Narratives of Writing as Healing

This narrative provides an introduction to the concept of multigenre writing and explains methods of multigenre writing used in the field of medicine to create the concept of multigenre medicine. The authors use the theory of narrative inquiry and the practice of multigenre writing to explain the implications of using writing to assist in healing from physical pain. The collaborative qualitative research project illustrates how writing can lead teachers to a stronger self-awareness of what patients need both physically and emotionally to heal.

Narratives of Research Design

The authors explain the design of a survey that provides a new technology for physical therapy clinicians to use while treating patients. The survey dovetails knowledge from the fields of writing and medicine to provide a resource for patient education. In a medical clinic, a patient is asked to numerically rate how he or she feels; however, the new survey discussed not only looks at how patients feel numerically, but also how they subjectively feel using writing. This survey is a new tool that encourages communication between patients and clinicians, makes patients more aware of what they are feeling when they write down responses, and helps clinicians adjust treatment plans when they read what the patients write. Through writing, patients become accountable for their actions and increase their education. The authors focus on the connections among writing, positive outlook, and healing, as well as the lessons they learned from working together and discussing their fields of expertise.

Narratives of Spirituality

How does spirituality inform narratives? Some readers may view the experiences survived by the authors as a series of random coincidences, but because religion plays a large role in the lives of both authors, they believe that their experiences happened for a reason. They are not trying to convert you to a certain religion but simply want to show the power religion can have. It is recommended to take out all prejudgments on this issue and read the chapter as is. After that, take out of it what you wish. When the authors conducted a research study, they discovered potentially groundbreaking implications for the fields of patient education and health education. The official narrative of the research follows the research project from the initial idea to the final statistical analysis. The unofficial narrative of the research illustrates all the moments that cannot be captured in a statistical table as the authors answer questions, share stories, and provide information of what they learned.

Narratives of Journal Writing

How can writing help people heal? While writing cannot take the place of an evaluation by a trained medical expert, it can help the healing process. The process of writing serves as a valuable resource whether a patient writes about symptoms in a journal to share with a medical professional, a high school student writes about the day's events in a journal to deal with emotions, or an adult writes a prayer in a journal to cope with uncertainty. Regardless of the circumstances which motivated the writer to pick up a notebook and pen or type at a computer, writing releases thoughts and emotions from the mind to the page. When people transfer ideas to paper, stressful emotional events in the mind and physical tension in the body often improve. Therefore, writing can become a catalyst for healing.

Narratives of Teaching Methods

While technology leads to innovative teaching strategies, technology also leads to disconnection as people seek coping strategies to deal with stress and the constant flood of information. This narrative addresses the health consequences of stress and the need for authentic connections instead of focusing on images portrayed in social media. Methods such as RICE (reflection, innovation, collaboration, evaluation) and MICE (motivation, importance, confidence, expression) illustrate techniques for managing stress, managing technology, setting goals, and creating change.

Narratives of Anxiety

This research project began as a study using both quantitative and qualitative methods to learn about the connections between writing and healing. College students who wrote in journals throughout the semester as part of normal classroom practices for an education methods class in reading and writing completed surveys answering questions about their writing and their health. Initial analysis of the data echoed the findings of previous studies: writing is healing. However, the more important observation became that on one of the health survey questions 92% of the subjects reported experiencing anxiety or stress. Consequently, the research evolved into a social action project to help college students cope with stress and anxiety; stress is a very common cause of a downward spiral to quality of life and overall health. By making a few positive changes in their lives, people can learn to deal with stress.

Narratives of Patient Care

People, including hospital patients, want someone to know their stories. Teachers in English classrooms rely on narratives to learn their students' stories. Since learning patients' narratives is an emerging trend in the field of physical therapy as well as other medical practice, connections between writing, health coaching, and physical therapy illustrate the value of patients sharing narratives with their clinicians. Keeping journals tracking pain can assist patients when providing information to their medical practitioners.

Narratives of Health Coaching

Health coaching, a recent addition to the field of health education, provides a missing link in the healing journeys of patients. Integrative health coaching incorporates vision and values into a person's goal setting process. While health coaches frequently work with healthy people who want to make changes in their lives such as finding time to exercise or getting more sleep, this narrative focuses on a health coach working with the emotional needs of physical therapy patients in a hospital.

Narratives of Emotional Truth

This narrative uses a multigenre format to discuss the writing theory of emotional truth, where writers share truth as they remember it. Factual truth focuses on facts, while emotional truth focuses on the emotions associated with a memory. The example provided uses health coaching, an addition to the medical field that encourages patients to share their stories and set goals for themselves in addition to the goals set for them by their medical team. Fictional elements combine with research in creative nonfiction.

Narratives of Curriculum Design

This narrative provides a foundation for the PAGES program. PAGES is an acronym for practice patience, accept the present, gather information, encourage, and self-care. Each part of the acronym represents advice that people can implement into their lives. The two primary examples focus on families of physical therapy patients in a hospital and advisors of students in a school. The PAGES program presents a new initiative as well as reflections on applying the information to a variety of settings.