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Sample records for life story interviews

  1. Truth or story or true story? The self in the interview situation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iulia Gheorghiu

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This study is a methodological inquiry into how individuals present themselves and picture their identity in the life-story interview situation and which are the settings which have a say in this presentation. In order to achieve my goal, I resort to life story interviews that I conducted with students coming from different parts of Romania to study in Bucharest. I pay close attention to how they order the events in their lives, what are the most common themes that appear in their discourse. I am particularly interested in scripts they employ and how the content of their narratives is a matter of co-authorship between the person telling the story and the one listening to it – interaction based on mutually understood knowledge of what the student experience means. In the light of the popularity narrative methods have in the social sciences, I address the problem of what kind of account social scientists actually obtain when conducting research based on narrative methods. I argue that this knowledge is situational and constructed in the interaction between narrator and interviewer.

  2. My partner's stories: relationships between personal and vicarious life stories within romantic couples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panattoni, Katherine; Thomsen, Dorthe Kirkegaard

    2018-06-12

    In this paper, we examined relationships and differences between personal and vicarious life stories, i.e., the life stories one knows of others. Personal and vicarious life stories of both members of 51 young couples (102 participants), based on McAdams' Life Story Interview (2008), were collected. We found significant positive relationships between participants' personal and vicarious life stories on agency and communion themes and redemption sequences. We also found significant positive relationships between participants' vicarious life stories about their partners and those partners' personal life stories on agency and communion, but not redemption. Furthermore, these relationships were not explained by similarity between couples' two personal life stories, as no associations were found between couples' personal stories on agency, communion and redemption. These results suggest that the way we construct the vicarious life stories of close others may reflect how we construct our personal life stories.

  3. Life-history interviews

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Adriansen, Hanne Kirstine

    2010-01-01

    in qualitative interviews. I first presented the paper on a conference on life history research at Karlstad University in November 2010. My main purpose was to establish whether a paper discussing the use of time line interviews should be placed in the context of a life history research. The valuable comments......My first encounter with life history research was during my Ph.D. research. This concerned a multi-method study of nomadic mobility in Senegal. One method stood out as yielding the most interesting and in-depth data: life story interviews using a time line. I made interviews with the head...... of the nomadic households and during these I came to understand the use of mobility in a complex context of continuity and change, identity and belonging in the Fulani community. Time line interviews became one of my favourite tool in the years to follow, a tool used both for my research in various settings...

  4. "Don't lock me out": life-story interviews of family business owners facing succession.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomon, Alexandra; Breunlin, Douglas; Panattoni, Katherine; Gustafson, Mara; Ransburg, David; Ryan, Carol; Hammerman, Thomas; Terrien, Jean

    2011-06-01

    This qualitative study used a grounded theory methodology to analyze life-story interviews obtained from 10 family business owners regarding their experiences in their businesses with the goal of understanding the complexities of family business succession. The grounded theory that emerged from this study is best understood as a potential web of constraints that can bear on the succession process. Coding of these interviews revealed four key influences, which seem to have the potential to facilitate or constrain the family business owner's approach to succession. Influence 1, "The business within," captures intrapsychic dynamics of differentiation and control. Influence 2, "The marriage," addresses how traditional gender roles shape succession. Influence 3, "The adult children," examines the role of having a natural (accidental, organic, passively groomed) successor. Influence 4, "The vision of retirement," captures the impact of owners' notions of life post-succession. Family therapists frequently encounter family systems in which the family business is facing succession. Even if succession is not the presenting problem, and even if the business owner is in the indirect (rather than direct) system, this research reminds clinicians of the importance of the family's story about the family business. Therefore, clinical implications and recommendations are included. 2011 © FPI, Inc.

  5. Stories about life narrated by people with Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karlsson, Eva; Sävenstedt, Stefan; Axelsson, Karin; Zingmark, Karin

    2014-12-01

    To explore how people with Alzheimer's disease present their life story. Life story work is a key concept in a person-centred care. An important aspect in understanding the subjective experience and supporting the identity of people with dementia is to listen to their life stories. A narrative design with interviews was used. Nine participants with Alzheimer's disease were encouraged to tell about their lives from childhood, adult life, to present life and about their thoughts on the future. The interviews were conducted between September 2010-March 2011 in the participants' homes, with their spouses present and were analysed with a method for analysis of narratives. Contentment, Connectedness, Self-reliance and Personal growth were identified as core dimensions in the participants' life stories and shown like threads throughout life, from childhood, adult life to present life. All participants expressed an overall contentment with life, and connectedness was related to their relation with significant persons and to be included in the local community. Self-reliance was expressed as a strong confidence in the own ability and an overall curiosity throughout life as a sustained quest for personal growth. It is important for healthcare professionals, who work with people with dementia, to understand that people with Alzheimer's disease can maintain an overall trusting and hopeful approach to life. It is also important to use life story work to enhance feelings of being connected to the world and thereby support their identity and sense of self. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Life Stories and Trauma

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kongshøj, Inge Lise Lundsgaard; Bohn, Annette; Berntsen, Dorthe

    Research has shown a connection between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and integration of traumatic experiences into the life story. Furthermore, empirical evidence suggests that life story formation begins in mid to late adolescence. Following these findings, the present study investigated...... whether experiencing trauma in youth was associated with a greater risk to integrate the trauma into the life story compared to adult traumatic exposure. Life stories were collected from 115 participants recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Moreover, participants filled out questionnaires regarding...... often integrate the trauma into their life story? Results will be discussed in relation to theories of development of life stories and of PTSD....

  7. An examination of the association between interviewer question type and story-grammar detail in child witness interviews about abuse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feltis, Brooke B; Powell, Martine B; Snow, Pamela C; Hughes-Scholes, Carolyn H

    2010-06-01

    This study compared the effects of open-ended versus specific questions, and various types of open-ended questions, in eliciting story-grammar detail in child abuse interviews. The sample included 34 police interviews with child witnesses aged 5-15 years (M age=9 years, 9 months). The interviewers' questions and their relative sub-types were classified according to definitions reported in the child interview training literature. The children's responses were classified according to the proportion of story grammar and the prevalence of individual story grammar elements as defined by Stein and Glenn (1979). Open-ended questions were more effective at eliciting story grammar than specific questions. This finding was revealed across three age groups, two interview phases and irrespective of how question effectiveness was measured. However, not all types of open-ended questions were equally effective. Open-ended questions that encouraged a broad response, or asked the child to elaborate on a part of their account, elicited more story-grammar detail compared to open-ended questions that requested clarification of concepts or descriptions of the next (or another) activity or detail within a sequence. This study demonstrates that children's ability to provide story-grammar detail is maximised when there is minimal prompting from the interviewer. Given the association between story grammar production and victim credibility, greater guidance is warranted in interviewer training programs in relation to the effects and administration of different types of open-ended questions. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Stressing the journey: using life stories to study medical student wellbeing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Tania M; Kim, Jenny; Hu, Chelsea; Hickernell, John C; Watanaskul, Sarah; Yoon, John D

    2018-05-05

    While previous studies have considered medical student burnout and resilience at discrete points in students' training, few studies examine how stressors and resilience-building factors can emerge before, and during, medical school. Our study focuses on students' life stories to comprehensively identify factors contributing to student wellbeing. We performed a secondary analysis of life-story interviews with graduating fourth year medical students. These interviews were originally conducted in 2012 as part of the Project on the Good Physician, and then re-analyzed, focusing on student wellbeing. Respondents were encouraged to identify turning points in their life stories. De-identified transcripts were then coded using a consensus-based iterative process. 17 of 21 respondents reported feeling burned out at least once during medical school. Students identified three major stressors: negative role models, difficult rotations, and the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1. Two "motivational stressors"-financial concerns and personal life events-emerged as sources of stress that also motivated students to persevere. Finally, students identified four factors-positive role models, support networks, faith and spirituality, and passion-that helped them reframe stressors, making the struggle seem more worthwhile. These findings suggest that a life-story approach can add granularity to current understandings of medical student wellbeing. Initiatives to reduce stress and burnout should extend beyond the immediate medical school context and consider how past challenges might become future sources of resilience. This study also provides an example of secondary analysis of qualitative data, an approach which could be useful to future research in medical education.

  9. Getting a life: the emergence of the life story in adolescence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Habermas, T; Bluck, S

    2000-09-01

    In the life story, autobiographical remembering and self-understanding are combined to create a coherent account of one's past. A gap is demonstrated between developmental research on the story-organization of autobiographical remembering of events in childhood and of life narratives in adulthood. This gap is bridged by substantiating D.P. McAdams's (1985) claim that the life story develops in adolescence. Two manifestations of the life story, life narratives and autobiographical reasoning, are delineated in terms of 4 types of global coherence (temporal, biographical, causal, and thematic). A review of research shows that the cognitive tools necessary for constructing global coherence in a life story and the social-motivational demands to construct a life story develop during adolescence. The authors delineate the implications of the life story framework for other research areas such as coping, attachment, psychotherapeutic process, and the organization of autobiographical memory.

  10. The life stories of motherhood among divorced women in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Li-Ling

    2008-09-01

    The purpose of this study is to delineate life stories of motherhood among divorced women, and to answer the following research questions: (1) How does their motherhood develop? (2) How does divorce impact on motherhood? (3) How do mothers cope with divorce? (4) What does motherhood mean for these mothers? Through in-depth interviews, inter-subjective interaction and story writing, a total of six women's stories were collected. The following titles were found for stories of motherhood among these divorced women: (1) Walking in balanced steps. (2) Becoming a single mom is not a surprise. (3) Seeking reunion for the sake of the kids. (4) Grieving for the loss of an integrated family. (5) I found myself. (6) A diamond becomes a stone. Motherhood was found not to be a set of stable role expectations, but to be transforming and shaping through reflective thoughts on motherhood, which were impacted by interactions between the mothers and their children, and by the social contexts they encountered. The impact of divorce on motherhood was found to be both positive and negative. Some families even enjoyed life more after discontinuing their chaotic marriage. Still, motherhood of divorced women was full of challenges and disadvantages due to a concrete double burden and invisible social persecution. Invisible social persecution of divorce was performed through the mechanism of stigma. Stigma was transmitted through the value myths of motherhood, which are passed from generation to generation through parent-child interactions. Stigmatized divorce made these mothers feel more guilt and powerlessness. Divorced motherhood was therefore found to be intertwined with processes of caring and grieving. In this research, however, community resources were found to be very helpful in supporting these families, and were able to empower them to overcome the myths. Life story research was found to be an effective support, inspiring deeper reflection, and empowering the storyteller. The

  11. Insights Into Care Providers' Understandings of Life Story Work With Persons With Dementia: Findings From a Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berendonk, Charlotte; Caine, Vera

    2017-08-01

    In Germany, life story work, an approach which acknowledges humans as narrative beings and honors biographies, is required by health authorities to be integrated in care provided in nursing homes. Insufficient attention to life story work could place residents at risk of dehumanization, particularly residents with dementia, who depend on support of others to tell and make meaning of their life experiences. We conducted a qualitative study to gain insights into care providers' perceptions and practices of life story work with persons with dementia. Thirty-six care providers in 7 nursing homes participated in semistructured interviews or group discussions. We derived subjective theories (individual understandings) of care providers and higher-order concept patterns following the principles and processes of grounded theory. We found a great variation in participants' understandings of life story work. Some participants were unsure if and how life story work impacts persons with dementia. Starting points for improving the integration of life story work into practice are discussed. We conclude that care providers need a better understanding of life story work as a nursing intervention. The importance of the notion of humans as narrative beings and the multiple ways in which we story our lives as well as embody life stories needs to be further developed. Knowledge is required about the practical and systemic challenges of integrating life story work in the care of persons with dementia.

  12. Using life story work to enhance care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Rachel

    2011-10-01

    Life story work has been promoted as a tool to enhance the care provided to older people, particularly those with dementia. The benefits for individuals, families and/or friends and for staff include improving understanding of the individual, promoting relationships and assisting in the delivery of person-centred care. However, professionals often experience difficulties using life story work. This article considers a range of life story tools and advice on gathering information about a person. It highlights the importance of leadership and developing positive cultures to ensure that life story work can be effectively sustained.

  13. Life story resources in dementia care: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kindell, Jacqueline; Burrow, Simon; Wilkinson, Ray; Keady, John David

    2014-01-01

    Life story work has a relatively long tradition in the caring sciences and is recognised as an important component of dementia care and practice. However, to date, there has not been a review of accessible life story resources. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Following a systematic approach to identification and inclusion, 11 life story resources were reviewed to ascertain areas of commonality and divergence between the materials. The authors were able to group the analysis under eight areas and at the end of this process, it was uncertain if life story work is a formal staff intervention or an informal activity that people with dementia and their families could engage in. Resources also varied in terms of whether the life story information was organised in a chronological way, or with topics of interest/discussion or with a combination of both. Life story evaluation and its impact on the life of the person with dementia is in need of development. Across the resources the authors identified four reasons to do life story work which the authors have named as: emotional connections; interactional connections; building new connections and practical care connections. There was limited guidance aimed at helping people with dementia to develop and compile their own life story. This paper provides new insights into the usefulness, future directions and content of life story resources in dementia care. It will be of interest to those in health and social care as well as people living with dementia.

  14. Migrant life stories and the Web

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marselis, Randi

    2013-01-01

    The life stories of migrants are increasingly being told, as part of the work of cultural organizations, and websites are well suited to making such life story projects accessible to the public. However, by using the lives of real people as raw material in a public forum, Web projects raise...

  15. Functions of personal and vicarious life stories: Identity and empathy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lind, Majse; Thomsen, Dorthe Kirkegaard

    2018-01-01

    The present study investigates functions of personal and vicarious life stories focusing on identity and empathy. Two-hundred-and-forty Danish high school students completed two life story questionnaires: One for their personal life story and one for a close other’s life story. In both...... questionnaires, they identified up to 10 chapters and self-rated the chapters on valence and valence of causal connections. In addition, they completed measures of identity disturbance and empathy. More positive personal life stories were related to lower identity disturbance and higher empathy. Vicarious life...... stories showed a similar pattern with respect to identity but surprisingly were unrelated to empathy. In addition, we found positive correlations between personal and vicarious life stories for number of chapters, chapter valence, and valence of causal connections. The study indicates that both personal...

  16. Development of Case Stories by Interviewing Students about their Critical Moments in Science, Math, and Engineering Classes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel Esselstein

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Dartmouth’s Critical Moments project is designed to promote discussions among faculty and graduate students about the retention of students, particularly women and minorities, in science, math, and engineering (SME disciplines. The first phase of the ongoing project has been the development of four case stories, which are fictionalized composites drawn from surveys and interviews of real Dartmouth students. The surveyed population was 125 students in general chemistry. Of the 77 who agreed to be interviewed, 61 reported having experienced a critical moment – i.e., a positive or negative event or time that had a significant impact on the student’s academic life. Leading critical moments were a poor grade on an exam; challenge from group work; excitement from an internship; and falling in love with a non-SME discipline from other coursework. Interviews of 13 students who had negative critical moments led to the development of case stories for: Antoinetta ’09, who had a disappointing group experience; Dalila ’08, who was poorly prepared; Greg ’09, who got in over his head in his first year; and Michelle ’08, who was shocked by her result in the first exam. The case stories are being discussed by graduate students, TA and faculty in various workshops at the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning.

  17. Life Story Development in Childhood: The Development of Life Story Abilities and the Acquisition of Cultural Life Scripts from Late Middle Childhood to Adolescence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bohn, Annette; Berntsen, Dorthe

    2008-01-01

    The authors investigated the relationship between the acquisition of cultural life scripts and the degree of coherence in children's and adolescents' life stories. Three groups of Danish school children aged 9 to 15 years participated. In 3 sessions, they wrote down a recently experienced single autobiographical event, their life story, and their…

  18. Following the Life Stories of Participants in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tibor Valuch

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available To date, analyses of the 1956 Revolution have devoted little attention to examining the events pertaining to this period from the aspect of social history. In this study Valuch explores the life stories of those who participated in these events from six decades ago in an attempt to introduce the most important characteristics determining various life phases from before and after the revolution. Based upon life interviews conducted during the 1990s with former 1956 participants living mainly in the city of Debrecen and its surrounding Hajdú-Bihar County, Valuch’s examination outlines those experiences determining their socialization, including family background, political attitudes predating the revolution and political activity conducted during 1956. His focus will then turn to the issue of how these individuals experienced the period of retribution following the revolution as well as attempts by the Kádár regime to marginalize participants in the 1956 Revolution. What general effect did collaboration with the revolutionary movement have on life during the Kádár regime and the political attitudes held by these individuals? In the final section, factors characterizing life stories from the 1956 period will be analyzed.

  19. Timeline interviews

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Adriansen, Hanne Kirstine

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to explain and discuss timeline interviews as a method for doing life history research. It is a ‘how to’ article explaining the strengths and weaknesses of using a timeline when conducting qualitative interviews. The method allows the interviewee to participate...... for life story research, it can also be used for ther types of studies where interviews are made....... in the reporting of the interview which may give raise to ownership and sharing of the analytical power in the interview situation. Exactly for this reason, it may not be the most appropriate method for interviewing elites or for conducting insider interviews where positionality can be at play. The use...

  20. Moccasin on One Foot, High Heel on the Other: Life Story Reflections of Coreen Gladue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vannini, April; Gladue, Coreen

    2009-01-01

    Drawing from life history interviews with Coreen Gladue--a Cree/Metis woman resident of British Columbia, Canada--this article uses poetic representation and visual images to tell stories about Coreen's sense of self and identity, family relations, education, and interpretation of the meanings of Canada's "Indian Act". Poems and…

  1. Tell me your life: including life stories in an adult development and aging course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villar, Feliciano; Celdran, Montserrat; Fabà, Josep

    2014-01-01

    The goals of this study were to determine the learning impact of an assignment that consisted of interviewing and analyzing older people's life stories, and to explore how the assignment was evaluated by students. Participants in the study were 122 first-year social education students enrolled in an adult development and aging course. They evaluated the assignment using an eight-adjective questionnaire and were asked about the benefits of the task. Their answers to the questionnaire were then reviewed using content analysis. The results indicated that marks on the life story assignment predicted marks on an exam about basic course concepts. Students considered that the assignment was interesting, useful, and integrated into the course, although most of them also thought that it was very time-consuming. They identified benefits related to the explicit goals of the course (improvement in the learning of developmental concepts, the acquisition of research-related skills, and the deactivation of aging stereotypes) and personal, growth-related benefits. The authors discuss the difficulties posed by the assignment and its usefulness as a complement to more traditional, lecture-based teaching methods in adult development and aging courses.

  2. The emotional content of life stories: Positivity bias and relation to personality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Dorthe Kirkegaard; Olesen, Martin Hammershøj; Schnieber, Anette

    2014-01-01

    . Three hundred ten students and 160 middle-aged adults completed a measure of personality traits and identified chapters as well as past and future events in their life story. All life story components were rated on emotion and age. Negative future events were less likely to be a continuation of chapters...... and were more temporally distant than positive future events. Extraversion and Conscientiousness were related to more positive life stories, and Neuroticism was related to more negative life stories. This suggests that the life story is positively biased by minimising the negative future...

  3. Using cognitive behaviour therapy to explore resilience in the life-stories of 16 UK centenarians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutnik, Nimmi; Smith, Pam; Koch, Tina

    2016-04-01

    In 2010, we interviewed 16 UK centenarians about their lives and later published a paper on the socio-emotional aspects of positive ageing. We were struck by their ability to 'move on' from difficult situations which we recognized conceptually as 'resilience'. In the effort to understand aspects of resilience as portrayed in their stories, we re-examined their data. In the original study, we used participatory action research (PAR) for its storytelling and group process components. Here, we re-examine data from the centenarians' life stories using a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) lens. We focused on the notion of resilience in the centenarians' stories guided by CBT insights to analyse and develop psychosocial interpretations. Resilience comprised the ability to frame difficult life events in positive terms, accept what cannot be changed, manage worry and anxiety effectively, develop psychological flexibility in the face of change and continually seek opportunities for growth and development. We suggest that these resilient behaviours may have contributed to positive ageing.

  4. Schizophrenia, Narrative, and Neurocognition: The Utility of Life-Stories in Understanding Social Problem-Solving Skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moe, Aubrey M; Breitborde, Nicholas J K; Bourassa, Kyle J; Gallagher, Colin J; Shakeel, Mohammed K; Docherty, Nancy M

    2018-01-22

    Schizophrenia researchers have focused on phenomenological aspects of the disorder to better understand its underlying nature. In particular, development of personal narratives-that is, the complexity with which people form, organize, and articulate their "life stories"-has recently been investigated in individuals with schizophrenia. However, less is known about how aspects of narrative relate to indicators of neurocognitive and social functioning. The objective of the present study was to investigate the association of linguistic complexity of life-story narratives to measures of cognitive and social problem-solving abilities among people with schizophrenia. Thirty-two individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia completed a research battery consisting of clinical interviews, a life-story narrative, neurocognitive testing, and a measure assessing multiple aspects of social problem solving. Narrative interviews were assessed for linguistic complexity using computerized technology. The results indicate differential relationships of linguistic complexity and neurocognition to domains of social problem-solving skills. More specifically, although neurocognition predicted how well one could both describe and enact a solution to a social problem, linguistic complexity alone was associated with accurately recognizing that a social problem had occurred. In addition, linguistic complexity appears to be a cognitive factor that is discernible from other broader measures of neurocognition. Linguistic complexity may be more relevant in understanding earlier steps of the social problem-solving process than more traditional, broad measures of cognition, and thus is relevant in conceptualizing treatment targets. These findings also support the relevance of developing narrative-focused psychotherapies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Because Everyone Has a Story to Tell: Interview with Andrew Wright

    Science.gov (United States)

    Floris, Flora Debora

    2016-01-01

    This article presents an interview with Andrew Wright, a widely recognized author, illustrator, storyteller, and teacher trainer. Wright has published many ELT books, authored six "Spellbinder" graded readers (1992-1994), and a collection of short stories. As a teacher trainer, Wright worked extensively with both teachers and students in…

  6. Life stories of people with rheumatoid arthritis who retired early: how gender and other contextual factors shaped their everyday activities, including paid work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stamm, T A; Machold, K P; Smolen, J; Prodinger, B

    2010-06-01

    The aim of the present study was to explore how contextual factors affect the everyday activities of women and men with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as evident in their life stories. Fifteen people with RA, who had retired early due to the disease, were interviewed up to three times, according to a narrative biographic interview style. The life stories of the participants, which were reconstructed from the biographical data and from the transcribed 'told story' were analysed from the perspective of contextual factors, including personal and environmental factors. The rigour and accuracy of the analysis were enhanced by reflexivity and peer-review of the results. The life stories of the participants in this study reflected how contextual factors (such as gender, the healthcare system, the support of families and social and cultural values) shaped their everyday activities. In a society such as in Austria, which is based on traditional patriarchal values, men were presented with difficulties in developing a non-paid-work-related role. For women, if paid work had to be given up, they were more likely to engage in alternative challenging activities which enabled them to develop reflective skills, which in turn contributed to a positive and enriching perspective on their life stories. Health professionals may thus use some of the women's strategies to help men. Interventions by health professionals in people with RA may benefit from an approach sensitive to personal and environmental factors.

  7. The Greenlandic Life Script and Life Stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zaragoza Scherman, Alejandra; Berntsen, Dorthe

    Adults older than 40 years remember a significantly greater amount of personal life events from their 15 - 30 years of age. This phenomenon is known as the reminiscence bump (Rubin, Rahal, & Poon, 1998). The reminiscence bump is highly populated by emotionally positive events (Rubin & Berntsen......, 2003), when cued by requests for important events. This dominance of positive events is not seen when cued by random words. Berntsen and Rubin (2004) presented a cultural explanation for the bump: cultural life script theory. Their theory claims that the bump for the life story can be explained...... by the life script; that is, culturally shared expectations about the order and timing of life events in an typical, idealized life course. According to the cultural life script theory, the life script is used as a guideline for the recall of autobiographical memories, which help construct personal life...

  8. Real-Life Stories About Addiction Struggles | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... on. Feature: Preventing Drug Abuse and Addiction Real-Life Stories About Addiction Struggles Past Issues / Fall 2011 ... TO PLAY THE VIDEO NIHSeniorHealth Videos Offer Real-Life Stories About Addiction Struggles—and Much More Many ...

  9. Overcoming the obstacles: Life stories of scientists with learning disabilities

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    Force, Crista Marie

    Scientific discovery is at the heart of solving many of the problems facing contemporary society. Scientists are retiring at rates that exceed the numbers of new scientists. Unfortunately, scientific careers still appear to be outside the reach of most individuals with learning disabilities. The purpose of this research was to better understand the methods by which successful learning disabled scientists have overcome the barriers and challenges associated with their learning disabilities in their preparation and performance as scientists. This narrative inquiry involved the researcher writing the life stories of four scientists. These life stories were generated from extensive interviews in which each of the scientists recounted their life histories. The researcher used narrative analysis to "make sense" of these learning disabled scientists' life stories. The narrative analysis required the researcher to identify and describe emergent themes characterizing each scientist's life. A cross-case analysis was then performed to uncover commonalities and differences in the lives of these four individuals. Results of the cross-case analysis revealed that all four scientists had a passion for science that emerged at an early age, which, with strong drive and determination, drove these individuals to succeed in spite of the many obstacles arising from their learning disabilities. The analysis also revealed that these scientists chose careers based on their strengths; they actively sought mentors to guide them in their preparation as scientists; and they developed coping techniques to overcome difficulties and succeed. The cross-case analysis also revealed differences in the degree to which each scientist accepted his or her learning disability. While some demonstrated inferior feelings about their successes as scientists, still other individuals revealed feelings of having superior abilities in areas such as visualization and working with people. These individuals revealed

  10. Narrating, writing, reading: life story work as an aid to (self) advocacy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meininger, H.P.

    2006-01-01

    This article is about life story work with people with learning disabilities. It talks about reading and writing stories, and listening to them. Telling your life story, writing it down and talking about it with others can be an important part of self-advocacy for people with learning disabilities.

  11. Children with Down Syndrome: Life Stories of Parents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maritza Esquivel-Herrera

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is based on the premise that early stimulation is the appropriate program to start the integral care and education of newborns with Down Syndrome, with the primary objective being to optimize their cognitive, physical and socio-emotional capabilities. For this purpose, a naturalist paradigm and a descriptive case type approach were used, mainly with qualitative data related to the life stories of parents with Down Syndrome children. Parents (9 mothers and one father participated voluntarily in the research project. One of the instruments used was the compilation of life histories, which were collected though interviews to parents and were systematized in the form of chronicles.  Another instrument was phrases or sentences to fill in the blanks, which were used to know the deepest impressions experienced by parents before and after the birth of their Down Syndrome child.  This paper is intended to provide support to those who experience daily situations similar to the ones mentioned here and, particularly to impact on the time management in the integral development of children with this condition.

