuksensa, työnsä sekä kokonaiselämänsä suhteen. Heillä oli vahva pyrkimys hakeutua koulutukseen, palata takaisin työelämään tai ylläpitää nykyinen koulutus- ja työtilanteensa. Taistelijat olivat puolestaan omassa kuntoutusprosessissaan matkalaisia, jotka halusivat olla yhteiskunnan tarpeellisia jäseniä. Myös heillä oli koulutukseen ja työhön liittyviä haaveita, mutta keinot oman elämän hallitsemiseksi olivat toisten ihmisten tuen varassa. Tipahtaneet olivat luovuttaneet sekä oman kuntoutumisensa että koulutus- ja työtoimijuutensa suhteen. Heillä ei ollut enää koulutukseen tai työhön liittyviä tavoitteita. Abstract Mentally wounded. Research of Education and Work Agency of Mental Health Rehabilitees Mental health related sick leaves and early pensions have increased enormously in our society in the last decades. That is why it is important to study the life narratives of mental health rehabilitees, especially focusing on individual and societal factors connected to rehabilitation, education and work agency. The data of this research consisted of 42 self-written life stories of adult mental health rehabilitees. Based on theme analysis and typification, life stories were divided into three groups: agentic actors (9), warriors (18) and dropouts (15). Agentic actors were described as active agents of their own rehabilitation, education, work and life. They had strong intentions to participate in education and work. Warriors seemed to be more like passengers in their own rehabilitation process, yet they had intentions to be a necessary part of society. They had hopes and dreams towards education and work, but they seemed to be lacking concrete means to lead their independent lives.  The dropouts had given up on their agency in rehabilitation, education and work. They had no more goals or intentions concerning education and work. Keywords: mental health rehabilitation, life story, education, work, agency

scholarly journals Ученики и учителя Тенишевского училища (по школьным журналам и архивным документам) [Tenishev School: Its Instructors, Students, School Magazines and Archives]

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 117-177
Author(s):  
Marina Salman
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Archival Data ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Osip Mandel'shtam ◽  
Major Goal ◽  
School Life ◽  
School Students ◽  
School Director ◽  
History Of

This article results from extensive archival research, and compares information found in Tenishev school magazines to the archival data concerning the school life of the corresponding period. The article’s major goal is to reconstruct life stories of Tenishev school students and the school’s instructors as meticulously as possible, and also to demonstrate the style of communication between the teachers and adolescents. It also reveals some previously unknown information concerning the life story of Tenishev School director Alexander Ostrogorskii (1868—1908). KEYWORDS: 20th-Century Russian History, Osip Mandel’shtam (1891—1938), Viktor Zhirmunskii (1891—1971), Alexander Ostrogorskii (1868—1908), Tenishev School, School Magazines, Soviet Terror, History of School Education in Russia.

scholarly journals Esther’s Life Story within a Dryland Biography: Livelihood Viability in Central Pokot, Kenya

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Roden ◽  
Christoph Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story

From the introduction:This article represents our first attempt in exploring life stories by bringing the subtle details of one such story into dialogue with a broader scholarly concept, namely that of ‘system viability’ (Mistry et al. 2010; Berardi et al. 2013). The concept provides a generalised framework through which one can evaluate a system’s ability to survive, stay healthy, and prosper.

scholarly journals Finding Keys: A Systematic Review of Barriers and Facilitators for Refugee Children’s Disclosure of Their Life Stories

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. C. (Carla) van Os ◽  
A. E. (Elianne) Zijlstra ◽  
E. J. (Erik) Knorth ◽  
W. J. (Wendy) Post ◽  
M. E. (Margrite) Kalverboer
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Mental Health Assessment ◽  
Time To Build ◽  
Self Protection ◽  
Therapeutic Settings

The systematic review presented in this article aims to reveal what supports and hampers refugee children in telling their, often traumatic, life stories. This is important to ensure that migration decisions are based on reliable information about the children’s needs for protection. A systematic review was conducted in academic journals, collecting all available scientific knowledge about the disclosure of life stories by refugee minors in the context of social work, guardianship, foster care, asylum procedures, mental health assessment, and therapeutic settings. The resulting 39 studies were thoroughly reviewed with reference to what factors aided or hampered the refugee children’s disclosure of their life stories. The main barriers to disclosure were feelings of mistrust and self-protection from the side of the child and disrespect from the side of the host community. The facilitators for disclosing life stories were a positive and respectful attitude of the interviewer, taking time to build trust, using nonverbal methods, providing agency to the children, and involving trained interpreters. Social workers, mentors, and guardians should have time to build trust and to help a young refugee in revealing the life story before the minor is heard by the migration authorities. The lack of knowledge on how refugee children can be helped to disclose their experiences is a great concern because the decision in the migration procedure is based on the story the child is able to disclose.

Composing Lives Alongside

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Derek A. Hutchinson ◽  
M. Shaun Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Inquiry ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Curriculum Making ◽  
Stories To Live By

Drawing on a broader narrative inquiry into the curriculum making of participants who compose identities dissonant with dominant stories of gender and sexuality, this article explores the shaping influence of the social (relationships, communities, and contexts) in one participant's life story around sexuality from a curricular perspective. The term curriculum making represents an ongoing process through which individuals make sense and meaning of experience, position curriculum broadly as a course of life, and shift notions of curriculum and curriculum making beyond the bounds of school. Individuals engage in identity making as they make sense of themselves in relation to their curriculum making, narratively understood as the composition of stories to live by. This inquiry highlights the ways that life stories are composed alongside, connected to, and shaped by other people and draws the attention of educators to the complex lives unfolding in schools.

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