  12. Understanding political development through an intersectionality framework: Life stories of disability activists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akemi Nishida

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This article explores how those who do not share their marginalized identities with their surrounding people (e.g., family members and thus community resources relating to these identities, initiate and experience political development. The concept of intersectionality is used as an analytical tool to examine how one's political development is mediated via one's intersecting identities, communities, and experience of social in/justices. Life story interviews were conducted with disabled activists to explore this question. The stories reveal how these activists, who had initially resisted identifying as disabled for various reasons, eventually used the politicizing experiences from nondisability identities and communities to reframe and reclaim their disability status. By tracing the political developments of disabled people, this article places importance on understanding the process in a holistic way and on developing activist communities and movements that acknowledge intersecting identities and in/justices.

  13. Personal and Parents’ Life Stories in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lind, Majse; Thomsen, Dorthe Kirkegaard; Bøye, Rikke

    . Thirty patients with BPD and thirty matched control participants described and answered questions about their personal life stories and their parents’ life stories and completed measures of identity disturbance, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Compared to the control group, patients...

  14. Life stories of depressed adult women in peri-urban Namibia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    NN Shifiona

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available The problems with women in peri-urban Namibie are faced with are multi-dimensional.Like women in other communities they face the pressure of having a number of responsibilities, namely working, being a wife and mother, taking care of their families and perhaps caring for aging parents. Sometimes the pressure can be too overwhelming to manage. As a result, many women become depressed. Studies on depression among black African women in Namibia could not be traced. It was therefore considered to find out how women suffering from depression from this part of the world tell their life stories. The purpose of the study was two-fold: Firstly, to explore and describe the life stories of depressed adult women in peri-urban Namibia, and secondly to use the information obtained to describe guidelines for psychiatric nurses working with these patients at psychiatric outpatient clinics as well as in the community. A qualitative phenomenological research design of an explorative, descriptive and contextual nature was used. The researcher approached the subjects and their experiences with an open mind. Ten depressed adult women between 21-55 years were involved in the research. The researcher strived to adhere to the principles of trustworthiness. To ensure this Guba’s model (in Krefting, 1991: 217 of trustworthiness was adopted. All the interviews were analysed following Tesch’s method (Creswell, 1994: 154-55. The services of an independent coder were obtained. The results indicated that impaired interpersonal interactions and stressful life events have a negative influence on the daily life of women leading to the development of depressive symptoms. Guidelines to support psychiatric nurses working with depressed women were drawn up.

  15. Life stories of depressed adult women in peri-urban Namibia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shifiona, N N; Poggenpoel, M; Myburgh, C P H

    2006-05-01

    The problems women in peri-urban Namibia are faced with are multi-dimensional. Like women in other communities they face the pressure of having a number of responsibilities, namely working, being a wife and mother, taking care of their families and perhaps caring for aging parents. Sometimes the pressure can be too overwhelming to manage. As a result, many women become depressed. Studies on depression among black African women in Namibia could not be traced. It was therefore considered to find out how women suffering from depression from this part of the world tell their life stories. The purpose of the study was two-fold: Firstly, to explore and describe the life stories of depressed adult women in peri-urban Namibia, and secondly to use the information obtained to describe guidelines for psychiatric nurses working with these patients at psychiatric outpatient clinics as well as in the community. A qualitative phenomenological research design of an explorative, descriptive and contextual nature was used. The researcher approached the subjects and their experiences with an open mind. Ten depressed adult women between 21-55 years were involved in the research. The researcher strived to adhere to the principles of trustworthiness. To ensure this Guba's model (in Krefting, 1991: 217) of trustworthiness was adopted. All the interviews were analysed following Tesch's method (Creswell, 1994: 154-55). The services of an independent coder were obtained. The results indicated that impaired interpersonal interactions and stressful life events have a negative influence on the daily life of women leading to the development of depressive symptoms. Guidelines to support psychiatric nurses working with depressed women were drawn up.

  16. The stories we tell: qualitative research interviews, talking technologies and the 'normalisation' of life with HIV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazanderani, Fadhila; Paparini, Sara

    2015-04-01

    Since the earliest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, talking about the virus has been a key way affected communities have challenged the fear and discrimination directed against them and pressed for urgent medical and political attention. Today, HIV/AIDS is one of the most prolifically and intimately documented of all health conditions, with entrenched infrastructures, practices and technologies--what Vinh-Kim Nguyen has dubbed 'confessional technologies'--aimed at encouraging those affected to share their experiences. Among these technologies, we argue, is the semi-structured interview: the principal methodology used in qualitative social science research focused on patient experiences. Taking the performative nature of the research interview as a talking technology seriously has epistemological implications not merely for how we interpret interview data, but also for how we understand the role of research interviews in the enactment of 'life with HIV'. This paper focuses on one crucial aspect of this enactment: the contemporary 'normalisation' of HIV as 'just another' chronic condition--a process taking place at the level of individual subjectivities, social identities, clinical practices and global health policy, and of which social science research is a vital part. Through an analysis of 76 interviews conducted in London (2009-10), we examine tensions in the experiential narratives of individuals living with HIV in which life with the virus is framed as 'normal', yet where this 'normality' is beset with contradictions and ambiguities. Rather than viewing these as a reflection of resistances to or failures of the enactment of HIV as 'normal', we argue that, insofar as these contradictions are generated by the research interview as a distinct 'talking technology', they emerge as crucial to the normative (re)production of what counts as 'living with HIV' (in the UK) and are an inherent part of the broader performative 'normalisation' of the virus. Copyright © 2015

  17. Development of the Life Story in Early Adolescence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steiner, Kristina L.; Pillemer, David B.

    2018-01-01

    Life span developmental psychology proposes that the ability to create a coherent life narrative does not develop until early adolescence. Using a novel methodology, 10-, 12-, and 14-year-old participants were asked to tell their life stories aloud to a researcher. Later, participants separated their transcribed narratives into self-identified…

  18. Jenny's story: reinventing oneself through occupation and narrative configuration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price-Lackey, P; Cashman, J

    1996-04-01

    Two life history interviews were conducted to discover how one women, Jenny, experienced a traumatic head injury, rehabilitation, and recovery. Narrative analysis of the transcribed interviews revealed a rich story of how Jenny had fashioned her identity and character through childhood occupations, including studying classical literature and music, and of how she drew upon resources developed in childhood to engineer her recovery. It also illustrated how Jenny used a recursive process of narrative construction and engagement in self-devised graduated occupations, including studying, playing music, writing, computer graphics, and theater production, to create a new identity and develop capacities to process complex information and exercise creativity. Jenny's story illustrates the usefulness of gaining a perspective on patients as occupational beings through the gathering of life histories focused on occupation, the importance of collaborative patient-therapist goal setting, and the necessity for considering both the doing (practic) and the meaning (narrative) aspects of occupation. Her story supports many scholars' arguments that the therapeutic relationship, and thus occupational therapy practice, may be enhanced through the use of life history interviewing in occupational therapy evaluation and treatment.

  19. Living with incurable oesophageal cancer. A phenomenological hermeneutical interpretation of patient stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Missel, Malene; Birkelund, Regner

    2010-01-01

    results in an analysis of these stories. RESULTS: Through the analysis of the narrative interviews, phenomena of the patients' life world appear which are described in themes such as debut of the illness, denial, the person's own suspicion, existential turning point, despair, hope, the body, affirmation......PURPOSE: The study explores how patients diagnosed with incurable oesophageal cancer experience living with the illness, and provides insight into and an understanding of the patients' situation, reality and phenomena in their life world. METHOD: The method takes a phenomenological......-hermeneutic approach, inspired by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur's narrative theory on mimesis as the structure and process of the method, and Ricoeur's theory of interpretation for the analysis of patient stories. The stories materialise from narrative interviews, and the phenomena of the patients' life world...

  20. Narrative learning through life: Kenyan teachers' life-stories and narrative learning, and what this means for their relation to the teaching profession

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dahl, Kari Kragh Blume

    2015-01-01

    This article explores four Kenyan primary school teachers’ life-stories and narrative learning through living and telling stories about their lives from 2000 to 2011, and what this means for their relation to the teaching profession. Evidence suggests that narrative learning manifests as altered...... professionalism ‘in’ and ‘through’ the stories teachers tell about their lives and depends on ruptures in lived life, followed by periods of transition in life-stories. Teachers also learned narratively by recounting their life-stories. Thus, narrative learning is an important learning site and a resource...... for professional development in addition to pre-service teacher education....

  1. Cultural Trauma and Life Stories / Ene Kõresaar

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Kõresaar, Ene

    2007-01-01

    Aili Aarelaid-Tarti 15-aastase uuringu tulemused raamatus "Cultural Trauma and Life Stories", Hesinki, Kikimora Publications, 2006. Uuritud on kolme suurt rahvusgruppi 1940-test tingitud trauma kontekstis: eestlased kodumaal, eestlased eksiilis ja venekeelne rahvusgrupp Eestis postsovetlikus diskursuses

  2. Identity, small stories and interpretative repertoires in research interviews. An account of market researchers’ discursive positioning strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cosmin Toth

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available My main purpose in this paper is to illustrate how participants in a research interview occasioned conversation make use of two important discursive devices, namely: small stories and interpretative repertoires for positioning during interaction in order to foster certain situated identity claims. The premises I work with in this paper are that identity is a practiced situated accomplishment, that small stories are devices employed frequently for identity work that are no less important than extended autobiographical expositions, and that interpretative repertoires are practiced ways of speaking that allow participants to manage their positions in certain ways. Moreover, I will try to show that positioning by means of small stories and interpretative repertoires should be understood in direct relation with the identities and other membership categories made relevant by the interviewer. When participants’ positions are conflicting or miss-aligned, a more pronounced identity work is employed on the part of the interviewee, sustained by certain repertoires’ management strategies: alternation, nuancing, or rejecting certain repertoires.

  3. Collage Life Story Elicitation Technique: A Representational Technique for Scaffolding Autobiographical Memories

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Schalkwyk, Gertina J.

    2010-01-01

    A basic premise in narrative therapy and inquiry is that life story telling is a mechanism by which experiences are rendered meaningful within some form of structure. However, narrative inquiry has to take cognisance of difficulties ensuing from discursive practices for different populations when eliciting their life stories. In this article I…

  4. Intersections of life histories and science identities: the stories of three preservice elementary teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avraamidou, Lucy

    2016-03-01

    Grounded within Connelly and Clandinin's conceptualization of teachers' professional identity in terms of 'stories to live by' and through a life-history lens, this multiple case study aimed to respond to the following questions: (a) How do three preservice elementary teachers view themselves as future science teachers? (b) How have the participants' life histories shaped their science identity trajectories? In order to characterize the participants' formation of science identities over time, various data regarding their life histories in relation to science were collected: science biographies, self-portraits, interviews, reflective journals, lesson plans, and classroom observations. The analysis of the data illustrated how the three participants' identities have been in formation from the early years of their lives and how various events, experiences, and interactions had shaped their identities through time and across contexts. These findings are discussed alongside implications for theory, specifically, identity and life-history intersections, for teacher preparation, and for research related to explorations of beginning elementary teachers' identity trajectories.

  5. Knowing me, knowing you: a study of self and partner life story knowledge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Panattoni, Katherine W.; Thomsen, Dorthe Kirkegaard

    Despite the recent proliferation of life story research, little attention has focused on our knowledge of others’ life stories. Based on trait and schema research that perceptions of close others are influenced by one’s own personality, the present study expects to find 1) correlations on agency...

  6. Stories That Heal: Understanding the Effects of Creating Digital Stories With Pediatric and Adolescent/Young Adult Oncology Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laing, Catherine M; Moules, Nancy J; Estefan, Andrew; Lang, Mike

    The purpose of this philosophical hermeneutic study was to determine if, and understand how, digital stories might be effective therapeutic tools to use with children and adolescents/young adults (AYA) with cancer, thus helping mitigate suffering. Sixteen participants made digital stories with the help of a research assistant trained in digital storytelling and were interviewed following the completion of their stories. Findings from this research revealed that digital stories were a way to have others understand their experiences of cancer, allowed for further healing from their sometimes traumatic experiences, had unexpected therapeutic effects, and were a way to reconcile past experiences with current life. Digital stories, we conclude, show great promise with the pediatric and AYA oncology community and we believe are a way in which the psychosocial effects of cancer treatment may be addressed. Recommendations for incorporating digital stories into clinical practice and follow-up programs are offered.

  7. The normativity of life scripts and its relation with life story events across cultures and subcultures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatiboğlu, Neşe; Habermas, Tilmann

    2016-11-01

    This study explored the normativity of individual life scripts and their relation to actual life story memories across countries (Turkey and Germany) and subcultures (urban vs. rural, of migrant vs. of indigenous descent). Young adults from provincial Karabük and metropolitan Istanbul (Turkey), second generation Turkish migrants and Germans from Frankfurt a.M. (Germany) provided both their individual versions of the life script and seven most important personal memories. We expected the agreement on the life script, that is, its normativity, and correspondingly its guiding influence on the selection of life story memories to correlate positively with a collectivistic, negatively an individualistic cultural orientation, that is, to be highest in provincial Karabük, less in Istanbul, still less in Turkish migrants in Germany, and finally lowest in native Germans. The study confirmed expectations for the normativity of life scripts, but not for the normativity of most important memories. We conclude that the normativity of life scripts is influenced both by the individualist vs. collectivist orientation.

  8. LIFE-STYLE SEGMENTATION WITH TAILORED INTERVIEWING

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    KAMAKURA, WA; WEDEL, M

    The authors present a tailored interviewing procedure for life-style segmentation. The procedure assumes that a life-style measurement instrument has been designed. A classification of a sample of consumers into life-style segments is obtained using a latent-class model. With these segments, the

  9. Short Stories, Novels and Spain. An Interview With Colm Tóibín

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José-Francisco Fernández Sánchez

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Colm Tóibín (Enniscorthy, 1955 is the author of five novels, The South (1990, The Heather Blazing (1992, The Story of the Night (1996, The Blackwater Lightship(1999 and The Master (2004. This last novel won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Los Angeles Times Novel of the Year, the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger for the best foreign novel published in 2005 in France, and it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Colm Tóibín has a long career in journalism and was the editor of the magazine Magill from 1982 to 1985. He is also the author of several non-fiction books, including Homage to Barcelona (1990 and The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe (1994. He edited The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction (1999 and has recently published his first book of short stories,Mothers and Sons (2006. Colm Tóibín attended the 10th International Conference on the Short Story in English, held at University College Cork on 19-21 June 2008, where this interview took place.

  10. Life review and life story books for people with mild to moderate dementia: a randomised controlled trial

    Science.gov (United States)

    Subramaniam, Ponnusamy; Woods, Bob; Whitaker, Chris

    2013-01-01

    Objectives To evaluate the effect of different pathways for developing a life story book (LSB) for people with dementia. Method Preliminary randomised control trial; 23 people with dementia in care homes (mean age 86) randomly assigned to receive either 12 individual life review sessions and co-creating a LSB or a personal LSB created by their relatives as a ‘gift’ Results No difference in quality of life (quality of life–Alzheimer's disease (QOL–AD)) was observed between the two groups, six weeks after having received the LSB (F(1,20) = 0.08, p = 0.77). At this point, QOL–AD had improved for both groups, but there was a significant between-group difference at an intermediate assessment immediately after the life review sessions had been completed, before the LSBs were received (F(1, 20) = 5.11, p = 0.035), in favour of life review. A similar pattern was observed on autobiographical memory (extended autobiographical memory interview), with the life review group improving significantly more than the gift group during the life review sessions, but no difference was observed once all participants had had their LSB for six weeks. After the LSBs were produced – by either pathway – quality of relationship as rated by relatives improved significantly (F(2, 39) = 19.37, p life review process or by relatives without involving the person with dementia – has benefits for people with dementia, relatives and staff in care homes. However, undertaking a life review requires training and supervision. PMID:24063317

  11. Core story creation: analysing narratives to construct stories for learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petty, Julia; Jarvis, Joy; Thomas, Rebecca

    2018-03-16

    Educational research uses narrative enquiry to gain and interpret people's experiences. Narrative analysis is used to organise and make sense of acquired narrative. 'Core story creation' is a way of managing raw data obtained from narrative interviews to construct stories for learning. To explain how core story creation can be used to construct stories from raw narratives obtained by interviewing parents about their neonatal experiences and then use these stories to educate learners. Core story creation involves reconfiguration of raw narratives. Reconfiguration includes listening to and rereading transcribed narratives, identifying elements of 'emplotment' and reordering these to form a constructed story. Thematic analysis is then performed on the story to draw out learning themes informed by the participants. Core story creation using emplotment is a strategy of narrative reconfiguration that produces stories which can be used to develop resources relating to person-centred education about the patient experience. Stories constructed from raw narratives in the context of constructivism can provide a medium or an 'end product' for use in learning resource development. This can then contribute to educating students or health professionals about patients' experiences. ©2018 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

  12. How telling stories helps patients to recover psychologically after intensive care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Susan Lecky

    Studies have shown both the risk of post traumatic stress following intensive care unit treatment, and the helpfulness of telling trauma stories for psychological recovery. This article is based on recent doctoral research exploring the impact of unexpected life threatening events after admission to hospital. The original research used a qualitative design blending discourse, narrative and phenomenological approaches, guided by sensitivity to participants' evolving work of pulling stories together. Patients chosen from ICU discharge summaries showing a critical life threatening event after admission gave unstructured interviews soon after discharge from hospital and a year later. This article focuses on one particular finding, showing that critical illness can make it difficult for patients to construct personal stories of their experience. Limited evidence suggested overcoming those difficulties meant they had an improved sense of wellbeing a year after discharge. Stories are an essential way in which humans make sense of their experience, which is crucial both for responding appropriately and for personal wellbeing following traumatic life events. Therefore, difficulties in "storying" significant experience can have a negative impact on wellbeing. Some patients need help piecing together stories of their critical illness experience.

  13. E-Counselling Implementation: Students' Life Stories and Counselling Technologies in Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolog, Emmanuel Awuni; Sutinen, Erkki; Vanhalakka-Ruoho, Marjatta

    2014-01-01

    Given the current global trend of mimicking real life situations into digital counselling games and its related digital counselling platforms, we decided to contextually understand from the Ghanaian senior high school students, their life challenges arising from their life stories. The study also explores the extent to which ICT is currently being…

  14. Roads not taken: A narrative positioning analysis of older adults' stories about missed opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blix, Bodil Hansen; Hamran, Torunn; Normann, Hans Ketil

    2015-12-01

    The point of departure for this article is narrative gerontology's conceptualization of life as storied and the assumption that identity development and meaning making do not cease at any age, but rather continue throughout life. We suggest that if identity construction is considered to be a lifelong project, narrative gerontology would benefit from applying analytical perspectives focused on the situated activity of narration. In this article, we apply a three-level positioning analysis to segments of interviews with two elderly Sami women concerning missed opportunities or roads not taken and, more specifically, to narrations about missed opportunities for education. We argue that such narrations should not necessarily be considered expressions of regret or processes of reconciliation but rather as pivotal in here-and-now identity constructions. Narrations about missed opportunities demonstrate that what narrators choose to insert into their life stories is chosen for a purpose and for an audience in a specific interpersonal and discursive context. We suggest that narrative gerontology would benefit from a broader focus on the diversity of sites of engagement in which older adults perform identity constructions. This shift implies moving beyond traditional studies of older adults' life stories and biographical narratives as related in the context of qualitative research interviews (of which the present study of Sami older adults' life stories is indeed an example). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Event centrality of positive and negative autobiographical memories to identity and life story across cultures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaragoza Scherman, Alejandra; Salgado, Sinué; Shao, Zhifang; Berntsen, Dorthe

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate whether cultural differences exist in event centrality, emotional distress and well-being in a total of 565 adults above age 40 from Mexico, Greenland, China and Denmark. Participants completed questionnaires to determine their level of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms, and of life satisfaction. They also completed event centrality scales for their most positive and most negative life events. Across cultures, participants rated positive events as more central to their identity and life stories, compared with negative events. Furthermore, participants with higher levels of emotional distress rated negative events as more central to their identity and life story, compared with participants with lower scores. However, a converse pattern was not found for positive events. Finally, participants with higher scores of life satisfaction tended to rate positive events as more central and negative events as less central to their identity and life story, compared with participants with lower scores. It is concluded that across cultures, positive events are considered more central to identity and life story than negative events and that event centrality ratings tend to be affected in similar ways by higher versus lower levels of emotional distress or well-being.

  16. That bloody Cape Breton coal: stories of mining disasters in everyday life

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    MacKenzie, R.; Caplan, R. (ed.)

    2004-07-01

    The book is a compilation of 18 true stories about coal mining accidents to individuals and the impact of each on the miner, if he survived, and his family. The stories are based on the recollections of New Waterford miners, family members and people in the community. The accidents all occurred in the twentieth century, in particular during the period 1950 to 1980. The daily life of the miner, working conditions, the reality of working underground, causes of the accidents, and family life in the New Waterford community are described in detail. 28 photos.

  17. Life story books for the elderly mentally ill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, J

    2001-01-01

    The use of life story books with people with moderate to severe dementia in continuing care and day hospital settings is examined. The approach involved activity-based carer and relative training and support. A collaborative approach has developed and shifts in staff attitudes are discussed. Consideration is given to generalisation to other aspects of patient care.

  18. Life Story Work: Optional Extra or Fundamental Entitlement?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atwool, Nicola

    2017-01-01

    In Aotearoa New Zealand the importance of life story books is outlined in the policy of our statutory care and protection agency Child, Youth and Family. Many children in care do not have access to such a resource, however, suggesting that social workers view this as an optional extra or "nice to have" rather than integral to good…

  19. The Digital Life History Project: Intergenerational Collaborative Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loe, Meika

    2013-01-01

    This article describes the Digital Life History Project, a 10-week "lab" linked to a course on aging, in which students and community-dwelling elders work together to create a short digital story honoring the elder's life. After two interview sessions, the pair works together to produce a 3- to 5-minute digital life story narrated by the elder.…

  20. An Interview About Hunting a Black Bear

    OpenAIRE

    G.yu lha

    2009-01-01

    The respondent describes the first time he killed a black bear while hunting. The fifty one audio and nine video files in this collection include: villages’ life stories, circle-dancing songs and performance, local history, folk tales, and interviews from Siyuewu Village, Puxi Township, Rangtang County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. World Oral Literature Project

  1. Group-Based Life Design Counseling in an Italian Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Fabio, Annamaria; Maree, Jacobus Gideon

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the effectiveness of group-based Life Design Counseling using the Career-Story Interview. Written exercises were used to implement the seven topics in the Career-Story Interview. The present study employed an experimental design that involved two groups of Italian entrepreneurs from the agricultural and trade sectors, namely an…

  2. Exploring Students’ Reflections about Values inside the Implementation of Storied Lessons Based on Students’ Life Experiences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mónica Castiblanco

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available This article informs on students’ reflections about their life experiences and values based on the implementation of storied lessons compiled in a primer designed by the English teachers-researchers. Each storied lesson comes from some students’ life stories, the values promoted by the school such as respect, honesty, responsibility, and solidarity, and the English topic for each class in order to allow students to feel comfortable reflecting and giving opinions regarding the issues mentioned above.

  3. Narrative interviewing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Claire; Kirkpatrick, Susan

    2016-06-01

    Introduction Narrative interviews place the people being interviewed at the heart of a research study. They are a means of collecting people's own stories about their experiences of health and illness. Narrative interviews can help researchers to better understand people's experiences and behaviours. Narratives may come closer to representing the context and integrity of people's lives than more quantitative means of research. Methodology Researchers using narrative interview techniques do not set out with a fixed agenda, rather they tend to let the interviewee control the direction, content and pace of the interview. The paper describes the interview process and the suggested approach to analysis of narrative interviews, We draw on the example from a study that used series of narrative interviews about people's experiences of taking antidepressants. Limitations Some people may find it particularly challenging to tell their story to a researcher in this way rather than be asked a series of questions like in a television or radio interview. Narrative research like all qualitative research does not set out to be generalisable and may only involve a small set of interviews.

  4. AHP 20: Ballad of The Huang River and Other Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing Shi

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available This book contains three novellas originally written in Chinese by the Qinghai author Jing Shi. The novellas provide a finely textured portrayal of Qinghai rural life in the twentieth century. An introduction and transcribed interview provide context to the stories and their author. From the introduction by Keith Dede: "The wide appeal of Jing Shi's fiction is certainly something he welcomes. As he sees it, literature, at one level, should be entertaining. Stories are a way for people to derive pleasure, enjoy a laugh, and while away some time. But stories are also about communication, about communicating ideas concerning the ironies of life and the trajectory of the human condition. Jing Shi thinks deeply about the people of rural Qinghai, their culture, their predicaments, their hopes, and their tragedies, and his stories communicate his thoughts about these things, but also his deep affection for the people and culture that raised him."

  5. En undersøgelse af livshistorier blandt patienter med skizofreni. (An examination of life stories among patients with schizophrenia)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holm, Tine; Bliksted, Vibeke Fuglsang; Thomsen, Dorthe Kirkegaard

    Lack of self-continuity is a defining feature in schizophrenia, which involves the experience that the past self is not meaningfully connected to the present self. Self-continuity may be established through the life story. In this study-in-progress we examine whether patients with schizophrenia...... have less coherent life stories compared to healthy controls. 30 patients and 30 matched controls describe and rate up to 10 life story chapters and 3 self-defining memories (SDMs). We expect that patients will have less chronologically organized chapters and that they will rate degree of self......-continuity and causal coherence lower for both SDMs and life story chapters....

  6. Everyday Stories: relived, retold and reconstructed from the memory of a group of educators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Maria Ramadan

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to socialize the author's Master thesis titled "Composing tessitura: the knowledge and doings in the accounts of the stories of daily life and professional careers of a group of educators," which was aimed at understanding how identities are constituted of a group of professional caregivers of preschool daycare operating in the city of Campinas, their stories, their ideas (knowledge, their educational practices (doings and thus seek to understand how this group has built the profession as educators of young children throughout their career, for this, the research has a theoretical and methodological Oral History. From interviews with the professionals sought to make use of memory as a support to revive the stories of everyday life. In order to understand and analyze the data collected in the interviews was made use of some categories of analysis which led dialogue with the theory: studies on identity, gender and special education children.

  7. The Future Is Bright and Predictable: The Development of Prospective Life Stories across Childhood and Adolescence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bohn, Annette; Berntsen, Dorthe

    2013-01-01

    When do children develop the ability to imagine their future lives in terms of a coherent prospective life story? We investigated whether this ability develops in parallel with the ability to construct a life story for the past and narratives about single autobiographical events in the past and future. Four groups of school children aged 9 to 15…

  8. Narratives of the double bind: Intersectionality in life stories of women of color in physics, astrophysics and astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ko, Lily T.; Kachchaf, Rachel R.; Ong, Maria; Hodari, Apriel K.

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents themes on the life stories of women of color in physics, astrophysics and astronomy. Drawing from our NSF-sponsored project, Beyond the Double Bind: Women of Color in STEM, we share findings from 10 interviews and 41 extant texts (about 23 women in varied life stages). Employing intersectionality theory and narrative analysis, our study contributes a critical analysis of how the intersection of gender and race affects performance, identity, persistence and overall career and education experiences in the physical sciences. Our findings both support existing literature on women of color in STEM, as well as bring to light two major, emergent issues: the importance of activism, and school/work-life balance. This research will add to the knowledge base about strategies for retaining women of color--widely considered an untapped source of domestic talent that could fill the country's scientific workforce needs.

  9. How the Principalship Has Changed: Lessons from Principals' Life Stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brubaker, Dale L.

    1995-01-01

    The life stories of (North Carolina) principals in a graduate education class reveal vast changes over the past 20 years. "Good ol' boy" superintendents and principals have been replaced by self-interested political "sharks" concerned more with image than substance. Fortunately, principals with resiliency, caring values, and…

  10. Munazza's story: Understanding science teaching and conceptions of the nature of science in Pakistan through a life history study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halai, Nelofer

    In this study I have described and tried to comprehend how a female science teacher understands her practice. Additionally, I have developed some understanding of her understanding of the nature of science. While teaching science, a teacher projects messages about the nature of science that can be captured by observations and interviews. Furthermore, the manner is which a teacher conceptualizes science for teaching, at least in part, depends on personal life experiences. Hence, I have used the life history method to understand Munazza's practice. Munazza is a young female science teacher working in a private, co-educational school for children from middle income families in Karachi, Pakistan. Her stories are central to the study, and I have represented them using a number of narrative devices. I have woven in my own stories too, to illustrate my perspective as a researcher. The data includes 13 life history interviews and many informal conversations with Munazza, observations of science teaching in classes seven and eight, and interviews with other science teachers and administrative staff of the school. Munazza's personal biography and experiences of school and undergraduate courses has influenced the way she teaches. It has also influenced the way she does not teach. She was not inspired by her science teachers, so she has tried not to teach the way she was taught science. Contextual factors, her conception of preparation for teaching as preparation for subject content and the tension that she faces in balancing care and control in her classroom are some factors that influence her teaching. Munazza believes that science is a stable, superior and value-free way of knowing. In trying to understand the natural world, observations come first, which give reliable information about the world leading inductively to a "theory". Hence, she relies a great deal on demonstrations in the class where students "see" for themselves and abstract the scientific concept from the

  11. Life stories of people on sick leave from work because of mild mental illness, pain and fatigue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brataas, Hildfrid V; Evensen, Aud E

    2015-01-01

    Many people experience some form of mild mental illness, chronic pain and fatigue feelings that lead to long-term absences from the workplace. The article examines narrations about developmental experiences and adult life of people in need of back to work rehabilitation. Narrative interviews were analyzed within a qualitative content analyses design. The sample was purposive, with 16 working-age adults at rehabilitation because of mild mental illnesses, chronic pain, and fatigue feelings. Ethical approval, was obtained from The Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics, Health Region Central Norway. Reference no.: 2010/1323. There were stories about more or less stressful childhoods. In adult life, there were turns at various ages from meaningful work engagement, to struggle in private life from long lasting strain, stressful family situations or crises. Illness may develop when experiencing crises or strain over time in private situations, this in combination with expectations and requirements in working life. Not only working environments, but also the private situations, life history events, and self-esteem of individuals, should be taken into consideration in the rehabilitation program. There is a need of research on working life that support the employee's positive self-image, and on effective rehabilitation when needed.

  12. The reminiscence bump reconsidered: children's prospective life stories show a bump in young adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bohn, Annette; Berntsen, Dorthe

    2011-02-01

    The reminiscence bump-the reporting of more memories from young adulthood than from other stages of life-is considered a hallmark of autobiographical memory research. The most prevalent explanations for this effect assume that events in young adulthood are favored because of the way they are encoded and maintained in long-term memory. Here we show that a similar increase of events in early adulthood is found when children narrate their personal futures. In Study 1, children wrote their future life stories. The events in these life stories were mostly life-script events, and their distribution showed a clear bump in young adulthood. In Study 2, children were prompted by word cues to write down events from their future lives. The events generated consisted mostly of non-life-script events, and those events did not show a bump in young adulthood. Our findings challenge prevailing explanations of the reminiscence bump and suggest that the cultural life script forms an overarching organizational principle for autobiographical memories and future representations across the life span.

  13. Identity, Conflict, and Coexistence: Life Stories of Israeli and Palestinian Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammack, Phillip L.

    2006-01-01

    Assuming a cultural psychology approach, this study examines the life stories of 30 Israeli and Palestinian adolescent participants in a coexistence program. Prior to participation, youth identity was characterized by polarization in which an ingroup ideology is internalized with little understanding of the outgroup's ideological perspective.…

  14. A cross-cultural study of the lifespan distributions of life script events and autobiographical memories of life story events

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zaragoza Scherman, Alejandra; Salgado, Sinué; Shao, Zhifang

    Cultural Life Script Theory provides a cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump: adults older than 40 years remember more life events happening between 15 - 30 years of age. The cultural life script represents semantic knowledge about commonly shared expectations regarding the order and timing...... of major transitional life events in an idealized life course. By comparing the lifespan distribution of life scripts events and memories of life story events, we can determine the degree to which the cultural life script serves as a recall template for autobiographical memories, especially of positive...

  15. Meaning Reconstruction Process After Suicide: Life-Story of a Japanese Woman Who Lost Her Son to Suicide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawashima, Daisuke; Kawano, Kenji

    2017-09-01

    Although Japan has a high suicide rate, there is insufficient research on the experiences of suicide-bereaved individuals. We investigated the qualitative aspects of the meaning reconstruction process after a loss to suicide. We conducted a life-story interview using open-ended questions with one middle-aged Japanese woman who lost her son to suicide. We used a narrative approach to transcribe and code the participant's narratives for analysis. The analysis revealed three meaning groups that structured the participant's reactions to the suicide: making sense of her son's death and life, relationships with other people, and reconstruction of a bond with the deceased. The belief that death is not an eternal split and that there is a connection between the living and the deceased reduced the pain felt by our participant. Furthermore, the narratives worked as scaffolds in the meaning reconstruction process. We discuss our results in the light of cross-cultural differences in the grieving process.

  16. An Interview with Steven Millhauser

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Étienne Février

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Etienne Février : I would like to begin this interview with a question about architecture. Images of architecture appear frequently in your fiction, from Martin Dressler to more recent collections like Dangerous Laughter. In that collection’s “thirteen stories,” we find a tower reaching all the way to heaven, a life-size replica of a town so precise that even the “levels of salt in the saltshakers” match those of the original town, and a series of outwardly expanding domes—covering a house, f...

  17. Book Review: The Social Life of Stories: Narrative and Knowledge in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Cruikshank, Julie. 1998. The Social Life of Stories: Narrative and Knowledge in the Yukon Territory. Columbia: UBC Press. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons ...

  18. Life story chapters, specific memories and the reminiscence bump

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Dorthe Kirkegaard; Pillemer, David B.; Ivcevic, Zorana

    2011-01-01

    Theories of autobiographical memory posit that extended time periods (here termed chapters) and memories are organised hierarchically. If chapters organise memories and guide their recall, then chapters and memories should show similar temporal distributions over the life course. Previous research...... are over-represented at the beginning of chapters. Potential connections between chapters and the cultural life script are also examined. Adult participants first divided their life story into chapters and identified their most positive and most negative chapter. They then recalled a specific memory from...... demonstrates that positive but not negative memories show a reminiscence bump and that memories cluster at the beginning of extended time periods. The current study tested the hypotheses that (1) ages marking the beginning of positive but not negative chapters produce a bump, and that (2) specific memories...

  19. The Life Review in Five Short Stories about Characters Facing Death.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholl, Grier

    1985-01-01

    Uses five modern short stories about people facing death to illustrate and connect various observations of and theories about the dying process developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and Robert N. Butler. In response to the imminence of their deaths, the characters survey their past, attempting to reintegrate their life's experiences. (JAC)

  20. Superconductivity. Discoveries and discoverers. Ten physics nobel laureates tell their story

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fossheim, Kristian [Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology, Trondheim (Norway). Dept. of Physics

    2013-10-01

    Displays the life and work of 10 Nobel laureates. Presents interesting background information on how great science is achieved. Presents the history of superconductivity through 100 years of progress. 10 great scientists tell their unique stories in their own words. Personal stories of Bednorz, Mueller and 8 other Nobel laureates. This book is about the work of 10 great scientists; who they were and are, their personal background and how they achieved their outstanding results and took their prominent place in science history. We follow one of physics and science history's most enigmatic phenomena, superconductivity, through 100 years, from its discovery in 1911 to the present, not as a history book in the usual sense, but through close ups of the leading characters and their role in that story, the Nobel laureates, who were still among us in the years 2001-2004 when the main round of interviews was carried out. Since then two of them already passed away. For each one of the 10 laureates, the author tells their story by direct quotation from interviews in their own words. Each chapter treats one laureate. The author first gives a brief account of the laureates' scientific background and main contribution. Then each laureate tells his own story in his own words. This book is unique in its approach to science history.

  1. Superconductivity. Discoveries and discoverers. Ten physics nobel laureates tell their story

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fossheim, Kristian

    2013-01-01

    Displays the life and work of 10 Nobel laureates. Presents interesting background information on how great science is achieved. Presents the history of superconductivity through 100 years of progress. 10 great scientists tell their unique stories in their own words. Personal stories of Bednorz, Mueller and 8 other Nobel laureates. This book is about the work of 10 great scientists; who they were and are, their personal background and how they achieved their outstanding results and took their prominent place in science history. We follow one of physics and science history's most enigmatic phenomena, superconductivity, through 100 years, from its discovery in 1911 to the present, not as a history book in the usual sense, but through close ups of the leading characters and their role in that story, the Nobel laureates, who were still among us in the years 2001-2004 when the main round of interviews was carried out. Since then two of them already passed away. For each one of the 10 laureates, the author tells their story by direct quotation from interviews in their own words. Each chapter treats one laureate. The author first gives a brief account of the laureates' scientific background and main contribution. Then each laureate tells his own story in his own words. This book is unique in its approach to science history.

  2. Generation and discourse in working life stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster, Karen

    2013-06-01

    Following Mannheim's (1970) Problem of Generations, many scholars have warned of the analytical and political risks of conflating generation with cohort. Yet the temptation persists, as relying on cohort is a convenient method of dividing a population to study it. This article proposes that cohort is only convenient if the objective is understanding generations as definitive groups of people. It suggests a supplementary objective: understanding generation as a matter of discourse. Qualitative data from interviews with 52 Canadians illustrates how the discursive forms of generation in their stories render difference, human agency and social change in atomistic or voluntaristic terms. The most extreme manifestations of this theme appear related to the perception of generational conflict. Guided by James' principle of pragmatism, this article maintains that understanding generation as a discursive, historically contingent 'thought' with 'effects' is as important as understanding its structural form and contents. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2013.

  3. Evidence for anecdotes: Examining use of stories in introductory biology courses with a mixed-methods approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreps, Jennifer Susan

    2005-11-01

    Instructional stories can be an effective way to teach science concepts. However, research has not examined the extent to which stories are being used, and how they are received. More research on the use of story in biology classes may lead to more conscious use of story by instructors, which may lead to a better understanding of biological concepts by students. The purpose of this study was to examine how instructors and students use stories in university introductory biology courses, and the degree to which these stories are perceived to be effective. To examine this phenomenon, a nationwide instructor survey, a university-wide student survey, and multiple case studies were used. Two case studies included observation of lectures, interviews with (36) students, and interviews with instructors (4) over two semesters of an organismal biology course. Instructor survey participants (N = 78) were gathered by posting email invitations, and student survey participants (N = 260) were volunteers from introductory biology courses at a middle-sized university. Several types of stories were observed, including personal experience stories, historical anecdotes, and "you" stories. Students reported increased affective learning when stories were told, and remembered mostly humorous stories. In the instructor survey, no significant differences emerged between genders, type of biology taught, or communicator style and instructional story frequency. However, reports of personal experience story frequency did increase significantly (p ethnicity, although non-science majors reported that their instructors used stories significantly more frequently (p perceived learning loss for non-science majors, but not for science majors. The researcher suggests that stories can be an effective tool to teach biology, particularly if the instructor is aware of her audience and uses stories primarily to help students understand how concepts are related to "real life."

  4. Self-defining memories, scripts, and the life story: narrative identity in personality and psychotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singer, Jefferson A; Blagov, Pavel; Berry, Meredith; Oost, Kathryn M

    2013-12-01

    An integrative model of narrative identity builds on a dual memory system that draws on episodic memory and a long-term self to generate autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memories related to critical goals in a lifetime period lead to life-story memories, which in turn become self-defining memories when linked to an individual's enduring concerns. Self-defining memories that share repetitive emotion-outcome sequences yield narrative scripts, abstracted templates that filter cognitive-affective processing. The life story is the individual's overarching narrative that provides unity and purpose over the life course. Healthy narrative identity combines memory specificity with adaptive meaning-making to achieve insight and well-being, as demonstrated through a literature review of personality and clinical research, as well as new findings from our own research program. A clinical case study drawing on this narrative identity model is also presented with implications for treatment and research. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  5. Writing Oneself into Someone Else s Story Experiments With Identity And Speculative Life Writing in Twilight Fan Fiction

    OpenAIRE

    Lehtonen, Sanna

    2015-01-01

    Fan fiction offers rich data to explore readers’ understanding of gendered discourses informing the narrative construction of fictional and real-life identities. This paper focuses on gender identity construction in self-insertion fan fiction texts – stories that involve avatars of fan writers – based on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels. Self-insertion fan fiction stories can be considered a form of life writing where authors play with their identity in a virtual context in te...

  6. Effectiveness of a life story work program on older adults with intellectual disabilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bai X

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Xue Bai,1,2 Daniel WH Ho,2 Karen Fung,3 Lily Tang,3 Moon He,3 Kim Wan Young,4 Florence Ho,2 Timothy Kwok2,5 1Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; 2Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing, Shatin, Hong Kong; 3Hong Chi Association, Hong Kong; 4Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong; 5Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Objective: This study examines the effectiveness of a life story work program (LSWp in older adults with mild-to-moderate levels of intellectual disability (ID. Methods: Using a quasiexperimental design, this study assigned 60 older adults who were between 50–90 years old with mild-to-moderate levels of ID to receive either the LSWp (intervention group, N=32 or usual activities (control group, N=28 during a period of 6 months. Evaluation was made based on the outcomes assessed by the Mood Interest and Pleasure Questionnaire, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, and the Personal Well-being Index – ID. Results and conclusion: LSWp shows potential for improving the quality of life and preventing the loss of interest and pleasure in older adults with ID. It also shows promise in enhancing their socialization skills. Patients with better communication abilities seemed to benefit more from the LSWp. Keywords: life story work, life story book, intellectual disabilities, older adults, effectiveness

  7. Sipping Coffee with a Serial Killer: On Conducting Life History Interviews with a Criminal Genius

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oleson, J. C.

    2004-01-01

    As part of my Ph.D. research on criminal genius, I conducted 44 semi-structured interviews. One of the 44 subjects, in particular, stood out. This noteworthy individual claimed that he had killed 15 people. His story was particularly interesting because--unlike most social research involving serial killers--he claimed that he had never been…

  8. Reflecting on Scientists' Activity Based on Science Fiction Stories Written by Secondary Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reis, Pedro; Galvao, Cecilia

    2007-01-01

    In this article the authors resort to a qualitative analysis of the plot of science fiction stories about a group of scientists, written by two 11th-grade Earth and Life Science students (aged 17), and to semi-structured interviews, with the double purpose of diagnosing their conceptions of the nature of science (namely, as regards scientists'…

  9. The Authoritarian Personality in Emerging Adulthood: Longitudinal Analysis Using Standardized Scales, Observer Ratings, and Content Coding of the Life Story.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Bill E; Pratt, Michael W; Olsen, Janelle R; Alisat, Susan

    2016-04-01

    Three different methods (a standardized scale, an observer-based Q-sort, and content coding of narratives) were used to study the continuity of authoritarianism longitudinally in emerging and young adults. Authoritarianism was assessed in a Canadian sample (N = 92) of men and women at ages 19 and 32 with Altemeyer's (1996) Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) Scale. In addition, components of the authoritarian personality were assessed at age 26 through Q-sort observer methods (Block, 2008) and at age 32 through content coding of life stories. Age 19 authoritarianism predicted the Q-sort and life story measures of authoritarianism. Two hierarchical regression analyses showed that the Q-sort and life story measures of authoritarianism also predicted the RWA scale at age 32 beyond educational level and parental status, and even after the inclusion of age 19 RWA. Differences and similarities in the pattern of correlates for the Q-sort and life story measures are discussed, including the overall lack of results for authoritarian aggression. Content in narratives may be the result of emerging adult authoritarianism and may serve to maintain levels of authoritarianism in young adulthood. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Being a quantitative interviewer: qualitatively exploring interviewers' experiences in a longitudinal cohort study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Derrett Sarah

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Many studies of health outcomes rely on data collected by interviewers administering highly-structured (quantitative questionnaires to participants. Little appears to be known about the experiences of such interviewers. This paper explores interviewer experiences of working on a longitudinal study in New Zealand (the Prospective Outcomes of injury Study - POIS. Interviewers administer highly-structured questionnaires to participants, usually by telephone, and enter data into a secure computer program. The research team had expectations of interviewers including: consistent questionnaire administration, timeliness, proportions of potential participants recruited and an empathetic communication style. This paper presents results of a focus group to qualitatively explore with the team of interviewers their experiences, problems encountered, strategies, support systems used and training. Methods A focus group with interviewers involved in the POIS interviews was held; it was audio-recorded and transcribed. The analytical method was thematic, with output intended to be descriptive and interpretive. Results Nine interviewers participated in the focus group (average time in interviewer role was 31 months. Key themes were: 1 the positive aspects of the quantitative interviewer role (i.e. relationships and resilience, insights gained, and participants' feedback, 2 difficulties interviewers encountered and solutions identified (i.e. stories lost or incomplete, forgotten appointments, telling the stories, acknowledging distress, stories reflected and debriefing and support, and 3 meeting POIS researcher expectations (i.e. performance standards, time-keeping, dealing exclusively with the participant and maintaining privacy. Conclusions Interviewers demonstrated great skill in the way they negotiated research team expectations whilst managing the relationships with participants. Interviewers found it helpful to have a research protocol in

  11. Love stories can be unpredictable: Jules et Jim in the vortex of life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dercole, Fabio; Rinaldi, Sergio

    2014-06-01

    Love stories are dynamic processes that begin, develop, and often stay for a relatively long time in a stationary or fluctuating regime, before possibly fading. Although they are, undoubtedly, the most important dynamic process in our life, they have only recently been cast in the formal frame of dynamical systems theory. In particular, why it is so difficult to predict the evolution of sentimental relationships continues to be largely unexplained. A common reason for this is that love stories reflect the turbulence of the surrounding social environment. But we can also imagine that the interplay of the characters involved contributes to make the story unpredictable-that is, chaotic. In other words, we conjecture that sentimental chaos can have a relevant endogenous origin. To support this intriguing conjecture, we mimic a real and well-documented love story with a mathematical model in which the environment is kept constant, and show that the model is chaotic. The case we analyze is the triangle described in Jules et Jim, an autobiographic novel by Henri-Pierre Roché that became famous worldwide after the success of the homonymous film directed by François Truffaut.

  12. Love stories can be unpredictable: Jules et Jim in the vortex of life

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dercole, Fabio; Rinaldi, Sergio

    2014-06-01

    Love stories are dynamic processes that begin, develop, and often stay for a relatively long time in a stationary or fluctuating regime, before possibly fading. Although they are, undoubtedly, the most important dynamic process in our life, they have only recently been cast in the formal frame of dynamical systems theory. In particular, why it is so difficult to predict the evolution of sentimental relationships continues to be largely unexplained. A common reason for this is that love stories reflect the turbulence of the surrounding social environment. But we can also imagine that the interplay of the characters involved contributes to make the story unpredictable—that is, chaotic. In other words, we conjecture that sentimental chaos can have a relevant endogenous origin. To support this intriguing conjecture, we mimic a real and well-documented love story with a mathematical model in which the environment is kept constant, and show that the model is chaotic. The case we analyze is the triangle described in Jules et Jim, an autobiographic novel by Henri-Pierre Roché that became famous worldwide after the success of the homonymous film directed by François Truffaut.

  13. Young Sex-Workers in Ho Chi Minh City Telling Their Life Stories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubenson, Birgitta; Hanh, Le Thi; Hojer, Bengt; Johansson, Eva

    2005-01-01

    In this study the life stories of 22 sex-workers (age 15-18 years) in Vietnam are organized into three thematic narratives depicting how the girls presented their lives. Poverty, lack of job alternatives and the responsibility to share in the support of their families led the girls into prostitution. Strong family ties gave many girls…

  14. Story Bound, Map Around: Stories, Life, and Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez, Ulyssa; Nolte-Yupari, Samantha

    2015-01-01

    In this article, the authors discuss mixed-media projects done with elementary students in a summer art camp and preservice elementary teachers taking Visual Arts in the Elementary Classroom, illustrating their consideration of how stories carry the curricular potential to bring students' out-of-school experiences into the classroom. In order…

  15. Autobiographical memories of important life story events in Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zaragoza Scherman, Alejandra; Salgado, Sinue; Shao, Zhifang

    to recall seven autobiographical memories of important personal life story events. In addition, participants indicated how often they think or talk about the reported events. The three common important life events recalled by participants from all four cultures were having children, getting married......, and attending college. Results showed cross-cultural differences in the rehearsal (think/talk) ratings for positive events, but not for negative events.......Individuals often think and talk about autobiographical memories of important life events from their personal past. Do these life events and how often often participants rehearse them differ across cultures? In this study, researchers asked participants from Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark...

  16. Autobiographical memories of important life story events in Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zaragoza Scherman, Alejandra; Salgado, Sinue; Shao, Zhifang

    Individuals often think and talk about autobiographical memories of important life events from their personal past. Do these life events and how often often participants rehearse them differ across cultures? In this study, researchers asked participants from Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark...... to recall seven autobiographical memories of important personal life story events. In addition, participants indicated how often they think or talk about the reported events. The three common important life events recalled by participants from all four cultures were having children, getting married......, and attending college. Results showed cross-cultural differences in the rehearsal (think/talk) ratings for positive events, but not for negative events....

  17. Pathways of Reflection: Creating Voice Through Life Story and Dialogical Poetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lynn Margaret Norton

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In this article, I explore pathways towards critical reflexivity as a way of understanding the interaction between personal and professional development. How much do we, and can we, put our personal lives into our work? Reflexivity can be developed through various methods but is explored herein through life stories and dialogical poetry as ways of deepening the connection between personal discourses and professional lives. A heuristic inquiry framework developed by Clark MOUSTAKAS is used together with poetry and dialogue to map a personal exploration of reflexivity through life story work. The journey follows six phases: initial engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and culmination in a creative synthesis. Acknowledging that reflexivity is viewed as occurring in context, a narrative lens is used to integrate the importance of working with lived experience while recognizing how we are influenced by our past and present social interaction with others. In this way, as researchers and professionals, we are better able to position ourselves, to better understand the context in which we work, and to develop a more ethical lens through which we view our reality. The scope for personal agency and the creation of voice is explored through these interactions. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs170192

  18. Analyzing Storytelling in TESOL Interview Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasper, Gabriele; Prior, Matthew T.

    2015-01-01

    Autobiographic research interviews have become an accepted and valued method of qualitative inquiry in TESOL and applied linguistics more broadly. In recent discussions surrounding the epistemological treatment of autobiographic stories, TESOL researchers have increasingly called for more attention to the ways in which stories are embedded in…

  19. Narrative and resilience: A comparative analysis of how older adults story their lives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randall, William; Baldwin, Clive; McKenzie-Mohr, Sue; McKim, Elizabeth; Furlong, Dolores

    2015-08-01

    Of increasing interest to gerontologists is resilience: the capacity for coping with the challenges of later life with openness and positivity. An overlooked factor in resilience, however, is the narrative complexity of older persons' self-accounts. The research on which this article is based is part of a larger project aimed at assessing the role of narrative interventions in strengthening the stories that older people tell about their lives. Presented here are preliminary findings from analyses conducted by our multidisciplinary team (representing gerontology, social work, nursing, dementia studies, and literary theory) on open-ended life story interviews done with 20 community-dwelling individuals (15 F, 5M; aged 65-89 years) who completed the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale. Specifically, we compared the self-accounts of the 6 from these 20 who scored highest on the CDRS with the 7 who scored lowest to determine any patterns in how each group "stories" their lives. We conclude with certain observations of relevance to narrative care. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Intersections of life histories and science identities : the stories of three preservice elementary teachers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Avraamidou, Lucy

    Grounded within Connelly and Clandinin's conceptualization of teachers' professional identity in terms of stories to live by' and through a life-history lens, this multiple case study aimed to respond to the following questions: (a) How do three preservice elementary teachers view themselves as

  1. Abandoning the performance narrative: Two women's stories of transition from professional sport

    OpenAIRE

    Douglas, K; Carless, D

    2009-01-01

    Despite its potential to illuminate psychological processes within socio-cultural contexts, examples of narrative research are rare in sport psychology. In this study, we employed an analysis of narrative to explore two women's stories of living in, and withdrawing from, professional tournament golf gathered through life history interviews conducted over 6 years. Our findings suggest that immersion in elite sport culture shaped these women's identities around performance values of single-mind...

  2. Contributions of the Life Story Method for Studies on Identity: the example of study about female professors in management positions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adílio Renê Almeida Miranda

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Recently, the Life Story Method has been used in the area of Business Administration as an important methodological strategy in qualitative research. The purpose is to understand groups or collective bodies based on individual paths of life. Thus, the goal of this study was to show the contribution of the life story method in understanding the identity dynamics of female professors managing a public university, by means of an example derived from an empirical study. It was observed from the reports of four female professors involved in management that recovery of past memories, as well as of values, facts, standards and occurrences connected with the primary and organizational socialization of the interviewees, contributes to understanding of their identity dynamics. Some categories of analysis emerged that express relationships between life story and identity, e.g., discontinuity, subjectivity and the importance of allowing an individual/subject to speak; the individual and the social sphere and socio-historical transformations, a dynamic interaction in construction of identities; and temporal analysis in construction of identities.

  3. More than pretty pictures? How illustrations affect parent-child story reading and children's story recall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenhoot, Andrea Follmer; Beyer, Alisa M.; Curtis, Jennifer

    2014-01-01

    Previous research showed that story illustrations fail to enhance young preschoolers' memories when they accompany a pre-recorded story (e.g., Greenhoot and Semb, 2008). In this study we tested whether young children might benefit from illustrations in a more interactive story-reading context. For instance, illustrations might influence parent-child reading interactions, and thus children's story comprehension and recall. Twenty-six 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds and their primary caregivers were randomly assigned to an Illustrated or Non-Illustrated story-reading condition, and parents were instructed to “read or tell the story” as they normally would read with their child. Children recalled the story after a distracter and again after 1 week. Analyses of the story-reading interactions showed that the illustrations prompted more interactive story reading and more parent and child behaviors known to predict improved literacy outcomes. Furthermore, in the first memory interview, children in the Illustrated condition recalled more story events than those in the Non-Illustrated condition. Story reading measures predicted recall, but did not completely account for picture effects. These results suggest that illustrations enhance young preschoolers' story recall in an interactive story reading context, perhaps because the joint attention established in this context supports children's processing of the illustrations. PMID:25101018

  4. What happens when we compare the lifespan distributions of life script events and autobiographical memories of life story events? A cross-cultural study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zaragoza Scherman, Alejandra; Salgado, Sinué; Shao, Zhifang

    Cultural Life Script Theory (Berntsen and Rubin, 2004), provides a cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump: adults older than 40 years remember a significantly greater amount of life events happening between 15 - 30 years of age (Rubin, Rahal, & Poon, 1998), compared to other lifetime periods...... and memories of life story events, we can determine the degree to which the cultural life script serves as a recall template for autobiographical memories, especially of positive life events from adolescence and early adulthood, also known as the reminiscence bump period....

  5. Exploring end-of-life care for South Asian kidney patients: interviewer reflections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkinson, Emma; Waqar, Muhammad; Gill, Balbir; Hoque, Pina; Jetha, Champa; Bola, Kulwinder Kaur; Mahmood, Riffat; Mahmood, Sultan; Saujani, Rita; Randhawa, Gurch

    2017-03-16

    The reduction of inequalities in access to quality care has been a central tenet of UK health policy. Ethnic minorities may experience additional inequalities because of language and other cultural barriers. This article reports interviewer reflections of conducting interviews with South Asian kidney patients about their experiences of end-of-life care. It explores themes which emerged from the analysis of a focus group held with eight bilingual research interviewers. The relevance of these themes to understanding inequalities and access to end-of-life care is discussed; together with the potential for the research process to contribute to service improvement.

  6. Enhancing Life Purpose amongst Thai Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balthip, Karnsunaphat; McSherry, Wilfred; Petchruschatachart, Usanee; Piriyakoontorn, Siriwan; Liamputtong, Pranee

    2017-01-01

    This article describes experiences that enhanced life purpose in 21 Thai adolescents living in Southern Thailand. Thailand is undergoing rapid change from technology, a globalizing economy, and shifting social norms. A phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews and stories to better understand how Thai youth themselves experience and…

  7. Toy Story

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cole, Anne Jodon; Petersson Brooks, Eva

    2016-01-01

    a mediating device between adults and children. The question then becomes, how does a display of static toys speak to a child’s culture of play? Through interviews with toy museum curators and personal observations it was found that the exhibition was designed to have adults share and reflect stories about...

  8. Stories as case knowledge: case knowledge as stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, K

    2001-09-01

    , case-based reasoning and case management. Carefully collated case stories can comprise the 'real life' clinical curriculum. Third, stories provide a framework for 'web' or 'net' thinking that links all the objective and subjective details within the multifaceted complexity of case management. Fourth, personal stories explain how both numerical and non-linear influences determined what decision was actually made in that case.

  9. More than pretty pictures? How illustrations affect parent-child story reading and children’s story recall

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Follmer Greenhoot

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Previous research showed that story illustrations fail to enhance young preschoolers’ memories when they accompany a pre-recorded story (e.g., Greenhoot & Semb, 2008. In this study we tested whether young children might benefit from illustrations in a more interactive story-reading context. For instance, illustrations might influence parent-child reading interactions, and thus children’s story comprehension and recall. Twenty-six 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds and their primary caregivers were randomly assigned to an Illustrated or Non-Illustrated story-reading condition, and parents were instructed to read or tell the story as they normally would read with their child. Children recalled the story after a distracter and again after one week. Analyses of the story-reading interactions showed that the illustrations prompted more interactive story reading and more parent and child behaviors known to predict improved literacy outcomes. Furthermore,in the first memory interview, children in the Illustrated condition recalled more story events than those in the Non-Illustrated condition. Story reading measures predicted recall, but did not completely account for picture effects. These results suggest that illustrations enhance young preschoolers’ story recall in an interactive story reading context, perhaps because the joint attention established in this context supports children’s processing of the illustrations.

  10. L’identité américaine en peinture : American Stories, Paintings of Everyday Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hélène Valance

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Exposition intégralement en ligne : http://www.metmuseum.org/special/americanstories/Narration et fierté nationaleAmerican Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life offre un véritable panorama de la peinture américaine d’avant 1918 : les visiteurs croisent au fil des salles les œuvres les plus célèbres de Copley, Peale, Bingham, Homer, Eakins, Cassatt et Bellows, pour n’en citer que quelques-uns. Pour rassembler un best-of d’une telle envergure, il fallait un thème assez large – stories ici recouvr...

  11. Intersections of Life Histories and Science Identities: The Stories of Three Preservice Elementary Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avraamidou, Lucy

    2016-01-01

    Grounded within Connelly and Clandinin's conceptualization of teachers' professional identity in terms of "stories to live by" and through a life-history lens, this multiple case study aimed to respond to the following questions: (a) How do three preservice elementary teachers view themselves as future science teachers? (b) How have the…

  12. A true love story. Young people's romantic and sexual development in the context of everyday life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henderien Steenbeek

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Wieke Dalenberg. A true love story. Young people’s romantic and sexual development in the context of everyday life. Groningen: University of Groningen, 2016, 147 p., ISBN 978 94 6332 100 6

  13. Disability Exclusion and Rights: The Life Story of Alice Jamieson

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allison Lynch

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available There is a commonly held belief that fear of disability by society is the reason for segregation of the disabled. Although acknowledging the validity of such a belief, this paper disputes this claim as it pertains to sufferers of mental illness. Specifically it explores one woman’s development of dissociative identity disorder as a result of years of incestuous abuse. Alice Jamieson developed multiple personalities in order to survive her horrendous childhood, which ultimately caused her to live a life of segregation and social exclusion. Alice did however; experience the enabling effects of positive, supportive relationships on rare occasions throughout her childhood (with her grandfather and her adult life (with a work colleague. The telling of her story bought Alice a powerful sense of healing and has helped raise awareness of childhood sexual abuse and its devastating consequences.

  14. Story asides as a useful construct in examining adults' story recall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bluck, Susan; Alea, Nicole; Baron-Lee, Jacqueline M.; Davis, Danielle K.

    2016-01-01

    Older adults sometimes exhibit higher levels of off-target verbosity during story recall than do young adults. This appears as the inclusion of extraneous information not directly relevant to the topic. Some production of such material has been clearly related to cognitive decline, particularly older adults’ inability to inhibit production of irrelevant information. In tandem, however, research also suggests that some extraneous information is indirectly related to the topic and may reflect age differences in communicative styles. To further elucidate the social cognitive aspect of this issue, the question of import is: What is the content of the additional information provided by participants during story recall? The present study answers this question. Grounded in the autobiographical memory and life story literatures, we introduce the construct, story asides, and a reliable content-analytic scheme for its assessment. Young and older adults (N = 129) recalled one of two types of stories: a personal autobiographical memory or an experimenter-generated fictional story. Narratives were reliably coded for story asides. As expected, older adults produced more story asides than young adults only for autobiographical stories. The discussion focuses on the role of story asides in everyday communication including the possibility that they may be a sign of communicative expertise. PMID:26751005

  15. Story asides as a useful construct in examining adults' story recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bluck, Susan; Alea, Nicole; Baron-Lee, Jacqueline M; Davis, Danielle K

    2016-02-01

    Older adults sometimes exhibit higher levels of off-target verbosity during story recall than do young adults. This appears as the inclusion of extraneous information not directly relevant to the topic. Some production of such material has been clearly related to cognitive decline, particularly older adults' inability to inhibit production of irrelevant information. In tandem, however, research also suggests that some extraneous information is indirectly related to the topic and may reflect age differences in communicative styles. To further elucidate the social-cognitive aspect of this issue, the question of import is: What is the content of the additional information provided by participants during story recall? The present study answers this question. Grounded in the autobiographical memory and life story literatures, we introduce the construct, story asides, and a reliable content-analytic scheme for its assessment. Young and older adults (N = 129) recalled 1 of 2 types of stories: a personal autobiographical memory or an experimenter-generated fictional story. Narratives were reliably coded for story asides. As expected, older adults produced more story asides than young adults only for autobiographical stories. The discussion focuses on the role of story asides in everyday communication including the possibility that they may be a sign of communicative expertise. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  16. Constructing leadership identities through stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frimann, Søren; Hersted, Lone

    2016-01-01

    This article analyzes the construction of leadership identities through stories found in four narrative interviews from a qualitative study and leadership development project based on social constructionism and action learning. We argue that leadership development and the construction of leadership...... that the concept of coauthoring is useful in developing leadership and leadership identities through reflexive dialogs and emerging stories....... identities in a postmodern paradigm are based on the negotiation and co-construction of meanings, relationships, and stories. The following questions are investigated: What happens when a group of leaders from different organizations construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct their identity as leaders through...

  17. Integration Processes of a Romanian Group in a Huelva Village through Family Life Stories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Díaz-Reales, Antonia-María; Aguaded-Gómez, Ignacio

    2015-01-01

    This paper examines the integration of Romanian immigrants in Lucena del Puerto (Huelva, Spain) through the life stories of two families of Romanian origin. The experiences of the groups presented in this study were analyzed. Both families were in the town for work, to grow and harvest strawberries. We observed a contrast between idealistic views…

  18. An Interview with Joe McMann: His Life Lessons

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMann, Joe

    2011-01-01

    Pica Kahn conducted "An Interview with Joe McMann: His Life Lessons" on May 23, 2011. With over 40 years of experience in the aerospace industry, McMann has gained a wealth of knowledge. Many have been interested in his biography, progression of work at NASA, impact on the U.S. spacesuit, and career accomplishments. This interview highlighted the influences and decision-making methods that impacted his technical and management contributions to the space program. McMann shared information about the accomplishments and technical advances that committed individuals can make.

  19. A Life Dedicated to Public Service: The Lady L Story

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maribeth P. Bentillo

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This study featured how a lady local politician rose to power as a barangay captain. It aimed to: describe her leadership orientation before she became a barangay captain, analyze the factors of her success stories in political leadership, extrapolate her values based on the problems/challenges met in the barangay, unveil her initiatives to address these problems, and interpolate her enduring vision for the future of the barangay. Through a biographical research design, with purposive sampling, a key female informant named as Lady L was chosen with the sole criteria of being a female Barangay Captain of Cebu City. Interview guides were utilized in the generation of Lady L’s biographic information about her political career.Lady L’s experiences in waiting for the perfect time and working in the private sector destined her to have a successful political career enhanced with passion and family influence. Encountering problems concerning basic education and unwanted migrants in Barangay K did not discourage her choice to run for re-election, because of her dedication to public service. Her ways to reach out and collaborate with welfare groups mitigate the problems of parental neglect and informal settlers in her barangay. The story of Lady L implies that in Cebu City, issues arise as a result of the practice of partisan politics, gender issues have minor bearing, and she envisioned a healthy and welleducated barangay, with an improved wellness and child care development.

  20. Self-Reflection as a Means for Personal Transformation: An Analysis of Women's Life Stories Living with a Chronic Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Birgit Prodinger

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this secondary analysis is to explicate taken-for-granted practices in the health care system in which the life stories of six women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA are embedded. A secondary analysis of life stories of six women with RA, which were assigned to a typology named "rheumatoid arthritis as a source for new challenges" (STAMM et al., 2008 in the primary narrative study, was conducted. The theoretical framework applied for the analysis was informed by feminist standpoint theory and feminist philosophy. In the present analysis, each of the women challenged established health care practices and the cognitive authority of medicine at a certain point in their life story reflections. Becoming more conscious about health care practices enabled the women to acknowledge their own knowledge and to make choices about their health. The findings challenge health care providers to engage in critical reflexivity to become conscious about and to transform taken-for-granted practices as embedded in larger systems and to create health care environments that enable dialogue between clients and health care providers. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs100363

  1. Teddy Bear Stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Leeuwen, Theo; Caldas-Coulthardt, Carmen

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a semiotic analysis of a key cultural artefact, the teddy bear. After introducing the iconography of the teddy bear, it analyses different kinds of stories to show how teddy bears are endowed with meaning in everyday life: stories from children's books, reminiscenses by adults...... bears have traditionally centred on interpersonal relations within the nuclear family, but have recently been institutionalized and commercialized....

  2. Narrative interviews: an important resource in qualitative research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muylaert, Camila Junqueira; Sarubbi, Vicente; Gallo, Paulo Rogério; Neto, Modesto Leite Rolim

    2014-12-01

    Objetives This methodological study explain and emphasize the extent and fertility of the narrative interview in qualitative research. Methods To describe the narrative method within the qualitative research. Results The qualitative research method is characterized by addressing issues related to the singularities of the field and individuals investigated, being the narrative interviews a powerful method for use by researchers who aggregate it. They allow the deepening of research, the combination of life stories with socio-historical contexts, making the understanding of the senses that produce changes in the beliefs and values that motivate and justify the actions of possible informants. Conclusion The use of narrative is an advantageous investigative resource in qualitative research, in which the narrative is a traditional form of communication whose purpose is to serve content from which the subjective experiences can be transmitted.

  3. Researching transformative learning spaces through learners' stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maslo, Elina

    spaces, learning to learn through languages, learners´ stories, qualitative research method Methodology or Methods/Research Instruments or Sources Used A number of semi structured qualitative interviews have been conducted with three learners of Danish as second language. The language learners...... in the paper is on the research process and methodological tools. The goal of this paper is to show, that learners´ stories have a huge potential in researching learning processes. References Benson, P. & D. Nunan (2004). Lerners´ stories. Difference and Diversity in Language Learning. Cambridge University...... to use learners´ stories as a research methodology in the field of learning in general and language learning in particular....

  4. What happens when we compare the lifespan distributions of life script events and autobiographical memories of life story events? A cross-cultural study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zaragoza Scherman, Alejandra; Salgado, Sinué; Shao, Zhifang

    Cultural Life Script Theory (Berntsen and Rubin, 2004), provides a cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump: adults older than 40 years remember a significantly greater amount of life events happening between 15 - 30 years of age (Rubin, Rahal, & Poon, 1998), compared to other lifetime periods....... Most of these memories are rated as emotionally positive (Rubin & Berntsen, 2003). The cultural life script represents culturally shared expectations about the order and timing of life events in an typical, idealised life course. By comparing the lifespan distribution of the life scripts events...... and memories of life story events, we can determine the degree to which the cultural life script serves as a recall template for autobiographical memories, especially of positive life events from adolescence and early adulthood, also known as the reminiscence bump period....

  5. Teaching Note-Teaching Student Interviewing Competencies through Second Life

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tandy, Cynthia; Vernon, Robert; Lynch, Darlene

    2017-01-01

    A prototype standardized client was created and programmed to respond to students in the 3D virtual world of Second Life. This automaton, called a "chatbot," was repeatedly interviewed by beginning MSW students in a practice course as a learning exercise. Initial results were positive and suggest the use of simulated clients in virtual…

  6. Becoming Black Women: Intimate Stories and Intersectional Identities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkins, Amy C.

    2012-01-01

    In this article, I argue that intimate stories are an important resource for the achievement of intersectional identities. Drawing on in-depth interviews with black college students at two predominantly white universities, I examine the stories black college women tell about interracial relationships between black men and white women. I argue that…

  7. Eliciting physics students mental models via science fiction stories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Acar, H.

    2005-01-01

    This paper presents the results of an experiment which investigated the effects of the using science fiction stories in physics lessons. A questionnaire form containing 2 open-ended questions related to Jules Vernes story From the Earth to the Moon was used with 353, 9th and 10th grade students to determine their pre-conceptions about gravity and weightlessness. Mental models explaining students scientific and alternative views were constructed, according to students replies. After these studies, 6 students were interviewed. In this interview, researches were done about whether science fiction stories had an effect on bringing students pre-conceptions related to physics subjects out, on students inquiring their own concepts and on increasing students interest and motivation towards physics subjects. Studies in this research show that science fiction stories have an effect on arousing students interest and curiosity, have a role encouraging students to inquire their own concepts and are effective in making students alternative views come out

  8. Identitätskonstruktionen in narrativen Interviews. Ein Operationalisierungsvorschlag im Anschluss an die relationale Netzwerktheorie

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefan Bernhard

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In dem Artikel wird eine Forschungsstrategie vorgeschlagen, die eine Integration von Studien zur situativen Identitätskonstruktion in small stories und autobiografischen Identitätskonstruktionen in narrativen Interviews (big stories erlaubt. Grundlage dafür ist eine Operationalisierung des Identitätsbegriffs im Anschluss an die neuere Netzwerktheorie um Harrison C. WHITE. Identitäten folgen aus relationalen Positionierungen, die lokal, typisiert, laufbahnbezogen oder personalisiert vollzogen werden können. Narrative Interviews zeichnen sich dadurch aus, dass in ihnen die lokal-interaktive Identitätskonstruktion der Biograf/innen wesentlich über die Entfaltung einer big story (d.h. einer personalen Identität geschieht. Anhand eines Textbeispiels wird gezeigt, dass sich solche autobiografischen Erzählungen aus einer Vielzahl von kleinen Storys zusammensetzen, in denen identitäre Positionierungen auf unterschiedlichen Identitätsebenen vorgenommen werden. Die Debatte um small stories und big stories einerseits und der Whitesche Theorieansatz andererseits können voneinander profitieren. Für das Identitätsmodell der relationalen Soziologie stellen autobiografische Interviews eine wichtige, bislang wenig genutzte Informationsquelle dar. Zugleich lässt sich im Anschluss an WHITEs Identitätstheorie begründen, warum eine umfassende Identitätsanalyse über das artifizielle Setting narrativer Interviews hinausgehen muss. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs140311

  9. The micro dynamics of agency: Repetition and subversion in a Mexican right-wing female politician's life story

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Davids, T.

    2011-01-01

    This article analyses the micro dynamics of agency represented in the life story of a Mexican right-wing female politician - particularly how agency manifests itself in the way she repeats the rhetorical structures of her party's discourse. Although claiming to be a modern woman, a high ranking

  10. Interview with Dennis Pearl

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossman, Allan; Pearl, Dennis

    2017-01-01

    Dennis Pearl is Professor of Statistics at Pennsylvania State University and Director of the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE). He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. This interview took place via email on November 18-29, 2016, and provides Dennis Pearl's background story, which describes…

  11. Never ending stories: visual diarizing to recreate autobiographical memory of intensive care unit survivors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewens, Beverley A; Hendricks, Joyce M; Sundin, Deb

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to explore the potential use of visual diarizing to enable intensive care unit (ICU) survivors to create their story of recovery. An ICU experience can have deleterious psychological and physical effects on survivors leading to reductions in quality of life which for some may be of significant duration. Although there has been exploration of many interventions to support recovery in this group, service provision for survivors remains inconsistent and inadequate. A qualitative interpretive biographical exploration of the ICU experience and recovery phase of ICU survivors using visual diarizing as method. This paper is a component of a larger study and presents an analyses of one participant's visual diary in detail. Data collection was twofold. The participant was supplied with visual diary materials at 2 months post-hospital discharge and depicted his story in words and pictures for a 3-month period, after which he was interviewed. The interview enabled the participant and researcher to interpret the visual diary and create a biographical account of his ICU stay and recovery journey. The analysis of one participant's visual diary yielded a wealth of information about his recovery trajectory articulated through the images he chose to symbolize his story. The participant confirmed feelings of persecution whilst in ICU and was unprepared for the physical and psychological disability which ensued following his discharge from hospital. However, his story was one of hope for the future and a determination that good would come out of his experience. He considered using the visual diary enhanced his recovery. The participant perceived that visual diarizing enhanced his recovery trajectory by enabling him to recreate his story using visual imagery in a prospective diary. Prospective visual diarizing with ICU survivors may have potential as an aid to recovery. © 2014 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.

  12. Surviving ICU: Stories of recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewens, Beverley A; Hendricks, Joyce M; Sundin, Deborah

    2018-02-28

    The aim of this study was to investigate stories of recovery through the lens of intensive care unit (ICU) survivors. Survival from ICUs is increasing, as are associated physical and psychological complications. Despite the significant impact on survivors, there is inadequate support provision in Australia and world-wide for this population. An interpretive biographical approach of intensive care survivors' experiences of recovery. Data were collected during 2014-2015 from diaries, face to face interviews, memos and field notes. Six participants diarized for 3 months commencing 2 months after hospital discharge. At 5 months, participants were interviewed about the content of their diaries and symbols and signifiers in them to create a shared meaning. Analysis of diaries and interviews were undertaken using two frameworks to identify themes throughout participants' stories and provides a unique portrait of recovery through their individual lens. Participants considered their lives had irreparably changed and yet felt unsupported by a healthcare system that had "saved" them. This view through their lens identified turmoil, which existed between their surface and inner worlds as they struggled to conform to what recovery "should be". The novel biographical methods provided a safe and creative way to reveal survivors' inner thoughts and feelings. Participants' considered creating their stories supported their recovery process and in particular enabled them to reflect on their progress. Findings from this study may lead to increased awareness among health care providers about problems survivors face and improved support services more broadly, based on frameworks appropriate for this population. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Return emigration: analysis of the situation through life stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.R Pino Juste

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In the context of the importance presently acquired by return immigration in Spain, in this article a descriptive study around the returned emigrants over 65 years old in Galicia is presented.After a brief theoretical introduction on return migration,the research carried out is developed. In the first place, the methodology used in the investigation which allowed an approach to the point of view of the persons concerned is explained: the biographical method through the technique of life stories. In second term, the specific results of the research are presented. After out lining the profile of the returned emigrant, different categories relating to the migratory project in its different phases have been analyzed: fromits beginning —reasons for emigrating—, in their arrival to destiny—labour activity, adaptation, uprooting, etc.—, to the return—reasons for returning, problems of readjustment to the place of origin, etc.—

  14. Using motivational interviewing to facilitate death talk in end-of-life care: an ethical analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Isra; Helgason, Ásgeir Rúnar

    2018-03-21

    Morbidity arising from unprepared bereavement is a problem that affects close personal relations of individuals at the end-of-life. The bereavement studies literature demonstrates that a lack of preparedness for a loved one's death is a risk factor for secondary psychological morbidity among survivors. Short awareness time of death negatively correlates to preparedness for bereavement. The absence of disclosure of end-of-life diagnosis and prognosis to close personal relations ('death talk') between patients and loved ones, or health professionals and loved ones, may contribute to short awareness time of death. To increase awareness time of death, we might attempt to increase patient first-personal disclosure of end-of-life diagnosis and prognosis to loved-ones, and/or patient consent to health professional disclosure of the same. Interventions based on motivational interviewing in end-of-life care whose aim is to facilitate death talk, either by the patient directly, or by a health professional with the patient's consent, may offer a part solution to the problem of unprepared bereavement. This paper evaluates the ethical permissibility of such interventions. We consider two ethical objections to using motivational interviewing in this way: first, that it is inappropriate for practitioners to seek disclosure as an outcome in this setting; second, that aiming at disclosure risks manipulating individuals into death talk. While it need not be impermissible to direct individuals toward disclosure of end-of-life diagnosis/prognosis, the objection from manipulation implies that it is pro tanto ethically preferable to use motivational interviewing in a non-directive mode in death talk conversations. However, insofar as non-directive motivational interviewing requires more advanced skills, and thus may be more difficult to learn and to practise, we advance that it may be ethically permissible, all things considered, to employ directional, or specific outcome

  15. "In our stories": The perspectives of women living with HIV on an evidence-based group intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dale, Sannisha K; Grimes, Tiffany; Miller, Lauren; Ursillo, Alyssa; Drainoni, Mari-Lynn

    2017-07-01

    A qualitative study among women living with HIV assessed the aspects of an evidence-based intervention targeting HIV transmission risk reduction (Women Involved in Life Learning from Other Women [WiLLOW]) that women valued and how their lives were impacted. Thirty-one women (80.6% African American) completed interviews. Women valued the personal stories and positive group dynamics (i.e. safety, trust, openness, getting feedback, bonding, and socializing). As a result of WiLLOW, women embraced a strong woman image, joined groups, changed behaviors, accepted their HIV status, became optimistic, and spoke up/advocated in their relationships and communities. Interventions for HIV-positive women may benefit from incorporating the sharing of stories in their curricula and factors that build positive group dynamics.

  16. MUJERES Y DOCENCIA. UNA MIRADA DESDE LA HISTORIA DE VIDA CONTADA POR SUS PROTAGONISTAS I WOMEN AND TEACHING. A LOOK FROM THE LIFE STORY AS TOLD BY ITS PROTAGONISTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CARMEN BARRETO ALCOBA

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Teaching, as a profession, has been constituted into a space that has been filled by feminine presence. However, it is common to hear people talking about teachers with a masculine undertone, often neglecting the situation explained above. A question that guides this research is related to finding logical and valid explanations to how women incorporated into the labor of teaching. To explain how, from domestic duties, women transcend the private space and progressively start overtaking the public spaces. Even more importantly, they go on conquering these spaces to the point of generating national state concerns, not only to attend the education of all citizens, but also to promote legislations to attend problematic particular to women. In the lives of adolescent women teachers, a great part of the untold history of our society and country could be summoned. Thus, this investigation which is still undergoing, aims to rescue, collect and publish the stories of women teachers from Sucre state, Venezuela. In this sense, a qualitative paradigm has been selected for this study. The hermeneutics relative to life stories is helpful as a vehicle to obtain the required information. The interviewed women teachers constitute the evidence of the approaches that direct this research, since their pedagogical and life practice act as an important reference to understand the vital elements that typify the education in Sucre during the last years

  17. Personal Stories of Empathy in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soucie, Kendall M.; Lawford, Heather; Pratt, Michael W.

    2012-01-01

    Age-related and individual differences in adolescents' and emerging adults' stories of real-life empathic and nonempathic experiences were examined. A total of 29 adolescents (M = 15.28, SD = 0.99) and 31 emerging adults (M = 18.23, SD = 0.56) told stories of empathic and nonempathic life events and completed measures of authoritative parenting…

  18. Physiotherapists' stories about professional development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettersson, Anna F; Bolander Laksov, Klara; Fjellström, Mona

    2015-01-01

    A professional career may extend over a period of 40 years. Although learning is a feature of professional competence, little is known about learning and development after professional entry education. Narrative inquiry was used to understand how physiotherapists learned and developed over time, and stories from a purposeful sample of 12 physiotherapists were collected. Stories were thematically analyzed with regard to key elements related to learning and development, and common themes were identified across stories. Four themes emerged from the analysis where physiotherapists learned and developed in working life: (1) facing challenges; (2) contrasting perspectives; (3) drawing on hundreds of educators; and (4) building on personal experience. Non-formal ways of learning in working life may help physiotherapists learn and develop confidence, communication strategies and different approaches to treatment. Besides reflection on personal experience and patient encounters, learning and development may be promoted and supported by taking on challenges and changing settings.

  19. Supporting young people living with cancer to tell their stories in ways that make them stronger: The Beads of Life approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Portnoy, Sara; Girling, Isabella; Fredman, Glenda

    2016-04-01

    This article describes the 'Beads of Life' approach--a five-part methodology informed by narrative therapy to enable children and young people to make sense of their cancer journey in ways that make them stronger. Young people are invited to use beads as prompts to tell preferred stories of their identity to create a safe place to stand from which to story their cancer journey. The approach positions young people as experts in their lives. It aims to change their relationship with cancer to reduce its negative impact on life by lessening isolation. By enabling medical staff to get to know the young person apart from the cancer, this approach aims to create hope for the future and improve quality of care. © The Author(s) 2015.

  20. Doctors' learning experiences in end-of-life care

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fosse, Anette; Ruths, Sabine; Malterud, Kirsti

    2017-01-01

    death could even be welcomed. Through challenging dialogues dealing with family members’ hope and trust, they learnt how to adjust words and decisions according to family and patient’s life story. Interdisciplinary role models helped them balance uncertainty and competence in the intermediate position......Background: Doctors often find dialogues about death difficult. In Norway, 45% of deaths take place in nursing homes. Newly qualified medical doctors serve as house officers in nursing homes during internship. Little is known about how nursing homes can become useful sites for learning about end-of-life...... care. The aim of this study was to explore newly qualified doctors’ learning experiences with end-of-life care in nursing homes, especially focusing on dialogues about death. Methods: House officers in nursing homes (n = 16) participated in three focus group interviews. Interviews were audiotaped...

  1. Discovering subjectivity: A subjective world of meanings in the stories of the twilight of life

    OpenAIRE

    Zagórska Wanda

    2017-01-01

    Pointing to the subjective nature of human life, theorists argue that only in a dialogue with another person does the human disclose meanings important to him or her. The interpretation and analysis of stories with regard to the included subjective meanings included in them as manifestations of human subjectivity seem to be the most effective when undertaken in the hermeneutic approach where psychology and philosophy meet. In the paper advantages of a self-narrative method based on the princi...

  2. STEMujeres: A case study of the life stories of first-generation Latina engineers and scientists

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vielma, Karina I.

    Research points to the many obstacles that first-generation, Latina students face when attempting to enter fields in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM. This qualitative, case study examined the personal and educational experiences of first-generation Latina women who successfully navigated the STEM educational pipeline earning bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in various fields of engineering. Three research questions guided the study: (1) How does a first-generation Latina engineer and scientist describe her life experiences as she became interested in STEM? (2) How does she describe her educational experiences as she navigated the educational pipeline in the physics, mathematics, and/or engineering field(s)? (3) How did she respond to challenges, obstacles and microaggressions, if any, while navigating the STEM educational pipeline? The study was designed using a combination of Critical Race Theory frameworks---Chicana feminist theory and racial microaggressions. Through a life history case study approach, the women shared their stories of success. With the participants' help, influential persons in their educational paths were identified and interviewed. Data were analyzed using crystallization and thematic results indicated that all women in this study identified their parents as planting the seed of interest through the introduction of mathematics. The women unknowingly prepared to enter the STEM fields by taking math and science coursework. They were guided to apply to STEM universities and academic programs by others who knew about their interest in math and science including teachers, counselors, and level-up peers---students close in age who were just a step more advanced in the educational pipeline. The women also drew from previous familial struggles to guide their perseverance and motivation toward educational degree completion. The lives of the women where complex and intersected with various forms of racism including

  3. Relating to the Experience of Contingency in Patients With Advanced Cancer: An Interview Study in U.S. Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruizinga, Renske; Jafari, Najmeh; Scherer-Rath, Michael; Schilderman, Hans; Bires, Jennifer; Puchalski, Christina; van Laarhoven, Hanneke

    2018-03-01

    Being diagnosed with incurable cancer can be a life-changing experience, evoking different spiritual questions and needs. Confronting a serious life-threatening event occurs not only often unexpected but also can disrupt a person's self-image and ideals of their personhood. This confrontation makes it difficult for people to integrate it into their personal life story-otherwise referred to as an experience of contingency. Different modes of relating to the contingent life event of having cancer have been studied in a Dutch patient population. Here we present an interview study in an U.S. population with advanced cancer patients. We included eight American patients with advanced cancer from the George Washington University Cancer Center. All patients were interviewed twice discussing their life events and life goals using a semistructured interview model. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed focusing on how patients described the way they related to the experience of having advanced cancer. The constant comparative method with a directed content analysis approach was used to code the themes in the interviews. The analyses show that the four modes of relating to contingency that we found in the Dutch study population can also be found in an American advanced cancer patient population. Differences were found in the extended way American patients described the fourth mode of "receiving." This study ensures a broader and deeper understanding of relating to the experience of contingency in having incurable cancer, which is crucial in developing accurate spiritual care in the palliative phase of patients. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Stories Matter: Conceptual Challenges in the Development of Oral History Database Building Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erin Jessee

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Stories Matter is new oral history database building software designed by an interdisciplinary team of oral historians and a software engineer affiliated with the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It encourages a shift away from transcription, enabling oral historians to continue to interact with their interviews in an efficient manner without compromising the greater life history context of their interviewees. This article addresses some of the conceptual challenges that arose when developing this software. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110119

  5. First Generation College Students in STEM: Counter Stories of Success

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez, Carol D.

    First-generation community college Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students have unique challenges in transferring to a four-year college. This is especially true for Latin and African American students who may experience multiple challenges, including discrimination, immigration issues and language issues, and sometimes poor academic preparation in their K-12 education. This project used a grounded theory approach to explore through an equity lens the educational journey of seven Los Medanos College students who have successfully transferred to a four-year institution were interviewed. All of these students that participated in this project were former Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement Program (MESA) students at Los Medanos College. The MESA Program is a learning community that provides academic support for "educationally and economically disadvantaged" students so they can excel in math and science, transfer to four-year institutions as majors in math-based fields, and graduate with baccalaureate degrees in STEM majors. Several intervention strategies are embedded into the program, including: counseling, mentors, a learning center, tutors, financial aid and transfer workshops, and internship and scholarship opportunities. The students were interviewed and asked several questions regarding their high school life, MESA, and community college and transfer experiences. The main theoretical framework utilized to analyze the interviews was Border Lands theory because these students created a safe space that allowed them to straddle their life at home and their life at school. Interviews with these students reveal seven successful, happy, and engaged students. Several themes emerged with respect to the importance of students' finding a major that they love, finding community, and the importance of teachers, family, and engagement in their success. The results of this project also emphasize the importance of hiring passionate teachers

  6. Story and Real Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert P. Waxler

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Why should we be concerned about the fate of literature as we move from a book culture to a screen culture in the digital age? Not primarily because we are losing our sense of story, but because we are losing our sense of the central importance of linguistic narrative. There is a difference. The technologies creating the digital revolution seem to devalue language and increasingly to do away with boundaries, celebrating instead speed and boundless exhilaration. The visual trumps the linguistic, the image and the screen trump the word and the book. As a result, we no longer seem to engage deeply with others or ourselves. We are beginning to move, in other words, from “a reading brain” to “a digital brain,” from a brain capable of deep reading and deep thinking to a brain increasingly addled by spectacle and surface sensation. We are losing our standing as “linguistic beings.”

  7. Stories of a career. Amongst gender, organizations and personal life

    OpenAIRE

    Clara Selva Olid

    2013-01-01

    In this work I offer an overview of my doctoral research, presented at the Department of Social Psychology of UAB. It presents an approach on women’s professional trajectories from middle-management positions towards high-management ones, paying special attention to the elements which are crucial in the development of their stories. This research provides a phenomenological, longitudinal and gender-based perspective, directed by the stories of the last twelve years of nine women’s professiona...

  8. "Old sertaneja song": narrating a backcountry life story about aging process in homosexuality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Márcio Alessandro Neman do Nascimento

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available In contemporary times, the discussions about aging become very relevant as a consequence of the increased visibility of the old age issues presented in daily life. Many investigations and statistics bring out the growing number of people entering the so-called third age. This reality is mobilizing all social spheres in order to produce interventional strategies in agreement with the specificities required by this population, as far as what this public can revert back to the society. However, most of these studies seek to identify andlocate this population in plans of life that can often suggest the reification of norms and stereotypes that delimit what become old mean or just discuss the practice of medical care. This paper invests in questioning of modes of subjectification and lifestyles, from the intersections between generation (aging, homosexuality (sexuality and gender and territoriality (provincial town. It presents an analysis of a life story from the perspective of cultural studies and sexualities and gender to capture the subjective lines which constructsubjects and discourses, indicating social practices, modes of subjectification and social, historical, political and cultural conjunctures of determined contexts.

  9. "Old sertaneja song": narrating a backcountry life story about aging process in homosexuality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Márcio Alessandro Neman do Nascimento

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available In contemporary times, the discussions about aging become very relevant as a consequence of the increased visibility of the old age issues presented in daily life. Many investigations and statistics bring out the growing number of people entering the so-called third age. This reality is mobilizing all social spheres in order to produce interventional strategies in agreement with the specificities required by this population, as far as what this public can revert back to the society. However, most of these studies seek to identify and locate this population in plans of life that can often suggest the reification of norms and stereotypes that delimit what become old mean or just discuss the practice of medical care. This paper invests in questioning of modes of subjectification and lifestyles, from the intersections between generation (aging, homosexuality (sexuality and gender and territoriality (provincial town. It presents an analysis of a life story from the perspective of cultural studies and sexualities and gender to capture the subjective lines which construct subjects and discourses, indicating social practices, modes of subjectification and social, historical, political and cultural conjunctures of determined contexts.

  10. "Who Are You From?": The Importance of Family Stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Driessnack, Martha

    2017-11-01

    This article emphasizes the importance of family stories, or intergenerational narratives, and their health benefits across the lifespan. Knowing and sharing the story of who you are from complements the current focus on knowing and sharing one's geographic heritage, or where you are from. Knowing one's family stories creates meaning that goes beyond the individual to provide a sense of self, through time, and in relation to family. This expanded sense of self is referred to as our intergenerational self, which not only grounds an individual but also provides a larger context for understanding and dealing with life's experience(s) and challenges. This connection across generations appears to contribute to resilience at all stages of life. This shift in focus challenges family nurses to rethink and/or prioritize the use of family stories as a key health-promoting intervention for not only children but also their parents, and their parents' parents.

  11. Exploratory Study of Depressed Adolescents’ Life Narratives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aurore Boulard

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the life stories of depressive adolescents and compare them with non-clinical adolescents’ life stories. Methods: For this purpose, we compared 20 life stories of hospitalized adolescents suffering from major depressive episode with 40 life stories of adolescents attending school divided into two groups: 20 non-depressed and 20 depressed adolescents. Results: Results showed that life stories differed as a function of psychopathology. Depressed hospitalized adolescents spoke about their disease and defined themselves by their depression. The depressed adolescents in school concentrated on schooling and school achievements, while the non-depressed group defined themselves by their family, friends and inclusion in a peer group. Conclusion: These analyses allowed us to highlight specific themes mentioned by each of the three groups of adolescents. Although life stories are personal and unique, analysis of such stories allows us to better understand the daily reality of depressive adolescents and the relationships between the life events they experience, daily stressors, depression and how they construct their personal history.

  12. Mapping New York Irish-American Identities: Duality of Spirituality in Elizabeth Cullinan’s Short StoryLife After Death”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicoleta Stanca

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Elizabeth Cullinan’s short storyLife After Death” depicts a day in the life of a young New Yorker, Constance, walking along Lexington Avenue, attending the evening Mass at a Dominican church and visiting the Catholic college where she worked part time to pick up her paycheck. Though the woman is involved with the married Francis Hughes and confronted with the burden of the past and of intricate family dynamics, her voice, which is “the Cullinan narrative voice has become that of one of those sceptical granddaughters grown into a reasonably assured and independent adulthood [...] balanced between then and now, the ethnic and the worldly, and better able to judge self and others because of the doubleness” (Fanning qtd. in Bayor and Meagher 528. Thus, the paper will discuss the manner in which Elizabeth Cullinan maps, in her story, the oscillation of Irish Americans between the ethnic drive and a cosmopolitan individuality gained in New York, with a focus on the value of the duality of consciousness and spirituality, which facilitates enriching and clarifying answers to identity dilemmas.

  13. Automated Story Capture From Internet Weblogs

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Gordon, Andrew S; Cao, Qun; Swanson, Reid

    2007-01-01

    .... first-person narratives about real-life experiences. Millions of these stories appear in Internet weblogs, offering a potentially valuable resource for future knowledge management and training applications...

  14. Women's experiences of daily life after anterior cervical decompression and fusion surgery: A qualitative interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hermansen, Anna; Peolsson, Anneli; Kammerlind, Ann-Sofi; Hjelm, Katarina

    2016-04-01

    To explore and describe women's experiences of daily life after anterior cervical decompression and fusion surgery. Qualitative explorative design. Fourteen women aged 39-62 years (median 52 years) were included 1.5-3 years after anterior cervical decompression and fusion for cervical disc disease. Individual semi-structured interviews were analysed by qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The women described their experiences of daily life in 5 different ways: being recovered to various extents; impact of remaining symptoms on thoughts and feelings; making daily life work; receiving support from social and occupational networks; and physical and behavioural changes due to interventions and encounters with healthcare professionals. This interview study provides insight into women's daily life after anterior cervical decompression and fusion. Whilst the subjects improved after surgery, they also experienced remaining symptoms and limitations in daily life. A variety of mostly active coping strategies were used to manage daily life. Social support from family, friends, occupational networks and healthcare professionals positively influenced daily life. These findings provide knowledge about aspects of daily life that should be considered in individualized postoperative care and rehabilitation in an attempt to provide better outcomes in women after anterior cervical decompression and fusion.

  15. The Korean Study of Women’s Health-Related Issues (K-Stori: Rationale and Study Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ha Na Cho

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Measures to address gender-specific health issues are essential due to fundamental, biological differences between the sexes. Studies have increasingly stressed the importance of customizing approaches directed at women’s health issues according to stages in the female life cycle. In Korea, however, gender-specific studies on issues affecting Korean women in relation to stages in their life cycle are lacking. Accordingly, the Korean Study of Women’s Health-Related Issues (K-Stori was designed to investigate life cycle-specific health issues among women, covering health status, awareness, and risk perceptions. Methods K-Stori was conducted as a nationwide cross-sectional survey targeting Korean women aged 14–79 years. Per each stage in the female life cycle (adolescence, childbearing age, pregnancy & postpartum, menopause, and older adult stage, 3000 women (total 15,000 were recruited by stratified multistage random sampling for geographic area based on the 2010 Resident Registration Population in Korea. Specialized questionnaires per each stage (total of five were developed in consultation with multidisciplinary experts and by reflecting upon current interests into health among the general population of women in Korea. This survey was conducted from April 1 to June 31, 2016, at which time investigators from a professional research agency went door-to-door to recruit residents and conducted in-person interviews. Discussion The study’s findings may help with elucidating health issues and unmet needs specific to each stage in the life cycle of Korean women that have yet to be identified in present surveys.

  16. The Artistic Value of DramaLife--TwoActorsand TheirLifeStories%舞剧《粉墨春秋》的艺术价值分析

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    董江河

    2016-01-01

    Since the premiere of the large original dance play Drama Life---Two Actors and Their Life Stories, it has received applause and been widely praised by both critics and audience. During its production and performance, innovation is insisted on all the time. It breaks the plot mode which used love story as a clue of drama. The dance play is characterized by the opera fragment into it. Furthermore, it creates the unique dance which combines opera performing and traditional dancing. The opera stage design mixes with opera char⁃acteristic and modern fashions, which makes the audience not only know the dramatic life stories, but also un⁃derstand the opera skills and national spirits. This innovation and exploration can not only drive the popular⁃ization and dissemination of the traditional opera art, but also make Chinese cultural art appear on the world stage.%大型原创舞剧《粉墨春秋》首演以来,反响热烈、好评如潮。其在创作、演出过程中坚持创新,摒弃了传统舞剧以男女主角爱情故事为线索的情节模式,具有戏化舞的特点;在民族舞蹈词汇中融入戏曲表演艺术,使其更加独特新颖;舞美设计结合戏曲和时代风尚,使观众看到的不只是戏剧人生的故事,更是对戏曲绝技与民族精神的深入了解。这种探索与创新,不仅推动了戏曲艺术的普及与传播,也使中国的文化艺术走向世界舞台。

  17. Minimalism in the modern short story

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A Razi

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Short story has recently become the focus of attention in the late decades in Iran. The expanding value of writing short story is actually a reasonable outcome of the dominance of minimalism- a movement which is based upon simplicity and shortness. Minimalist writers, leaving out redundant features of narration, mainly focus on essentialities through applying a variety of techniques such as cuttings from the interesting moments of real life, evading introduction, applying inter-referents, choice of words, short stanzas and sentences and so on. Looking upon critic’s opinion about such a tendency over the past and present, this article will come up with a brief explanation of the properties of such stories. Finally a sample story “candles will never go dead” will be analyzed and discussed in the lights of such techniques.

  18. Life Stories, Cultural Métissage, and Personal Identities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo Vieira

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This article encompasses an underlying notion of personal identities and processes of interaction, which distinguish essentialist identity from relational identity in contexts involving subjects, fields of possibilities, and cultural metamorphosis. It addresses the idea of the individual and her/his transformations: “I am who I want to be if I can be that person.” Any one of us could hypothetically have been someone else. The question of the reconstruction of individual identities is a vital aspect in the relationship between objective social conditions and what each person subjectively does with them, in terms of auto-construction. The complexity of this question reflects the idea of a cultural kaleidoscope, in which similar social conditions experienced by different individuals can produce differentiated identities. The title and structure of this text also seek to encompass the idea that in a personal life story, the subject lives between various spheres and sociocultural contexts, with a composite, mestizo, and superimposed or displaced identity, in each context. This occurs as the result of a cultural metamorphosis, which is constructed both by the individual as well as by heterogeneous influences between the context of the starting and finishing points at a given moment. This complex process of cultural metamorphosis—the fruit of interweaving subjective and objective forces—reveals a new dimension: the truly composite nature of personal identities.

  19. Stories and Science: Stirring Children's Imagination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seeley, Claire; Gallagher, Sarah

    2014-01-01

    Stories are a place where magical things happen, where ideas are challenged, where the imagination runs free and questions are asked. They are a safe place, where the reader can walk about with new identities, try new ideas, process life's ups and downs and make new meanings. This makes stories the perfect place for creative learning. In this…

  20. The meaning of work and working life after cancer: an interview study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Dorte M; Elverdam, Beth

    2008-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Cancer survivors have diverse and complex patterns of return to work, but little attention has been given to individual experiences of returning to work. OBJECTIVES: To analyse the meaning of work and working life for cancer survivors over time. METHODS: Participant observation...... was carried out at a cancer rehabilitation centre. A total of 23 participants were interviewed twice. RESULTS: Cancer survivors try to get back to work after treatment and try to re-establish their former structure of everyday-life that is seen as a normal and healthy existence. Work contributes to creating...... the individual as a social being, partaking in social relations with others. Work plays a role in establishing the individual's identity. It is difficult for many to resume work. When they are unable to work, they establish new activities in everyday-life that give meaning to a life. In order to understand...

  1. Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... 21. KidsCancerChannel 64,265 views 5:21 Little Stars – Paediatric Palliative Care – Charlie's Story - Duration: 10:35. Little Stars 12,980 views 10:35 LIFE Before Death ...

  2. Late commitment: virtual story characters that can frame their world

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Swartjes, I.M.T.; Theune, Mariet

    2009-01-01

    Our long-term aim is to build virtual agents that can partake together with human interactors as characters in a story, which emerges from their interactions wich each other and with the story world (the emergent narrative approach). Improvisational theatre -- as a real-life example -- suggests an

  3. The Descendants of Time and the Lodgers of Space: The Life Stories of Teacher Trainees who Immigrated to Israel During the 1990s

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anat Kainan

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper attempts to characterize teacher trainees who immigrated to Israel during the 1990s. The life stories of six students who emi­grated from the Ukraine, Russia, the Georgian Re­pub­lic, Argentina, Chile, and Ethiopia are ana­lyzed. The central finding suggests that their stories are devoid of the human, geographic, and cultural aspects of Israeli society. This finding is surprising because it differs from other studies. We used the Foucauldian concepts of the descendants of time and the lodgers of space for understanding the phenomenon. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0503103

  4. Superconductivity discoveries and discoverers : ten physics Nobel laureates tell their story

    CERN Document Server

    Fossheim, Kristian

    2013-01-01

    This book is about the work of 10 great scientists; who they were and are, their personal background and how they achieved their outstanding results and took their prominent place in science history. We follow one of physics and science history's most enigmatic phenomena, superconductivity, through 100 years, from its discovery in 1911 to the present, not as a history book in the usual sense, but through close ups of the leading characters and their role in that story, the Nobel laureates, who were still among us in the years 2001-2004 when the main round of interviews was carried out. Since then two of them already passed away. For each one of the 10 laureates, the author tells their story by direct quotation from interviews in their own words. Each chapter treats one laureate. The author first gives a brief account of the laureates' scientific background and main contribution. Then each laureate tells his own story in his own words. This book is unique in its approach to science history.

  5. Digital Story Creation: Its Impact towards Academic Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ong, Charito G.

    2017-01-01

    When students are engaged in the process of creating a digital story, they synthesize a variety of literacy skills for the authentic product: researching, writing, organizing, presenting, interviewing, problem-solving, assessing, as well as employing interpersonal and technology skills (Baggett, 2007). With all these skills to be developed among…

  6. THE POETICS OF N. N. TOLSTOY’S LONG SHORT STORY “PLASTUN”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena V. Belousova

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the analysis of the main problems of the long short story “Plastun” by Nikolay Tolstoy (the elder brother of Leo Tolstoy, that is the life of a man kidnapped during the Caucasus War and forced to live all his life in captivity. In the centre of narration there is a real man though described as a generalized character as far as he does not have a personal name. Different periods of his life are marked by certain nicknames, such as Zaychik-Volkovoy-Zaporozetz. The main character tells the listener Tolstoy N. N., who shows the interest and compassion to his life, the story of his childhood and youth. As a child his nickname was a Zaychik. As an adult he became an experienced hunter and an expert in animal habits the fact that explains his new nickname – Volkovoy. The composition of the long short story is full of philosophical, psychological and ethic symbols and personifications, based on Sacred Writings and the Patristic Tradition. The childhood-youth part of the short story is particularly symbolic as then the virgin soul of the hero felt the presence of God and strived to pray. The images-symbols play an important role in the artistic world of the short story: a singing nightingale, birds, men-mice, the “glass” sea, fish and palaces in the Zaychik’s dreams.

  7. Compatibility of the Relationship of Early Recollections and Life Style with Parent Schemas Obtained through Adlerian Interviews

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canel, Azize Nilgün

    2016-01-01

    In this study, the Adlerian Interview Form has been used as a semi-structured, in-depth interview method to identify the experiences of six participants regarding Adler's concepts of early recollections and life style. Subsequent to transcribing the obtained information, recollections to be included in the analysis were subjected to the criterion…

  8. A stories-based interactive DVD intended to help people with hypertension achieve blood pressure control through improved communication with their doctors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashton, Carol M; Houston, Thomas K; Williams, Jessica Hillman; Larkin, Damien; Trobaugh, John; Crenshaw, Katie; Wray, Nelda P

    2010-05-01

    Our goal was to develop an interactive DVD to help African American and Caucasian American adults with hypertension learn how to become better communicators during medical interactions. Material was to be presented in several formats, including patients' narratives (stories). To develop the narratives we recruited members of the target audience and elicited stories and story units in focus groups, interviews, and seminars. Story units were ranked-ordered based on conformance with the theory of planned behavior and narrative qualities and then melded into cohesive stories. The stories were recounted by actors on the DVD. 55 adults (84% women; 93% African American) participated in a focus group, interview, or seminar; transcripts yielded 120 story units. The most highly rated units were woven into 11 stories. The six highest rated stories/actor-storytellers were selected for presentation on the DVD. We achieved our goal of developing an easy-to-use, story-driven product that may teach adults how to talk effectively with their doctors about hypertension. The DVD's effectiveness should be tested in a randomized trial. Behavioral interventions aimed at improving patients' ability to communicate during doctor visits may be useful adjuncts in the achievement of BP goals. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Accounting for unprotected sex: stories of agency and acceptability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhodes, Tim; Cusick, Linda

    2002-07-01

    Based on the idea that risks are knowable, calculable and preventable, dominant social scientific and health promotion discourses foster an image of individual risk control and responsibility. The presentation of the self is a moral enterprise. Accounts of unprotected sex by HIV positive people who have the potential to transmit HIV to their sexual partners can be particularly morally charged. Drawing on 73 depth qualitative interviews with HIV positive people and their sexual partners, this paper explores how the interview accounts of unprotected sex can illuminate the way in which the self is presented within the context of situated norms of risk acceptability and moral responsibility. We identify two forms of account: stories of agency; and stories of acceptability. Stories of agency tend to deny agency and abdicate individual responsibility given the circumstances, and were also a key feature of accounts in which the sexual partners of HIV positive people were placed at risk of HIV transmission. Categories of appeal included the denial of agency as a consequence of: risk calculus and condom accidents; alcohol and drug effects; powerlessness and coercion; and forces of nature. By contrast, stories of acceptability tend to justify unprotected sex as acceptable. Categories of appeal included: HIV positive concordance; and commitment in relationships. Other forms of justification included: alter responsibility; and intentional HIV transmission. We conclude that accounts of risk management are risk managed. We call for greater attention by social scientists to the way in which accounts are constructed, and in particular, to 'anti-rational' forms of explanation within accounts.

  10. The 'global interconnectedness' of dentist migration: a qualitative study of the life-stories of international dental graduates in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balasubramanian, Madhan; Brennan, David S; Spencer, A John; Short, Stephanie D

    2015-05-01

    The migration of dentists is a major challenge contributing to the oral health system crisis in many countries. This paper explores the origins of the dentist migration problem through a study on international dental graduates, who had migrated to Australia. Life-stories of 49 international dental graduates from 22 countries were analysed in order to discern significant themes and patterns. We focused on their home country experience, including stories on early life and career choice; dental student life; professional life; social and political life; travels; and coming to Australia. Our participants exhibited a commitment to excellence in earlier stages of life and had cultivated a desire to learn more and be involved with the latest technology. Dentists from low- and middle-income countries were also disappointed by the lack of opportunity and were unhappy with the local ethos. Some pointed towards political unrest. Interestingly, participants also carried prior travel learnings and unforgettable memories contributing to their migration. Family members and peers had also influenced participants. These considerations were brought together in four themes explaining the desire to migrate: 'Being good at something', 'Feelings of being let down', 'A novel experience' and 'Influenced by someone'. Even if one of these four themes dominated the narrative, we found that more than one theme, however, coexisted for most participants. We refer to this worldview as 'Global interconnectedness', and identify the development of migration desire as a historical process, stimulated by a priori knowledge (and interactions) of people, place and things. This qualitative study has enriched our understanding on the complexity of the dental migration experience. It supports efforts to achieve greater technical co-operation in issues such as dental education, workforce surveillance and oral health service planning within the context of ongoing global efforts on health professional

  11. How Narrative Journalistic Stories Can Communicate the Individual’s Challenges of Daily Living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis”

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jeppesen, Jørgen; Rahbek, Jes; Gredal, Ole

    2015-01-01

    . Objective: To explore how narrative journalistic stories can communicate experiences of daily living with ALS and compensate the progressive loss of the ability to speak. Methods: Twenty-four interviews at home with six people diagnosed with ALS were transformed into narrative journalistic stories. A formal...

  12. Telling Anthropocene Tales: Localizing the impacts of global change using data-driven story maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mychajliw, A.; Hadly, E. A.

    2016-12-01

    Navigating the Anthropocene requires innovative approaches for generating scientific knowledge and for its communication outside academia. The global, synergistic nature of the environmental challenges we face - climate change, human population growth, biodiversity loss, pollution, invasive species and diseases - highlight the need for public outreach strategies that incorporate multiple scales and perspectives in an easily understandable and rapidly accessible format. Data-driven story-telling maps are optimal in that they can display variable geographic scales and their intersections with the environmental challenges relevant to both scientists and non-scientists. Maps are a powerful way to present complex data to all stakeholders. We present an overview of best practices in community-engaged scientific story-telling and data translation for policy-makers by reviewing three Story Map projects that map the geographic impacts of global change across multiple spatial and policy scales: the entire United States, the state of California, and the town of Pescadero, California. We document a chain of translation from a primary scientific manscript to a policy document (Scientific Consensus Statement on Maintaining Humanity's Life Support Systems in the 21st Century) to a set of interactive ArcGIS Story Maps. We discuss the widening breadth of participants (students, community members) and audiences (White House, Governor's Office of California, California Congressional Offices, general public) involved. We highlight how scientists, through careful curation of popular news media articles and stakeholder interviews, can co-produce these communication modules with community partners such as non-governmental organizations and government agencies. The placement of scientific and citizen's everyday knowledge of global change into an appropriate geographic context allows for effective dissemination by political units such as congressional districts and agency management units

  13. The Story Behind the Place: Creating Urban Spaces That Enhance Quality of Life

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cilliers, E.J.; Timmermans, W.; Goorbergh, van den F.; Slijkhuis, J.S.A.

    2015-01-01

    Stories play an exceptionally important role in how people assign value to a place. Taken together, all those stories essentially give a place an identity. The aim of placemaking is to ensure that the people using a place can appreciate that place. Placemaking approaches are focussed on strategic

  14. THE EDUCATION VALUES OF ADAM’S SONS’ STORY IN THE QUR’AN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andi Ardyansyah

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This study tries to examine the story of the two sons of Adam, which is in the version of israiliyat called as Qabil and Habil. The story is contained in the QS Al-Maidah /5: 27-31. The aim of this study is to observe the story and to learn what kind of educational values reflected from the story. In this thesis, the writer uses tafseer tahlili method. After analyzing the whole story, a lot of education values can be quoted in it, such as: (1 Allah will only accept sacrifices of those who are fear to Him, (2 a quiet soul will be able to control behaviors of crime, and (3 behavior of animals can be a lesson for humanity. If the values above are able to transfer in the process of human life, it will certainly bring a positive influence in increasing faith and devotion to Allah, and also can lead to peace in the life of society. Therefore, the values are very relevant to be developed in the age of information and globalization nowadays.

  15. Validity testing of the quality of life scale, Swedish version: focus group interviews of women with fibromyalgia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liedberg, Gunilla M; Eddy, Linda L; Burckhardt, Carol S

    2012-12-01

    Focus group interviews were used to examine validity of the Quality of Life Scale, Swedish version (QOLS-S) for use with women with fibromyalgia. Five interviews with 18 women with fibromyalgia were completed. The opening question was "What does quality of life mean to you?" Later, participants were asked to respond to questions about the specific domains and items in the QOLS-S. The transcribed interviews were analysed, and categories were identified. Opinions concerning domains and items in the QOLS-S were linked to domains of the QOLS-S. Four categories emerged from the opening question: finances, to be an active person and participate in society, relations with others, and health. Overall, the women's perceptions of quality of life were congruent with the domains of QOLS-S. However, further attention should be given to the translation of certain items and apparent overlaps in some items indicate that they can be combined. Also, the instrument needs to be scrutinized from a cultural perspective because some items in the "social, community and civic activities" domain were not endorsed by the participants. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. Successful holistic management of type 2 diabetes with depression: a very personal story.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oakley, Linda Denise; Aekwarangkoon, Saifon; Ward, Earlise C

    2011-01-01

    We used illness narrative methods to evaluate the retrospective illness story of a bereaved woman who has recovered from type 2 diabetes and depression with comorbid hypertension, hyperlipidemia, vertigo, and obesity. Her spoken illness story was obtained with a single interview question: What happened? Our findings show that the patient searched for and found personal meaning in her illness. The finding of meaning in her illness appears to have supported her efforts to adopt more positive health beliefs and health behaviors. Although she received excellent health care throughout her illness, she attributes her return to good health to spiritual growth. We discuss the practice implications of this patient's illness story for clinicians who seek new insights into patients who have complex illness stories.

  17. The Traces of “New Character” in Uzbek Short Story Heroes Based on Two Examples of Uzbek Short Stories of the Present Day

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    Veli Savaş Yelok

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The era following the Uzbek independence resulted in a renaissance in Uzbek life. This process in which a renaissance was experienced, also affected the material and moral elements that shape their view of life. When this situation affected the way people understand life, this reform of the Uzbek people naturally formed “the new era”. This new era demanded new ways of thinking from those who lived in that era. The effect of this development and change on people’s minds and their way of understanding and thinkingand its description found itself in literary life. In the short stories published following the independence, the spirit of the time and the different fates of those people who lived in that era were reflected. As a result, writers created the heroes of today through the change experienced by people in their inner world who lived in the same era as the writers. As a general principle, creating a hero is seen as the first issue in the literature of every era. This is so because the hero in the work of literature is the tool that reflects the inner and outer world of the people of a specific era. All the nice and ugly things in a person’s life -starting from the person’s lifestyle and continuing to the end of his life- are passed onto the hero’s thoughts and actions. Describing the changes constantly observed in a hero’s character, reflecting these by forming a direct relationship with the era is comparatively easier in a short story when compared to other genres. In this article, information on the development of short story in present day Uzbek Literature is presented. In addition, the reflection of “the person of the new era” observed in the heroes in the stories “The Author” and “The Trick of Gumshoe Jacob” written by Erkin A‘zam and Xurshid Dostmuhammad who have gained the admiration of readers in their works following the independence is studied.

  18. Elderly people as "apocalyptic demography"? A study of the life stories of older people in Hong Kong born in the 1930s.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwok, Jackie Yan Chi; Ku, Ben Hok Bun

    2016-01-01

    In Hong Kong, the general view still follows the biomedical discourse to define aging. The government and leading gerontologists follow the prevailing representation of elderly and describe growing old as a process of becoming "frail, infirm, and vulnerable" (Fealy et al., 2012: 91). Discussions of demographic trends often focus on the drastic effects of an aging society on economic development. Our research indicates that Hong Kong's construction of aging is a product of its market-driven economy. Drawing from the life stories of eight participants born in the 1930s, we examine the meaning of aging and the formation of character in a specific historical context, adopting the life-course perspective. We wish to understand how larger movements in the social and political world shaped the experiences of the participants and the strategies they developed to maintain agency and control in life. The participants in our study struggled for survival through unprecedented political disasters and social turmoil in their youth. When they reached maturity in the 1960s and 1970s, they devoted themselves to bettering their lives and contributed to the economic boom of the city. We maintain that the biomedical model offers a reductive and unjust means of viewing the people in this cohort, who are often seen as a problem and a burden. Challenging the prevailing ageist attitude, we set the life stories of the participants against the dominant biomedical model of aging. Our work aims to establish a just description of the life experiences of Hong Kong people. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. End-of-life decisions for people with intellectual disabilities, an interview study with patient representatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagemans, Annemieke M A; Van Schrojenstein Lantman-de Valk, Henny M J; Proot, Ireen M; Metsemakers, Job; Tuffrey-Wijne, Irene; Curfs, Leopold M G

    2013-09-01

    Not much is known about the process of end-of-life decision-making for people with intellectual disabilities. To clarify the process of end-of-life decision-making for people with intellectual disabilities from the perspective of patient representatives. A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews, recorded digitally and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using Grounded Theory procedures. We interviewed 16 patient representatives after the deaths of 10 people with intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands. The core category 'Deciding for someone else' describes the context in which patient representatives took end-of-life decisions. The patient representatives felt highly responsible for the outcomes. They had not involved the patients in the end-of-life decision-making process, nor any professionals other than the doctor. The categories of 'Motives' and 'Support' were connected to the core category of 'Deciding for someone else'. 'Motives' refers to the patient representatives' ideas about quality of life, prevention from suffering, patients who cannot understand the burden of interventions and emotional reasons reported by patient representatives. 'Support' refers to the support that patient representatives wanted the doctors to give to them in the decision-making process. From the perspective of the patient representatives, the process of end-of-life decision-making can be improved by ensuring clear roles and an explicit description of the tasks and responsibilities of all participants. Regular discussion between everyone involved including people with intellectual disabilities themselves can improve knowledge about each other's motives for end-of-decisions and can clarify expectations towards each other.

  20. TEACHER’S PERCEPTION OF TEACHING WRITING TO YOUNG LEARNERS USING STORY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iin Inawati

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to explore the teacher’s perception of teaching writing to young learners using story and to investigate her practice of teaching writing in primary school context. This study utilized a case study research design in which an English teacher became the participant. The data were obtained from interview and documents analysis. Analysis of data showed that the teacher neglect to use story in her writing class because of her perception that story is difficult to be used in teaching writing for young learners. The second finding showed that the teacher had provided various activities in writing development in which the students should use their thinking skill, such as: drawing a school map and writing based on the picture they draw, or open response to a picture.Keywords: writing, young learners, meaningful language, story

  1. The Power of Story in an Animation Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kadek Satria Adidharma

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available After the founding of the Walt Disney Company, animation becomes something necessary in our everyday life. The real power why the animation bigger is the storytelling. Story is the main key why animation is loveable by audiences. This writing will be focusing on the behind reason why the story is important in animation and will be giving some examples the success story of some animation which have a great story to tell. The design methodology focuses on data research, market research and literature book. This writing is a preliminary research because from the author concern, there are not many writings debating whether which part in the development will be focused on to developing some animation projects. This writing hopefully will help people who want to build some animation projects and will guide them to make decision because in order to build some animation project there will be a massive effort to be conducted. Hopefully, in the future, there will be more animation produced from Indonesian. To be an unforgettable work, it must have a great story.

  2. Exploring Culture : Exercises, Stories and Synthetic Cultures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hofstede, G.J.

    2002-01-01

    A unique training book containing over 100 culture awareness exercises, dialogues, stories incidents and simulations that bring to life Geert Hofstede's five dimensions of culture. These dimensions are: power distance, collectivism versus individualism, femininity versus masculinity, uncertainly

  3. Learning from Fables: Moral Values in Three Selected English Stories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrar, Mukhlash

    2016-01-01

    Fable is not just a fun story, but it certainly has the moral lesson(s) inside of the storyline. This research tries to portray ethical value(s) in three selected English fable stories as well as to let the readers know that they can learn something from the fables. With this study, the researcher also correlated the value(s) to real life and…

  4. Interview-based assessment of cognition is a strong predictor of quality of life in patients with schizophrenia and severe negative symptoms

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    Breno F. Cruz

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To analyze the correlation between quality of life, symptoms, and cognition assessed by the interview-based Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (SCoRS. Methods: Seventy-nine outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia were evaluated with the Quality of Life Scale – Brazilian version (QLS-BR, the SCoRS, and symptoms scales (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale [PANSS]. After determining the potential explanatory variables using Spearman’s correlation and Student’s t test results, we ran simple, multivariate, and decision-tree regression analyses to assess the impact of SCoRS and PANSS ratings on mean overall quality of life. Results: Cognitive deficits and negative symptoms were the best predictors of quality of life. A low degree of negative symptoms (PANSS negative < 11 was a strong predictor of better quality of life (QLS ∼ 75, regardless of SCoRS rating. Among participants with more severe negative symptoms, elevated cognitive impairment (interviewer SCoRS ∼ 44 was a predictor of worse quality of life (QLS ∼ 44. Conclusions: Cognitive impairment determined by interview-based assessment seems to be a strong predictor of quality of life in subjects with severe negative symptoms. These results support the usefulness of SCoRS for cognitive assessment that is relevant to the everyday life of patients with schizophrenia.

  5. Designing a story database for use in automatic story generation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oinonen, Katri; Theune, Mariët; Nijholt, Anton; Uijlings, Jasper; Harper, Richard; Rauterberg, Matthias; Combetto, Marco

    In this paper we propose a model for the representation of stories in a story database. The use of such a database will enable computational story generation systems to learn from previous stories and associated user feedback, in order to create believable stories with dramatic plots that invoke an

  6. Co-Story-ing: Collaborative Story Writing with Children Who Fear

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pehrsson, Dale-Elizabeth

    2007-01-01

    This article offers a guide for using collaborative story writing (co-story-ing), an assessment technique as well as a therapeutic intervention for children who demonstrate fears, extreme shyness and difficulty in establishing relationships. Co-story-ing draws from Gardner's Mutual Story Telling Technique. Co-story-ing guides clients as they…

  7. The meaning of work and working life after cancer: an interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rasmussen, Dorte M; Elverdam, Beth

    2008-12-01

    Cancer survivors have diverse and complex patterns of return to work, but little attention has been given to individual experiences of returning to work. To analyse the meaning of work and working life for cancer survivors over time. Participant observation was carried out at a cancer rehabilitation centre. A total of 23 participants were interviewed twice. Cancer survivors try to get back to work after treatment and try to re-establish their former structure of everyday-life that is seen as a normal and healthy existence. Work contributes to creating the individual as a social being, partaking in social relations with others. Work plays a role in establishing the individual's identity. It is difficult for many to resume work. When they are unable to work, they establish new activities in everyday-life that give meaning to a life. In order to understand the cultural meaning of work in capitalist society, we incorporate the theoretical perspective of Max Weber. Those who after cancer treatment are unable to work lose a part of their identity; they lose the personal challenge and satisfaction related to work. They are no longer part of the companionship related to work. Having had cancer means a disruption of the structure of everyday-life that is taken for granted. (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. Life histories in occupational therapy clinical practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank, G

    1996-04-01

    This article defines and compares several narrative methods used to describe and interpret patients' lives. The biographical methods presented are case histories, life-charts, life histories, life stories, assisted autobiography, hermeneutic case reconstruction, therapeutic employment, volitional narratives, and occupational storytelling and story making. Emphasis is placed the clinician as a collaborator and interpreter of the patient's life through ongoing interactions and dialogue.

  9. Loneliness and isolation in life-stories of Israeli veterans of combat and captivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Jacob Y; Tuval-Mashiach, Rivka

    2015-03-01

    Loneliness holds detrimental ramifications for health and well-being. Nevertheless, loneliness references in the literature addressing combat-related trauma are few. Consequentially, the qualities and characteristics of such experiences in these posttraumatic realities remain uninvestigated empirically. In the current qualitative study we began filling this gap in the literature. We utilized thematic content analysis of life-stories of 19 combat veterans and 7 ex-POWs that have given testimony at the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War (NATAL). Our findings suggest that the loneliness in the contexts at hand is primarily characterized by a sense of experiential isolation, rather than social, emotional, or existential. This is the sensation that due to the extraordinary nature of traumatic experiences the fulfillment of needs such as empathy and intersubjectivity may be unattainable. Integrating our findings with existing interdisciplinary literature regarding social sharing, trauma, and loneliness, we discuss implications for clinical interventions and further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Intergenerational Lessons and 'Fabulous Stories'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewenson, Sandra B; Welch, Cathryne A; Hassmiller, Susan B

    2015-10-01

    While directing the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, Susan B. Hassmiller, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's senior adviser for nursing, realized the value that nursing history could bring to the campaign. She decided to interview her mother, Jacqueline J. Wouwenberg, a 1947 graduate of the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing, in order to better understand and contextualize changes that had occurred in the nursing profession during the 20th century. In collaboration with nurse historians Cathryne A. Welch and Sandra B. Lewenson, Hassmiller participated in interviewing her mother and was also interviewed herself. The stories that emerged revealed a great deal: each woman had found that nursing had given them countless opportunities that reflected the time periods in which they lived. Wouwenberg's experiences, transmitted to Hassmiller through words and actions, also served as important lessons for her daughter. This article shares five lessons: be independent and courageous, know that nursing has no bounds, follow your passion, honor diversity, and give back. It also asks readers to reflect on the relevance of nurses' work from one generation to the next..

  11. What is not, but might be: The disnarrated in parents' stories of their child's cancer treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vindrola-Padros, Cecilia; Brage, Eugenia

    2017-11-01

    The study of illness narratives is based on the premise that stories are told for a reason and storytellers make narrative decisions on what to include and leave out of a story, the style of narration, the place where the story is told and the audience. Through this narrative work, they situate themselves in particular ways and make sense of the illness and the world around them. In this article, we explore the disnarrated, a style of narration that features events that do not happen, but are nonetheless referred to in the story. The aim of the article is to illustrate the additional layers of meaning that can be uncovered from illness stories when attention is paid to what did not happen, but, yet, is still part of the story. We draw from a qualitative study carried out with 17 parents whose children were diagnosed with cancer and were receiving medical care in Argentina. We carried out narrative interviews with the parents and participant-observation in hospital areas and the hotels where they resided during treatment. The analysis of the interview transcripts was carried out using a holistic understanding of the narratives and focusing on the identification of themes that appeared disnarrated. The fieldnotes from the observations were used to contextualize the narrative analysis. The disnarrated, in its many manifestations, produced a layer of analysis of parents' stories of treatment patterned by parents' desires, hopes and fears. The disnarrated was used by parents to discuss alternative care trajectories and express fears regarding what the future would bring for the child and family. The disnarrated is a useful analytical tool for examining illness stories as it points to storytellers' views of what is acceptable or desirable in their world and their hopes and preferences for alternative realities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Personal stories of growing up sexually.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beausang, C C

    2000-01-01

    Prevention of problems related to sexuality during adolescence continues to be a major public health challenge. Describing childhood perceptions of sexuality is an important step in understanding sexual issues during adolescence. However, there is a paucity of information about sexuality in early life. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe recurrent themes in personal stories of growing up sexually. A thematic analysis with a narrative perspective was applied using the method described by Miles and Huberman (1994). Four interrelated themes pervaded the stories: parents as teachers, sex is secret, learning by experience, and first intercourse as a turning point. These findings have major implications for sexual health education and counseling in addition to further research.

  13. AMIDST: Attracting Minorities to Geosciences Through Involved Digital Story Telling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prakash, A.; Ohler, J.; Cooper, C.; McDermott, M.; Heinrich, J.; Johnson, R.; Leeper, L.; Polk, N.; Wimer, T.

    2009-12-01

    Attracting Minorities to Geosciences Through Involved Digital Story Telling (AMIDST) is a project funded by the Geoscience Directorate of the National Science Foundation through their program entitled Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in Geosciences. This project centers around the idea of integrating place-based geoscience education with culturally sensitive digital story telling, to engage and attract Alaska’s native and rural children from grades 3 through 5 to geosciences. In Spring 2008 we brought together a team 2 native elders, a group of scientists and technicians, an evaluator, 2 teachers and their 24 third grade students from Fairbanks (interior Alaska) to create computer-based digital stories around the geoscience themes of permafrost, and forest fires. These two to four minutes digital narratives consisted of a series of images accompanied by music and a voice-over narration by the children. In Fall 2008 we worked with a similar group from Nome (coastal town in western Alaska). The geoscience themes were climate change, and gold in Alaska. This time the students used the same kind of “green screen” editing so prevalent in science fiction movies. Students enacted and recorded their stories in front of a green screen and in post-production replaced the green background with photos, drawings and scientific illustrations related to their stories. Evaluation involved pre and post project tests for all participants, mid-term individual interviews and exit-interviews of selected participants. Project final assessment results from an independent education evaluator showed that both students and teachers improved their geo science content knowledge about permafrost, forest fires, gold mining, and sea ice changes. Teachers and students went through a very steep learning curve and gained experience and new understanding in digital storytelling in the context of geologic phenomena of local interest. Children took pride in being creators, directors and

  14. Epiphanies at the Supermarket: An Interview with Brigitte Kronauer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jutta Ittner

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Brigitte Kronauer has been called "the greatest German [female] fiction writer of our time" (Marcel Reich-Ranicki. Her stories, novels, and criticism have established her as a uniquely sophisticated literary voice and won her many literary prizes. Kronauer's trademarks are her laser-sharp vision, her luminous prose, and the intricate structures of her uncannily realistic literary universes. Finding the mystical in the mundane and exposing human foibles with subtle irony, Kronauer creates, in the words of one critic, epiphanies at the supermarket. Beneath its everyday surface her fiction deals with the eternal human questions of life, death, and love. At a still deeper level it circles around philosophical issues such as our futile attempts to find truth in our own constructs of reality. In her interview with Jutta Ittner the author reflects on her individual path to writing. She describes the role of literature in creating a semblance of order in a multifaceted reality, and she discusses the structure of her literary universes, her characters and their aspirations, and the importance of animals for man's quest for a meaningful life. Finally, Kronauer explains how she sees herself in terms of women's literature and indicates where her writing is headed.

  15. Listening with a narrative ear: Insights from a study of fall stories in older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereles, Laurie; Jackson, Roberta; Rosenal, Tom; Nixon, Lara

    2017-01-01

    To determine the value of adding a patient narrative to the clinical assessment of falls in the elderly. Qualitative study of interviews. A fall prevention clinic in Calgary, Alta. Fifteen older adults on a wait list for assessment by the fall clinic and the physiotherapists who assessed them. Participants' stories were audiorecorded and later transcribed and summarized. Stories were collected using open-ended questions, first inviting participants to tell the interviewer about themselves, and then the circumstances of their falls and their reflections on them. In a subsequent visit, transcriptions or summaries were returned to patients for member checking. Narratives were read and analyzed by all 4 investigators using a narrative approach and a close-reading technique. With the patients' additional consent, stories were shared with the fall prevention team for their insights and reactions. Interviews with physiotherapists were audiorecorded and transcribed. The narrative analysis provided new insights into the attitudes about and perceptions of the causes of falls, their effects, and rehabilitation. Close reading exposed presentation of self, locus of control, and underlying social and emotional issues. The addition of patient narratives to clinical assessments offers clinicians an understanding of patients' perspectives, which can be used to better engage patients in rehabilitation. Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

  16. Exploring quality of life in Italian patients with rare disease: a computer-aided content analysis of illness stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caputo, Andrea

    2014-01-01

    The present study used a narrative-based approach to identify common themes that characterized the illness experience and quality of life of patients affected by rare disease (RD). Textual data were comprised of illness stories written by 32 adult Italian patients (eight men and 24 women), with the following RD diagnoses: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n = 12), anorectal atresia (n = 4), Poland syndrome (n = 4), and idiopathic pulmonary hypertension (n = 12). Computer-aided content analysis was performed to detect the main themes (cluster analysis) and latent factors (correspondence analysis) emerging in patients' narratives, and to test their association with gender and diagnosis. Four thematic domains were detected in the textual corpus, which are respectively referred to as: hopelessness (12.74%), need for autonomy (38.43%), search for normalcy (11.89%), and expectations of recovery (36.94%). Three latent factors explained the overall data variance: the relationship with social and medical healthcare providers (F1), adjustment processes to disease and social limitations (F2), and self-beliefs and coping (F3). Some differences were revealed with respect to patient gender and diagnosis. Illness stories highlight the significant relationship of RD patients with healthcare services and their need for a holistic approach because of the lack of effective treatment. Physical limitation and emotional distress do not necessarily seem to overlap for adjustment and quality of life (QoL). Overall, the perception of illness chronicity is likely to affect patients' self-beliefs and coping with more than their feeling of abnormalcy, that is the less salient theme.

  17. What Is the Story with Narratives? How Using Narratives in Journalism Changes Health Behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaffer, Victoria A; Scherer, Laura D; Focella, Elizabeth S; Hinnant, Amanda; Len-Ríos, María E; Zikmund-Fisher, Brian J

    2018-09-01

    Health journalists frequently use narratives to bring news stories to life, with little understanding about how this influences the health behavior of readers. This study was designed to examine the effect of a New York Times health news article about a person who developed a life-threatening illness after using ibuprofen on readers' future use of ibuprofen. We recruited an Internet sample (N = 405) to participate in a longitudinal study examining ibuprofen use before, immediately following, and two weeks after reading the story. Ibuprofen use two-weeks after reading the heath news article was significantly lower than baseline use. Furthermore, intentions to use ibuprofen were also significantly reduced suggesting that the observed behavior change may persist beyond the two-week period studied. Health journalists should be cautious in their use of stories about health outcomes, particularly when those stories deviate from data about objective risks.

  18. Practical Life: The Keystone of Life, Culture, and Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramani, Uma

    2013-01-01

    Uma Ramani's characterization of practical life is philosophical and anthropological, suggesting that "human history is the story of the evolution of our practical life activities." Practical life is a collaborative activity that creates community and culture. One's adaptation to life through the daily work of ordering our environment…

  19. Omaeluloolisus eesti teatris: Merle Karusoo lavastustest. Life Narratives and Estonian Theatre: The Productions of Merle Karusoo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piret Kruuspere

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Any consideration of Estonian theatre from the point of view of biographical theatre needs to include the work of playwright and director Merle Karusoo. Productions based on various life narratives (diaries, letters, biographical interviews form the core of her work that can be defined as biographical or memory theatre. Her work has also been viewed within the context of community theatre or political theatre; Karusoo has herself referred to her work as sociological theatre. Life narratives have functioned in Karusoo’s productions as the basis for restoring oppressed or denied collective discourses of memory. Her productions emerged within the framework of the more general process of restoration of historical heritage and the rehabilitation of collective memory at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. Life story can be viewed as the essence of Merle Karusoo’s theatre. The personal in the life story in the production activates the emotional memory of the audience; for older generations such theatre facilitates a legitimisation of remembering one’s life story in entirety, and for younger generations it functions as a vehicle of collective, historical and national memory. The current article outlines the main stages of Karusoo’s biographical theatre, highlights major productions of each stage and provides an overview of their reception. Karusoo’s theatre dates back to 1980s. Productions based on life stories of the generations born in 1950s and 1960s, Meie elulood (Our Biographies and Kui ruumid on täis ... (Full Rooms both in 1982, mediated fragments of life stories of 16 drama students, focusing on the processes of self-conception and -reflection of young persons. In the context of the Soviet regime that exerted firm ideological control over the private lives of its citizens, Karusoo’s productions struck an especially powerful and unusual chord. Karusoo’s biographical theatre has gathered momentum and assumed a more

  20. Stories from the Heart: Narratives of Change in Therapeutic Enactment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Timothy G.

    2009-01-01

    Research was conducted on the experience of change for participants in a group-based psychotherapy approach called Therapeutic Enactment (TE), which involves the enactment of embodied narratives of participants' past experiences. This study asked the question, "What is your story of change in TE?" The author conducted in-depth interviews with five…

  1. My Story: Real Stories of People Living with Thalassemia

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Share Compartir Real Stories from People living with Thalassemia On this Page Rahul’s Story Aaron’s Story Rahul’s ... is Rahul Kapoor, and I was born with thalassemia, a blood disorder which requires transfusions every other ...

  2. Friendship and love story portrayed in haruki murakami’s novel “norwegian wood”

    OpenAIRE

    Simatupang, Anggi Rosalina

    2016-01-01

    Literature is a kind of imaginative writing. It reflects a problem of life by human being. Kertas karya ini berjudul: FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE STORY PORTRAYED IN HARUKI MURAKAMI’S NOVEL “NORWEGIAN WOOD.” The main character of that novel is Toru Watanabe. In writing this paper describe the silence hides friendship and love story of Watanabe. Watanabe, Kizuki of his classmate, Naoko is Kizuki girlfriend walk out the friendship. Watanabe dan Naoko miss the death of Kizuki who takes his own life. The ...

  3. The Makings of a Master Story: Maimonides' Idolatry Narrative as an Educational Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Jonathan

    2006-01-01

    The point of departure for this article is James Fowler's conception of the "master story." In "master stories," culture-heroes are portrayed as engaging in certain archetypal activities. These activities are then considered paradigmatic and life-orienting by future generations who adhere to that culture. In keeping with this line of thinking, we…

  4. Seizure disorders and developmental disorders: impact on life of affected families-a structured interview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spindler, Ulrike Petra; Hotopp, Lena Charlott; Bach, Vivien Angela; Hornemann, Frauke; Syrbe, Steffen; Andreas, Anna; Merkenschlager, Andreas; Kiess, Wieland; Bernhard, Matthias Karl; Bertsche, Thilo; Neininger, Martina Patrizia; Bertsche, Astrid

    2017-08-01

    Seizure disorder and developmental disorder are two of the most common chronic disorders in childhood. Data on perceived parental burden and specific effects on daily life is scarce. We performed a structured interview, consecutively talking to all parents of pediatric outpatients of our university hospital diagnosed with seizure or developmental disorder. Three hundred seven parents (of 317 affected children: 53 with seizure disorder, 44 with specific developmental disorder, 35 with learning disorder, 71 with intellectual disability, 15 with seizure + specific developmental disorder, 23 with seizure + learning disorder, 76 with seizure disorder + intellectual disability) were interviewed. Parents of children with both seizure disorder and intellectual disability stated the highest constraints in daily life, regarding friends, hobbies, emotional pressure, occupation, partnership, habitation, and financial burden. Due to diagnosis of seizure or developmental disorder, 155/307 (51%) parents reduced their working hours/stopped working, 62/307 (20%) changed their habitation, and 46/307 (15%) broke up. As judged by parents, 148/317 (47%) children are being discriminated against, even own family/friends and educators are held responsible. Parents perceive changes in their daily life and discrimination of their children due to their children's seizure and developmental disorders. An intellectual disability combined with seizure disorder caused the highest constraint. What is Known: • Seizure and/or developmental disorders of children may adversely influence quality of life for affected parents. • Caring for a child with special health care needs can take complete attention and own parental needs may therefore be difficult to meet. What is New: • Two out of three parents stated changes of their daily life such as quitting work, change of habitation, or breakup of partnership due to their child's diagnosis. • As judged by the parents, one in two children with

  5. Characterizing Lifespan Development of Three Aspects of Coherence in Life Narratives: A Cohort-Sequential Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Köber, Christin; Schmiedek, Florian; Habermas, Tilmann

    2015-01-01

    The ability to narrate stories and a synchronic self-concept develop in the pre- and primary school years. Life story theory proposes that both developments extend to an even later developmental stage, that is, to adolescents' acquisition of a coherent life story. Cross-sectional evidence supports the emergence of a life story in adolescence, but…

  6. Transnationalism as a motif in family stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Elizabeth; Gomez, Erica; Hotzoglou, Despina; Lipnitsky, Jane Y

    2005-12-01

    Family stories have long been recognized as a vehicle for assessing components of a family's emotional and social life, including the degree to which an immigrant family has been willing to assimilate. Transnationalism, defined as living in one or more cultures and maintaining connections to both, is now increasingly common. A qualitative study of family stories in the family of those who appear completely "American" suggests that an affiliation with one's home country is nevertheless detectable in the stories via motifs such as (1) positively connotated home remedies, (2) continuing denigration of home country "enemies," (3) extensive knowledge of the home country history and politics, (4) praise of endogamy and negative assessment of exogamy, (5) superiority of home country to America, and (6) beauty of home country. Furthermore, an awareness of which model--assimilationist or transnational--governs a family's experience may help clarify a clinician's understanding of a family's strengths, vulnerabilities, and mode of framing their cultural experiences.

  7. From Becquerel to Oppenheimer-Nuclear energy story

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mataix, M.

    1994-02-01

    To tell the nuclear energy story is to tell the story of a science, which in less than a century was born in a small laboratory to reach a large industry level. This science upset the principles that physics established since the time origin and then left a mark the men story course and their way of life while arousing enthusiasm or rejection reactions that no human invention incited until then. Such a topic is critical to deal, the author does with much talent. He describes us these epic participants and the bonds that they kept up. He places their thoughts and works advance in the historical, sometimes turbulent context which was that of the century beginning. We will discover the personality of these scientists whose name is often recalled by a physical law or a measure unit, but who were first of all women and men applied to improve the human beings welfare while studying thoroughly the atom mysteries

  8. The Story of 520 days on a Simulated Flight to Mars

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Poláčková Šolcová, Iva; Šolcová, Iva; Stuchlíková, I.; Mazehóová, Y.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 126, č. 10 (2016), s. 178-189 ISSN 0094-5765 Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) StrategieAV21/14 Program:StrategieAV Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : Mars -500 * Narrative * Peak experience * Nadir experience * Isolation * Flight Story Interview Subject RIV: AN - Psychology Impact factor: 1.536, year: 2016

  9. The Story of 520 days on a Simulated Flight to Mars

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Poláčková Šolcová, Iva; Šolcová, Iva; Stuchlíková, I.; Mazehóová, Y.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 126, č. 10 (2016), s. 178-189 ISSN 0094-5765 Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) StrategieAV21/14 Program:StrategieAV Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : Mars-500 * Narrative * Peak experience * Nadir experience * Isolation * Flight Story Interview Subject RIV: AN - Psychology Impact factor: 1.536, year: 2016

  10. Exploring the role of practical nursing wisdom in the care of patients with urinary problems at the end of life: a qualitative interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrington, Naomi; Fader, Mandy; Richardson, Alison; Sartain, Samantha

    2015-10-01

    This study examined how nurses understand urinary problems at the end of life, and identified sources of evidence upon which they base their practice through semi-structured qualitative interviews. The aim was to decide whether research or interventions (such as formulation of best practice guidelines) could improve continence care at the end of life. There is little evidence in nursing literature to indicate how nurses should manage urinary problems at the end of life. Evidence is particularly lacking regarding the insertion of indwelling urinary catheters. This was an applied qualitative interview study which used the 'guided interview' approach. Twelve participants who worked in two hospital wards and one hospice were interviewed about management of patients with urinary problems approaching the end of life. The transcribed interviews were organised using the qualitative analysis software qsr NVivo version 10 (QSR International, Melbourne, Australia). Constant comparison was used to analyse the interviews. The patient and their family were a key concern of all interviewees. Participants focused on processes including: giving care, making decisions, managing uncertainty and assimilating knowledge. These processes are mediated by 'phronesis' or practical wisdom. Within each of the processes (giving care, making decisions, managing uncertainty and assimilating knowledge), participants approached each patient as an individual, using experience, patient wishes, available resources, clinical knowledge and advice from colleagues to provide care. A generalised set of guidelines on managing urinary problems at the end of life would probably not be useful. There is uncertainty about what constitutes best practice in specific areas of continence care at the end of life such as indwelling urinary catheter insertion. A careful approach is needed to ensure that the intellectual and moral knowledge that constitutes practical wisdom is shared and developed throughout teams.

  11. Interviews with the dead: using meta-life qualitative analysis to validate Hippocrates' theory of humours

    Science.gov (United States)

    Secretion, F; Conjur, G S; Attitude, S P

    1998-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Hippocrates devised his theory of the 4 humours (blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile) 24 centuries ago. Since then, medicine has evolved into a complex body of confusing and sometimes contradictory facts. The authors, seeing a need to determine the validity of his theory, hired a psychic. METHODS: The psychic interviewed 4 eminent ancient physicians, including Hippocrates. A randomized double-blind cross-over design was used for this meta-life qualitative analysis. RESULTS: All of the interviewees agreed that the theory of humours is an accurate model to explain disease and personality. INTERPRETATION: Hiring a psychic to conduct after-death interviews with key informants is a useful way to validate scientific theories. PMID:9875254

  12. When's a story not at story?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Eva

    . For example, as presented in this paper, a tourist guide tells the same story about a violent motorcycle gang, part of her ancetdotal reportoire, during two guided tours. The story is fixed in content and structure, but when brought into social interaction with tourists, it becomes part of a broader narrative...

  13. 'All I Can Remember Were Tablets': Pat's Story.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClimens, Alex

    2002-01-01

    This article discusses the use of personal narrative in social science research and in helping individuals with learning difficulties renegotiate their sense of identity. One woman's story of her life is used to illustrate the corrosive effects of institutionalization in identity formation. (Contains references.) (DB)

  14. SHORT STORIES IN THE BALKANS AND CONTEMPORARYSHORT STORIES IN THE WORLD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Larisa Softic - Gasal

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A comparative analysis of selected short stories in the Balkan countries, as well as contemporary short stories of the world, will show us that the key themes of those stories are very similar to the short stories written during the period of transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995-2010. For example, the story of the Soul Operation by an Iranian writer Mohsen Mahmalbafa, The Falcons by a Dutch writer Kader Abdolaha and On the Kitchen Stairs by a Polish writer Witold Gombrowic zinter connect with short stories by authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as The Secret of Raspberry jam by Karim Zaimović or The Devilish work of Zoran Riđanović. A common thread manifests itself in the aforementioned stories, more specifically, a common theme which focuses on the need for eradication of the seeds of submission and compliance with the political system. Most authors focus on their domestic political systems; however, some portray and analyze systems in other countries as they see it, such as a Dutch narrator who focuses on a potential threat of infringement of human freedom. Moreover, Bellow Hubei by an Argentinian writer Anhelika Gorodis her underlines the importance of humanization within a political order. Faruk Šehić examines the political system in Bosnia and Herzegovina from a slightly different perspective. His collection of stories Under Pressure emphases the issue of pressure in the above war model of short stories in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These stories are the product of pressure and anxiety, with intent to latently promote new ways of spiritual survival, directly relating to the concept and the theme of the story The Past Age Man by Christian Karlson Stead. Further analysis of the alienation theme singled out short stories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Plants are Something Else by Alma Lazarevska and Dialogues by Lamija Begagić, and pointed out their connection with some recent international short stories such as The Last Defence by

  15. Twitter and Non-Elites: Interpreting Power Dynamics in the Life Story of the (#)BRCA Twitter Stream.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vicari, Stefania

    2017-09-01

    In May 2013 and March 2015, actress Angelina Jolie wrote in the New York Times about her choice to undergo preventive surgery. In her two op-eds, she explained that - as a carrier of the BRCA1 gene mutation - preventive surgery was the best way to lower her heightened risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. By applying a digital methods approach to BRCA-related tweets from 2013 and 2015, before, during, and after the exposure of Jolie's story, this study maps and interprets Twitter discursive dynamics at two time points of the BRCA Twitter stream. Findings show an evolution in curation and framing dynamics occurring between 2013 and 2015, with individual patient advocates replacing advocacy organizations as top curators of BRCA content and coming to prominence as providers of specialist illness narratives. These results suggest that between 2013 and 2015, Twitter went from functioning primarily as an organization-centered news reporting mechanism, to working as a crowdsourced specialist awareness system. This article advances a twofold contribution. First, it points at Twitter's fluid functionality for an issue public and suggests that by looking at the life story-rather than at a single time point-of an issue-based Twitter stream, we can track the evolution of power roles underlying discursive practices and better interpret the emergence of non-elite actors in the public arena. Second, the study provides evidence of the rise of activist cultures that rely on fluid, non-elite, collective, and individual social media engagement.

  16. Fathers' experiences of their child's life-limiting condition: An attachment narrative perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey-Pearce, Oliver; Stedmon, Jacqui; Dallos, Rudi; Davis, George

    2017-09-01

    When a child has a life-limiting illness, parental involvement is amplified, having to respond to the increased needs of the child. Both parents are affected by the illness, yet research has largely under-represented fathers' experiences of their child's illness. Seven fathers were interviewed about their experiences with their child's life-limiting illness. In addition, fathers' attachment strategies were assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview. Narrative analysis was implemented to explore the interviews, and indicators of attachment markers employed in the Adult Attachment Interview were also identified. The dominant themes were found to be 'experience of the diagnosis', 'living with the illness', 'struggling with emotions' and 'relationship with staff'. Within each theme, there were differences which related to the father's attachment strategies. This was particularly evident in parts of their narratives recounting critical moments of threat and anxiety in the course of discovering and adjusting to their child's illness. Importantly, the findings also suggested that the experience for the fathers stressed, and in some cases disrupted, their attachment coping strategies. All fathers told stories of trying to get it right for their children and family. Their experiences of, and adjustment to, the illness were related to their attachment strategies. The clinical implications for health professionals are discussed.

  17. Stories: A List of Stories to Tell and to Read Aloud.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greene, Ellin, Comp.

    This booklet contains lists of folk and fairy tales, stories to be read aloud, and books of poetry for young children. It includes references to children's stories from many countries, stories of heroes and saints, and stories for special occasions. A section of source materials for the storyteller is also included along with subject and…

  18. Low skilled work, Work Life experiences and Learner identity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kondrup, Sissel

    on an educational optimism not necessarily shared by the target groups . I therefore wanted to examine how an unskilled work life conditions the experience of a need for and possibility to participate in different kind of formal, informal and non-formal learning activities related to the job, and how...... this constitutes a certain learner identity. By conducting narrative interviews with 23 employees in 6 different small and medium sized private manufacturing companies in Denmark, I have focused on peoples work life stories, how they entered the labour marked, what kind of jobs and tasks they have undertaken, how...... their jobs have developed and how they have obtained the skills required in their jobs. I have thus examined the specific work life experiences of people working in unskilled jobs, most likely to be marginalised in a labour marked characterised by skill bias, and how these experiences constitutes a certain...

  19. Religiousness and mood in the last week of life: an explorative approach based on after-death proxy interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braam, Arjan W; Klinkenberg, Marianne; Deeg, Dorly J H

    2011-01-01

    Although religiousness may, to a certain extent, be expected to alleviate emotional suffering in the last week of life, some religious beliefs might also provoke emotional distress. For the current study, after-death interviews with proxy respondents of deceased sample members of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam provided information on depressive mood and anxiety in the last week of life, as well as on the presence of a sense of peace at the approaching end of life. Proxy respondents also were asked about serious physical symptoms in the last week of life of the respondent, the respondent's cognitive decline, and their estimate of the salience of religion for the sample member. Other characteristics were derived from the last interviews with the sample members when still alive: depressive symptoms, chronic diseases, religious affiliation, church attendance, belief in Heaven, belief in Hell, and salience of religion. None of the characteristics of religiousness was significantly associated with depressive mood or anxiety, as estimated by the proxy respondent. A sense of peace, however, was predicted by higher church attendance, belief in Hell (among church-members), and the proxy's estimate of the salience of religion. It can be concluded that religiousness did not affect depressive mood or anxiety in the last week of life in the current sample. It is possible that religiousness supports a sense of peace, which may be a more-existential facet of mood and is discussed as relevant in the last phase of life and in palliative care.

  20. Dilemmas of participation in everyday life in early rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative interview study (The Swedish TIRA Project).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sverker, Annette; Östlund, Gunnel; Thyberg, Mikael; Thyberg, Ingrid; Valtersson, Eva; Björk, Mathilda

    2015-01-01

    To explore the experiences of today's patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with respect to dilemmas of everyday life, especially regarding patterns of participation restrictions in valued life activities. A total of 48 patients, aged 20-63, three years post-RA diagnosis were interviewed using the Critical Incident Technique. Transcribed interviews were condensed into meaningful units describing actions/situations. These descriptions were linked to ICF participation codes according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) linking rules. Dilemmas in everyday life were experienced in domestic life, interpersonal interactions and relationships, community, social and civic life. Most dilemmas were experienced in domestic life, including participation restrictions in, e.g. gardening, repairing houses, shovelling snow, watering pot plants, sewing or walking the dog. Also many dilemmas were experienced related to recreation and leisure within the domain community, social and civic life. The different dilemmas were often related to each other. For instance, dilemmas related to community life were combined with dilemmas within mobility, such as lifting and carrying objects. Participation restrictions in today's RA patients are complex. Our results underline that the health care needs to be aware of the patients' own preferences and goals to support the early multi-professional interventions in clinical practice. Implications of Rehabilitation Today's rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients experience participation restrictions in activities not included in International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) core set for RA or in traditionally questionnaires with predefined activities. The health care need to be aware of the patients' own preferences and goals to meet the individual needs and optimize the rehabilitation in early RA in clinical practice.

  1. Career Adaptability: A Qualitative Understanding from the Stories of Older Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMahon, Mary; Watson, Mark; Bimrose, Jenny

    2012-01-01

    This article reports on an international qualitative study investigating career pathways through the stories of transition and adaptability of older women. Informed by grounded theory, the study explored how this group of women coped with and adapted to changes and transitions related to career. Data were gathered by means of interviews with 36…

  2. Becoming a Runner: Big, Middle and Small Stories about Physical Activity Participation in Later Life

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffin, Meridith; Phoenix, Cassandra

    2016-01-01

    How do older adults learn to tell a "new" story about, through, and with the body? We know that narratives are embodied, lived and central to the process of meaning-making--and as such, they do not lie in the waiting for telling, but are an active part of everyday interaction. Telling stories about ourselves to others is one way in which…

  3. A Life of Their Own: Women’s Mid-life Quest in Contemporary Irish Women’s Short Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ann Wan-lih Chang

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This essay focuses on the motif of quest, as initiated by older or middle-aged women and depicted in stories by Clare Boylan, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Stella Mahon, Mary Dorcey and Marilyn McLaughlin in the 1980s and 90s. Throughout the western literary canon the quest motif recurs in myths, legends or genres such as rite-of-passage novels, in which a hero (seldom a heroine is encouraged to prove his own value through a series of tests. Within this tradition, a woman’s quest is usually one involving a process which shapes her into the contemporary norms of social conformity – essentially losing or sublimating the self rather than developing or expressing the potential of the self. Notwithstanding the traditional depictions of a female quest in which loss and self-sacrifice are characteristic, representations of Irish women in the stories explored in this essay demonstrate heroines whose quest leads them to a kind of awakening and enlightenment. The heroine in Irish women’s stories engages in subversion of the social norm as part of an attempt to reconcile with residual trauma from the past, or with inner conflicts which have left her feeling alienated from accepted social conventions and expectations in respect of women. Irish female writers illustrate through their narrative a latent power to challenge and to subvert the traditionally accepted and dominant patriarchal ideology of Irish society.

  4. Stories of staying and leaving: A mixed methods analysis of biology undergraduate choice, persistence, and departure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Sarah Adrienne

    Using a sequential, explanatory mixed methods design, this dissertation study compared students who persist in the biology major (persisters) with students who leave the biology major (switchers) in terms of how their pre-college experiences, college biology experiences, and biology performance figured into their choice of biology and their persistence in or departure from the biology major. This study combined (1) quantitative comparisons of biology persisters and switchers via a questionnaire developed for the study and survival analysis of a larger population of biology freshmen with (2) qualitative comparison of biology switchers and persisters via semi-structured life story interviews and homogenous focus groups. 319 students (207 persisters and 112 switchers) participated in the questionnaire and 36 students (20 persisters and 16 switchers) participated in life story and focus group interviews. All participants were undergraduates who entered The University of Texas at Austin as biology freshmen in the fall semesters of 2000 through 2004. Findings of this study suggest: (1) Regardless of eventual major, biology students enter college with generally the same suite of experiences, sources of personal encouragement, and reasons for choosing the biology major; (2) Despite the fact that they have also had poor experiences in the major, biology persisters do not actively decide to stay in the biology major; they simply do not leave; (3) Based upon survival analysis, biology students are most at-risk of leaving the biology major during the first two years of college and if they are African-American or Latino, women, or seeking a Bachelor of Arts degree (rather than a Bachelor of Science); (4) Biology switchers do not leave biology due to preference for other disciplines; they leave due to difficulties or dissatisfaction with aspects of the biology major, including their courses, faculty, and peers; (5) Biology performance has a differential effect on persistence in

  5. Getting the story right: making computer-generated stories more entertaining

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oinonen, K.M.; Theune, Mariet; Nijholt, Antinus; Heylen, Dirk K.J.; Maybury, Mark; Stock, Oliviero; Wahlster, Wolfgang

    2005-01-01

    In this paper we describe our efforts to increase the entertainment value of the stories generated by our story generation system, the Virtual Storyteller, at the levels of plot creation, discourse generation and spoken language presentation. We also discuss the construction of a story database that

  6. The Community Child Health Network Life Stress Interview: a brief chronic stress measure for community health research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanner Stapleton, Lynlee R; Dunkel Schetter, Christine; Dooley, Larissa N; Guardino, Christine M; Huynh, Jan; Paek, Cynthia; Clark-Kauffman, Elizabeth; Schafer, Peter; Woolard, Richard; Lanzi, Robin Gaines

    2016-07-01

    Chronic stress is implicated in many theories as a contributor to a wide range of physical and mental health problems. The current study describes the development of a chronic stress measure that was based on the UCLA Life Stress Interview (LSI) and adapted in collaboration with community partners for use in a large community health study of low-income, ethnically diverse parents of infants in the USA (Community Child Health Network [CCHN]). We describe the instrument, its purpose and adaptations, implementation, and results of a reliability study in a subsample of the larger study cohort. Interviews with 272 mothers were included in the present study. Chronic stress was assessed using the CCHN LSI, an instrument designed for administration by trained community interviewers to assess four domains of chronic stress, each rated by interviewers. Significant correlations ranging from small to moderate in size between chronic stress scores on this measure, other measures of stress, biomarkers of allostatic load, and mental health provide initial evidence of construct and concurrent validity. Reliability data for interviewer ratings are also provided. This relatively brief interview (15 minutes) is available for use and may be a valuable tool for researchers seeking to measure chronic stress reliably and validly in future studies with time constraints.

  7. Strategy Development through Interview Technique from Narrative Therapy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kryger, Anders

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the successful strategy formulation process of a new purchasing department at an international engineering group. Design/methodology/approach: The strategy formulation was co-created by the department manager and employees at a storytelling...... workshop, facilitated with interview technique from narrative therapy, and later authorized by the business area director. The organizational intervention preceded the scholarly inquiry. Findings: Employees’ retrospective storytelling about working at the company enabled them to formulate a joint mission...... statement using words and expressions from their own stories. Prospective storytelling enabled them to formulate a joint medium- and long-term vision and a corresponding action plan. This paper proposes interview technique from narrative therapy as a new practice-oriented strategic management tool and calls...

  8. Story quality management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1976-12-01

    This book is written to explain quality management using stories, which have each story about quality management. The titles of stories are way to tell the meaning in mind, mom, house wife's meal costs a great deal, good bye digestive medicine, beans cooked in soy sauce, wedding and space rocket, each story is used to give descriptions of quality management like procedure and decision for division of labor, quality guaranteed and histogram.

  9. Narratives of nostalgia in the face of death: The importance of lighter stories of the past in palliative care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Synnes, Oddgeir

    2015-08-01

    My research on the stories of palliative care patients emphasizes the heterogeneity of the types of stories they tell, including stories of illness, of everyday life, of the future, and of the past (Synnes, 2012). This article pays special attention to the prevalence of stories of past experiences in which the past is portrayed through idyllic and nostalgic interpretation. In contrast to most research on illness narratives and narrative gerontology that is preoccupied with stories of change, these stories of nostalgia are characterized by a plot where nothing in particular happens. However, this may be the primary purpose for the storytellers in their particular situation of illness and imminent death. The main purpose of nostalgia is precisely to ensure the continuity of identity in the face of adversity (Davis, 1979). In this article, I argue that these stories of nostalgia are vital aspects of maintaining the continuity of the self, or a narrative identity, when much else in life is characterized by discontinuity and uncertainty. Thus, stories of nostalgia should not be dismissed as escapism but valued and listened to as important aspects of narrative care among palliative care patients, and as a way of preserving the sense of a narrative identity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Professional Supervision as Storied Experience: Narrative Analysis Findings for Australian-Based Registered Music Therapists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kennelly, Jeanette D; Baker, Felicity A; Daveson, Barbara A

    2017-03-01

    Limited research exists to inform a music therapist's supervision story from their pre-professional training to their practice as a professional. Evidence is needed to understand the complex nature of supervision experiences and their impact on professional practice. This qualitative study explored the supervisory experiences of Australian-based Registered Music Therapists, according to the: 1) themes that characterize their experiences, 2) influences of the supervisor's professional background, 3) outcomes of supervision, and 4) roles of the employer, the professional music therapy association, and the university in supervision standards and practice. Seven professionals were interviewed for this study. Five stages of narrative analysis were used to create their supervision stories: a life course graph, narrative psychological analysis, component story framework and narrative analysis, analysis of narratives, and final integration of the seven narrative summaries. Findings revealed that supervision practice is influenced by a supervisee's personal and professional needs. A range of supervision models or approaches is recommended, including the access of supervisors from different professional backgrounds to support each stage of learning and development. A quality supervisory experience facilitates shifts in awareness and insight, which results in improved or increased skills, confidence, and accountability of practice. Participants' concern about stakeholders included a limited understanding of the role of the supervisor, a lack of clarity about accountability of supervisory practice, and minimal guidelines, which monitor professional competencies. The benefits of supervision in music therapy depend on the quality of the supervision provided, and clarity about the roles of those involved. Research and guidelines are recommended to target these areas. © the American Music Therapy Association 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  11. Three individuals, three stories, three burials from medieval Trondheim, Norway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suppersberger Hamre, Stian; Ersland, Geir Atle; Daux, Valérie; Parson, Walther; Wilkinson, Caroline

    2017-01-01

    This article presents the life stories of three individuals who lived in Trondheim, Norway, during the 13th century. Based on skeletal examinations, facial reconstructions, genetic analyses, and stable oxygen isotope analyses, the birthplace, mobility, ancestry, pathology, and physical appearance of these people are presented. The stories are discussed within the relevant historical context. These three people would have been ordinary citizens, without any privileges out of the ordinary, which makes them quite rare in the academic literature. Through the study of individuals one gets a unique look into the Norwegian medieval society.

  12. How stable is the personal past? Stability of most important autobiographical memories and life narratives across eight years in a life span sample.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Köber, Christin; Habermas, Tilmann

    2017-10-01

    Considering life stories as the most individual layer of personality (McAdams, 2013) implies that life stories, similar to personality traits, exhibit some stability throughout life. Although stability of personality traits has been extensively investigated, only little is known about the stability of life stories. We therefore tested the influence of age, of the proportion of normative age-graded life events, and of global text coherence on the stability of the most important memories and of brief entire life narratives as 2 representations of the life story. We also explored whether normative age-graded life events form more stable parts of life narratives. In a longitudinal life span study covering up to 3 measurements across 8 years and 6 age groups (N = 164) the stability of important memories and of entire life narratives was measured as the percentage of events and narrative segments which were repeated in later tellings. Stability increased between ages 8 and 24, leveling off in middle adulthood. Beyond age, stability of life narratives was also predicted by proportion of normative age-graded life events and by causal-motivational text coherence in younger participants. Memories of normative developmental and social transitional life events were more stable than other memories. Stability of segments of life narratives exceeded the stability of single most important memories. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive, personality, and narrative psychology and point to research questions in each of these fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  13. Research through teaching

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høyen, Marianne Elisabeth Steensgaard

    of childhood socialisation, it became obvious that we had to pose a similar research question: How can we analyse kindergarten workers' understanding of nature? This paper will describe the project and its challenges and further discuss how we can work with various methods alongside life story interviews......This paper describes how we have set up a research project with life histories as a central component. The life story interviews are made with kindergarten workers, and the aim is to analyse how the interviewee deals with a specific aspect of his or her job: How do kindergarten workers use nature...... in their work, and how do they teach the children about nature? Doing life story interviews is part of a voluntary offer for students who want to participate in research projects to get a better grasp of qualitative methods and to qualify for future jobs in general. University college as well as university...

  14. USING NASREDDIN HODJA STORIES IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL CLASSROOMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    İsmail YAMAN

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Culture is an indispensable dimension of human life and also foreign language teaching and learning process; and as a part of the current trend, diverse cultural elements are covered in recently published English as a foreign language (EFL coursebooks. These cultural elements are not limited to the target culture but they cover local and international culture components as well. Not focusing on solely one specific culture enables language learners to touch different cultures as well as maintaining awareness of their own culture. Humour constitutes another aspect without which human beings cannot survive. Our daily lives are full of humorous elements like jokes and these add remarkable taste to human beings’ course of living. This positive prevalence of humour in human life may also have its reflections in the realm of language teaching. Considering the inseparableness of both culture and humour from human life, Nasreddin Hodja stories can ideally serve a double purpose while teaching English in EFL settings. When offered in English, these culturally embedded and humour-laden stories that wittily combine both local culture and humorous elements hold the potential to motivate both English language teachers and learners while teaching and learning English in Turkish EFL context. This study aims to discuss the possible ways to employ Nasreddin Hodja stories in Turkish EFL classrooms. To this end, sample to-the-point activities based on Nasreddin Hodja stories in English will be introduced for different language skills ranging from main skills like reading and speaking to sub-skills like vocabulary and grammar.

  15. The framework of studying personal and family stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dragana Antonijević

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I suggest the analytical framework for interpreting personal and family stories about the loss of possessions, riches, job, reputation and status. I find the theoretic foothold in the decades long folkloristic and anthropological studies of personal stories and life histories, then in the concept by Gary Alan Fine, a sociologist and folklorist, about the idioculture of small groups through the discussion of the family folklore, and last in the discussion of the historic, social-economic and ideological context where personal and family losses occur. The incentive for me to deal with this type of stories resides in the fact that they have not been the subject of scientific analysis, neither in the world, nor in our country, except one work by an American folklorist Stanley Brandes from 1975, which served as my inspiration and model. The material for the analysis was collected in the form of term papers written by four generations of ethnology and anthropology third year students, attending the course in Folklore anthropology at the Ethnology and Anthropology Department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Belgrade University. A typology of these stories has been done, and they are divided into two groups with subtypes: stories about personal causes to material ruin, and about faith (destiny causing the ruin. Further on in the analysis I focused only on the context of the stories with the so-called "pre-destined (faith" causes of ruin, i.e., on the historic, social-economic and ideological changes in Serbia, which happened during the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st century. The context of the revolutionary takeover of power by the Communists after the World War Two is discussed, as well as the violent dispossession of what was until then private property of many families in Serbia, and transferring that property into state and social possession (the so-called stories about nationalization, and also the specific context of post

  16. Life adversity in depressed and non-depressed older adults : A cross-sectional comparison of the brief LTE-Q questionnaire and life events and difficulties interview as part of the CASPER study

    OpenAIRE

    Donoghue, Hjördis M; Traviss-Turner, Gemma D; House, Allan O; Lewis, Helen; Gilbody, Simon

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of research on the nature of life adversity in depressed and non-depressed older adults. Early life events work used in-depth interviews; however, larger epidemiological trials investigate life adversity using brief questionnaires. This study investigates the type of life adversity experienced in later life and its association with depression and compares adversity captured using a brief (LTE-Q) and in-depth (LEDS) measure. METHODS: 960 participants over 65 year...

  17. StoryTrek: Experiencing Stories in the Real World

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Khaled, Rilla; Barr, Pippin James; Greenspan, Brian

    2011-01-01

    world experience. In early tests we observed the emergence of a number of recurrent themes in participants’ experiences which are characteristic of the StoryTrek system, but which also help us to understand locative media storytelling affordances more generally. In this paper we present the system......In this paper we introduce StoryTrek, a locative hypernarrative system developed to generate stories based on a reader’s location and specific movements in the real world. This creates, for readers, an interplay between navigation, narrative, and agency, as well as between the fictional and real...

  18. StoryTrek: Experiencing Stories in the Real World

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Khaled, Rilla; Barr, Pippin James; Greenspan, Brian

    2011-01-01

    In this paper we introduce StoryTrek, a locative hypernarrative system developed to generate stories based on a reader’s location and specific movements in the real world. This creates, for readers, an interplay between navigation, narrative, and agency, as well as between the fictional and real...... world experience. In early tests we observed the emergence of a number of recurrent themes in participants’ experiences which are characteristic of the StoryTrek system, but which also help us to understand locative media storytelling affordances more generally. In this paper we present the system...

  19. Fragmented Work Stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Humle, Didde Maria; Reff Pedersen, Anne

    2015-01-01

    stories. We argue that meaning by story making is not always created by coherence and causality; meaning is created by different types of fragmentation: discontinuities, tensions and editing. The objective of this article is to develop and advance antenarrative practice analysis of work stories...

  20. Connecting Children's Stories to Children's Literature: Meeting Diversity Needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    St. Amour, Melissa J.

    2003-01-01

    Discusses a method for increasing elementary school children's multicultural awareness by sharing their own written stories in the context of multicultural children's literature. Describes how classroom activities can promote multicultural awareness through by allowing children to practice democracy, analyze the circumstances of one's life;…

  1. "Playing the Game" of Story Problems: Coordinating Situation-Based Reasoning with Algebraic Representation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walkington, Candace; Sherman, Milan; Petrosino, Anthony

    2012-01-01

    This study critically examines a key justification used by educational stakeholders for placing mathematics in context--the idea that contextualization provides students with access to mathematical ideas. We present interviews of 24 ninth grade students from a low-performing urban school solving algebra story problems, some of which were…

  2. Mechanism of story elements in the Forud story of Shahname

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    hojjatollah Hemmati

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Which by their nature narrative structure elements , motifs and narrative action takes place . Author In light of these characteristics and structural elements such as plot , point of view , conflict, crisis , climax and relief , follow the narrative structure down. In this study is to investigate the structure of the story landed in Shahnameh . For this purpose, the definition of story and structure delivers And a review of such issues to investigate this story. And to provide this evidence to conclude that the text of traditions and story And a coherent and systematic plan and that it regulates the relations of cause and effect . And shows the text with the help of fictional elements From a stable position starts And stable position and different ends.     Abstract Which by their nature narrative structure elements , motifs and narrative action takes place . Author In light of these characteristics and structural elements such as plot , point of view , conflict, crisis , climax and relief , follow the narrative structure down. In this study is to investigate the structure of the story landed in Shahnameh . For this purpose, the definition of story and structure delivers And a review of such issues to investigate this story. And to provide this evidence to conclude that the text of traditions and story And a coherent and systematic plan and that it regulates the relations of cause and effect . And shows the text with the help of fictional elements From a stable position starts And stable position and different ends.

  3. Storytelling and professional learning: a phenomenographic study of students' experience of patient digital stories in nurse education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christiansen, Angela

    2011-04-01

    This paper reports the findings of a phenomenographic study which sought to identify the different ways in which patient digital stories influence students' professional learning. Patient digital stories are short multimedia presentations that combine personal narratives, images and music to create a unique and often emotional story of a patients' experience of health care. While these are increasingly used in professional education little is known about how and what students learn through engagement with patient digital stories. Drawing upon interviews with 20 students within a pre-registration nursing programme in the UK, the study identifies four qualitatively different ways in which students approach and make sense of patient digital stories with implications for learning and professional identity development. Through an identification of the critical aspects of this variation valuable insights are generated into the pedagogic principles likely to engender transformational learning and patient centred practice. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. FROM THE HISTORY OF PHYSICS: Stories by Yurii Borisovich Rumer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rumer, Yurii B.

    2001-10-01

    Yurii Borisovich Rumer (Yu B) was an excellent story-teller. Grateful listeners long remembered his stories about life in the first years after the 1917 Great Socialist Revolution in Russia, about the Göttingen School, about Albert Einstein, about Soviet physicists, about the years he spent in prison and in the secret research institution where all researchers and staff were prisoners. Unfortunately, nobody was perceptive enough to record these stories for posterity. Yu B himself would not agree to it as after the many years of his gruesome prison experience he was always cautious and carefully censored his stories himself according to the audience and the political climate of the period. The few reminiscences published in his lifetime also exhibit evidence of such self-censorship. M P Kemoklidze made detailed records but she says she destroyed them after publishing the book Quantum age (1989) for which they were intended. Here we are publishing a transcript of the tape recording made by Anna Livanova in 1962 when Yu B visited her in Moscow (she knew him from her days as a student of the Physics Department of Moscow State University). When Livanova was on a business trip to the Novosibirsk Academy Town she attended a talk given by Yu B to the students of Novosibirsk University at which they asked him to tell of the most important occasion in his life. He said it was his meeting with Einstein. In Moscow Livanova recorded an extended version of that talk. Livanova used the recording for writing the essays ''Academy Town in Siberia'' (Znamya magazine, No. 11, 12, 1962) and ''Physicists about Physicists'' (in the book Roads to the Unknown — Writers Telling about Science in which a section was entitled 'Meeting with Einstein'), and her book 'Physicists about Physicists' (Moscow: 'Molodaya Gvardiya' Publishers, 1968) which also included a section on Rumer's meeting with Einstein. The publications were significantly edited and only a part of the recording transcript

  5. Whose Immigration Story?: Attending to Hidden Messages of Material in Social Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oikonomidoy, Eleni; Williams, Gwendolyn

    2010-01-01

    Sometimes materials used in schools with good intentions can have effects opposite from those stated. Through the microscopic analysis of a parent-student immigration interview assignment on a social studies unit on immigration, this article aims to uncover the hidden story that underlies the questions asked. In so doing, it intends not only to…

  6. The effect of event repetition on the production of story grammar in children's event narratives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feltis, Brooke B; Powell, Martine B; Roberts, Kim P

    2011-03-01

    This study examined the effect of event repetition on the amount and nature of story-grammar produced by children when recalling the event. Children aged 4 years (N=50) and 7 years (N=56) participated in either 1 or 6 occurrences of a highly similar event where details varied across the occurrences. Half the children in each age and event group recalled the last/single occurrence 5-6 days later and the other half recalled the last/single occurrence after 5-6 weeks (the final and single occurrence was the same). Children's free recall responses were classified according to the number and proportion of story-grammar elements (Stein & Glenn, 1979-setting, initiating event, internal response, plan, attempt, direct consequence, and resolution) as well as the prevalence of causal links between the individual story-grammar elements. More story-grammar detail and more links between individual story-grammar elements were reported about the final compared to single occurrence. The amount of story-grammar increased with age and decreased over time. Further, an interaction was revealed such that the effect of retention interval on the production of story-grammar was negligible for older children who experienced the repeated event. Event repetition has a beneficial effect on the production of children's story-grammar content in situations where event details varied from occasion to occasion. This study highlights the importance of eliciting free recall when conducting evidential interviews with child witnesses about repeated events. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. The Fertile “Third Space” in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Stories

    OpenAIRE

    Sima Farshid; Somayeh Taleie

    2013-01-01

    Scholarly debates over immigration and “diaspora” have shifted in recent years to pluralistic approaches of critics such as Bhabha and Hall who argue that the “hybridity” and “in-betweenness” of immigrants’ life might function as a suitable ground for the social and cultural improvement of their life-conditions. Drawing on such ideas, writers of the present article contend that Jhumpa Lahiri presents a double-sided outlook about the “third space” of diasporic life in her stories, while most c...

  8. Family stories with a moral: Polish scripted television documentaries [Rodzinne opowieści z morałem: polskie telewizyjne seriale paradokumentalne

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacek GULANOWSKI

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Scripted documentaries are a specific kind of television productions: they are low budget television series resembling documentaries, usually starring amateur actors, who are playing allegedly real characters, and the portrayed events are real life stories. They are gaining wide appreciation, especially among television producers, due to their low costs of production. The most popular theme of these stories are problems connected with family life. The content of these stories is filled with internal contradictions and it is actually a homage to the human vitality and its justification

  9. William C. Bagley and the Founding of Essentialism: An Untold Story in American Educational History

    Science.gov (United States)

    Null, J. Wesley

    2007-01-01

    Background/Context: Most people who study the history and philosophy of education have heard of essentialism, but few people know the story behind how, when, and why the movement came to exist. This paper tells this story for the first time. Purpose/Conclusions: This essay has three purposes. First, it provides an introduction to the life and…

  10. Patients as story-tellers of healthcare journeys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamprell, Klay; Braithwaite, Jeffrey

    2016-09-01

    There are gaps in our comprehension of patients' subjective experiences as they engage with and transit through the healthcare environments implicated in their treatment trajectories. Patients' stories, unlike patient experience data gathered in questionnaires and surveys, express the deeply personal, narrative nature of the journeys that patients take, creating opportunities for qualitative healthcare research. Yet narrative capabilities and propensities vary with individuals, and are affected by the stresses of illness and treatment. This article extends the growing interest in narrative competence training for both practitioners and patients with the investigation of a story-telling model that could facilitate patients to narrate their experiences of healthcare systems. This model is derived from the literary arts. In fiction and autobiography, the journey arc of the central character is often one in which he or she is compelled to leave the comfort of everyday life and face a series of extraordinary events involving challenge and change which forces the character towards practical, intellectual, psychological and philosophical adjustments that define, by the end of the story, the character's 'new normal'. This pattern is known as the 'hero journey'. Its parallels with patients' experiences of healthcare and the way people narrate their stories of illness have long been recognised. We present here a new idea for applying this model as a narrative structure by which patients may construct their stories about being in and moving through the healthcare system. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  11. Culture Stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Ole B.

    2007-01-01

    This paper argues for a narrative approach to the study of urban branding and planning. An analytical framework for understanding narratives and place is presented. The notion of the ‘representational logics of urban intervention' captures this idea that urban branding interventions are guided by...... competing stories are told by proponents and opponents of the interventions. The relation to place in the stories differ radically for those favour and those against, and the paper aims throwing light over the complex relationship between story and place....

  12. Movie Review: "It's Kind of a Funny Story"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lara, Frankie

    2012-01-01

    Interpersonal disconnections, social withdrawal, and loneliness are often precursors to depression and suicidal ideation. In the film "It's Kind of a Funny Story", the plot describes a protagonist who has become so relationally desolate among family, friends, and peers that he has taken delight in the thought of ending his life. The main character…

  13. Digital life storybooks for people with dementia living in care homes: an evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Subramaniam P

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Ponnusamy Subramaniam,1 Bob Woods2 1Health Psychology Programme, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Dementia Services Development Centre Wales, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, UK Background and aim: There is increasing interest in using information and communication technology to help older adults with dementia to engage in reminiscence work. Now, the feasibility of such approaches is beginning to be established. The purpose of this study was to establish an evidence-base for the acceptability and efficacy of using multimedia digital life storybooks with people with dementia in care homes, in comparison with conventional life storybooks, taking into account the perspectives of people with dementia, their relatives, and care staff.Methods: Participatory design was used to create a life story movie based on a previously completed conventional life storybook with six older adults with dementia (four females; mean age 82 years. Relatives were involved in helping the participant to provide additional information and materials for the digital life storybook. In this multiple case study design, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. For quantitative purposes, a set of questionnaires that had been completed three times before and after the conventional life storybook was developed were repeated 4 weeks after the life story movie was completed. Semistructured interview questions were designed to collect feedback from participants, relatives, and care staff.Results: The result indicated that five of the six participants showed additional improvement in measures of quality of life and autobiographical memory. All participants showed improvement or stability in depression scores. Thematic analysis showed that, participants, relatives, and care home staff viewed digital life storybooks as a very useful tool triggering memories and (largely positive emotions. Participants’ case vignettes were presented to

  14. Creating stories for learning about the neonatal care experience through the eyes of student nurses: An interpretive, narrative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petty, Julia

    2017-01-01

    Storytelling is an increasingly well recognised and valued platform to learn about the human experience within healthcare. Little is known however about how stories can enhance understanding in neonatal care, a specialised field offering rich opportunities for learning. This study focuses on the creation of stories based on the experiences of student nurses to inform teaching and learning strategies in the neonatal field. The study aimed to create stories from the narratives of student nurses working within the neonatal field and identify what key themes for learning emerged in order to develop a storytelling resource to share experiences with their peers. An interpretive, constructivist approach was used to collect, analyse and create stories from student nurse's experiences, in line with narrative inquiry. Six pre-registration children's nursing students were selected by purposive sampling. Interviews were undertaken within six weeks following placement completion in an agreed location. Narratives were obtained by semi-structured interviews. Narrative analysis and core story creation was undertaken to construct stories and key learning themes emerged which provided the pedagogical basis for subsequent digital resource development. Key themes emerged relating to the insight and observances of student nurses and the neonatal journey they had experienced, including the nature of neonatal care, experiences of the neonate and parents, the environment and their own learning transition. Preliminary peer evaluation of the storytelling resource revealed storytelling as an interesting and novel approach to teaching & learning, learning from ones' peers, preparation for practice and a valuable insight into a new specialist area. The study has value to teaching and learning by enabling an appreciation of how narrative can be used to portray the experiences of learners. Findings also support an approach to analysing narrative to create stories for learning and inform

  15. La Investigación con Relatos de Vida: Pistas y Opciones del Diseño Metodológico Research with Life Stories: Clues and Options of the Methodological Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcela Cornejo

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available En la investigación en ciencias sociales, la utilización del relato de vida ha mostrado importantes desarrollos, permitiendo articular significados subjetivos de experiencias y prácticas sociales. Son variados los trabajos que muestran resultados de investigaciones, así como variados aquéllos que discuten esta particular forma de concebir y articular conceptualmente las dimensiones subjetiva y social. La literatura sin embargo, ha soslayado aspectos del proceso de diseño e implementación de una investigación con relatos de vida. Este artículo intenta visibilizar estos aspectos, a la luz de las premisas que sustentan la investigación desde un enfoque biográfico. Se presenta un dispositivo de trabajo implementado en investigaciones realizadas, discutiendo a partir de él las opciones metodológicas tomadas, sugiriendo modos de abordar investigaciones con relatos de vida.In social sciences research, the use of life stories has developed greatly allowing for the articulation of subjective meanings of social practices and experiences. There are several studies that show their findings as there is a variety of such pieces of research that discuss this particular way of conceptually conceiving and articulating subjective and social dimensions. The literature has, however, avoided analyzing aspects of the process of design and implementation of research based on life stories. In this paper there is an attempt to bring these aspects to the forefront, in light of the premises that underlie research from a biographical approach. A working device applied in previous research is presented, with discussion on methodological decisions and suggestions on how to approach research on life stories.

  16. Racism and Sexism, Together, in Counselling: Three Women of Colour Tell Their Stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerrard, Nikki

    1991-01-01

    From interviews with 10 women of color for qualitative research about experiences as clients in mental health systems, summarizes all 10 women's examples of racism and sexism and discusses stories and impact that experiences had on the women. Discusses dilemma of white researchers doing research on women of color, and makes recommendations for…

  17. Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle (1986) or the Story of a New Mythology

    OpenAIRE

    Seda Yavaş

    2015-01-01

    Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle (1986) or The Story of a New Mythology Abstract  This paper focuses upon Diana Wynne Jones’s 1986 fantasy novel Howl’s Moving Castle, part of the trilogy including Castle in the Air (1990) and House of Many Ways (2008). Taking place in a utopian land, the story creates a new mythology built upon magic, objects coming to life, no space boundaries and the search for eternal life and the perfect human. As a consequence, the paper will deal with th...

  18. The Process of Sharing Stories with Young People

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sturm, Brian W.

    2008-01-01

    Storytelling is a wonderful way to share the rich emotions of life. It allows adults to connect with children in personal and powerful ways, building a sense of trust and community between the performer and the audience. In this article, the author offers an approach to learning and sharing stories. The author also provides twenty-two…

  19. K'qizaghetnu Ht'ana (Stories from Lime Village).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bobby, Pete; And Others

    A cross section of Athabascan life as related by eight inhabitants of Lime Village, Alaska, is given in this document. The short narratives are printed in English and in Dena'ina. Illustrations accompany the text. The stories tell of making eagle feather robes, birchbark or mooseskin boats, a raincoat from black bear intestines, and boots from…

  20. Our findings, my method: Framing science in televised interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armon, Rony; Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet

    2017-11-01

    The public communication of science and technology largely depends on their framing in the news media, but scientists' role in this process has only been explored indirectly. This study focuses on storied accounts told by scientists when asked to present their research or provide expert advice in the course of a news interview. A total of 150 items from a current affairs talk show broadcast in the Israeli media were explored through a methodology combining narrative and conversation analysis. Using the concept of framing as originally proposed by Erving Goffman, we show that researchers use personal accounts as a way of reframing news stories introduced by the program hosts. Elements of method and rationale, which are usually considered technical and are shunned in journalistic reports, emerged as a crucial element in the accounts that experts themselves provided. The implications for framing research and science communication training are discussed.

  1. Inclusive education and training systems: Illusion or reality? The story of Nothemba.

    OpenAIRE

    Lebusa A. Monyooe

    2005-01-01

    This article explores the challenges facing the South African National Department of Education in its commitment to provide equal educational opportunities for all. The Story of Nothemba is central to the theme of this paper. It describes the story of a South African girl born in eQebe, whose physical disability and systematic disregard for her constitutional rights dashed her life time dream and passion to become a lawyer in a democratic South Africa. The paper argues for a critical interrog...

  2. The StorySpinner Sculptural Reader

    OpenAIRE

    Hooper, Clare; Weal, Mark

    2005-01-01

    This demo is of a hypertext reading system called StorySpinner. It follows the sculptural hypertext methodology and has been used as a test bed for experimenting with the authoring of narrative flow in automatically generated stories. Readers are able to select and read one of two available stories. Reading a story involves selecting tarot cards which are mapped to chunks of story text based on possible interpretations of the cards and information concerning current story state.

  3. How Early Intervention Services Became Available in South Florida: A Story for the Silver Screen?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erin, Jane N.

    2013-01-01

    Have you ever imagined yourself as a movie producer who could tell the stories of the remarkable successes in the field of visual impairment and blindness? With the right buildup music and the careful selection of a popular actor or a promising young ingenue (ideally, someone with a visual impairment), any one of these real-life stories could be a…

  4. An International Inquiry: Stories of Poverty--Poverty Stories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciuffetelli Parker, Darlene; Craig, Cheryl J.

    2017-01-01

    This article features an international inquiry of two high-poverty urban schools, one Canadian and one American. The article examines poverty in terms of "small stories" that educators and students live and tell, often on the edges, unheard and unaccounted for in grand narratives. It also expands the story constellations approach to…

  5. The short story 'Vetar' by Laza K. Lazarević: An interpretation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kostić Dragomir J.

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyzes one of the most significant short stories written by Laza K. Lazarević (1851-1891, who was one of the greatest Serbian writers in the epoch of literary Realism. The short story, 'Vetar' ('The wind', is characterized by both its symbolic title and particularly by its impeccable form. Besides, it contains within the so-called story within a story, which, unless it is analyzed, renders it impossible to get to the gist of this short story. It is probably the major reason why literary criticism hasn't fully interpreted this short story yet! The truth, the simple truth, available and visible to all, guided by masterly writer's technique of narration, in which inner life prevails and which indicates, according to Russian formalists, concept of defamiliarization or estrangement (ostranenie, and what would our Jeremija Živanović call irregular condition and the feverish; also, the elements within the narration are intertwined dreams and illusions, profound poetry as well as powerful and at the same time silent psychological turmoil that truth, therefore, skillfully hides itself and ultimately, becoming bare and tormented, reveals itself to an atten­tive and watchful reader. The simple truth reveals that a mother adored by her son, gets in the way of her son's love for one girl. And the girl, at his sight, goes to another man's embrace.

  6. The Devil's Composer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Peter Ole; Laurberg, Martin

    2013-01-01

    Research and interview-based text concerning the art, music and life of controversial 60s psychedelic cult figure Bobby Beausoleil. The article traces Beausoleil's personal story and offers a historical analysis of his most recent musical and artistic output (1980-2013).......Research and interview-based text concerning the art, music and life of controversial 60s psychedelic cult figure Bobby Beausoleil. The article traces Beausoleil's personal story and offers a historical analysis of his most recent musical and artistic output (1980-2013)....

  7. Ah Dai Comes to Hawaii: The Story of a Chinese Immigrant Woman.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kam, Dai Sen; And Others

    The story presented in this booklet is concerned with the life of an eighty year old Chinese immigrant woman living in Hawaii. The narration provides a brief overview of the woman's birth, childhood, early adulthood in China, and immigration to Hawaii. Her life in Hawaii is described in terms of the work she did, her arranged marriage, her…

  8. The Fertile “Third Space” in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sima Farshid

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Scholarly debates over immigration and “diaspora” have shifted in recent years to pluralistic approaches of critics such as Bhabha and Hall who argue that the “hybridity” and “in-betweenness” of immigrants’ life might function as a suitable ground for the social and cultural improvement of their life-conditions. Drawing on such ideas, writers of the present article contend that Jhumpa Lahiri presents a double-sided outlook about the “third space” of diasporic life in her stories, while most critics have considered her attitude toward immigration a negative one. We argue that though Lahiri portrays immigrants’ problems in her stories, a meticulous appraisal of her work reveals the fact that she opposes too much insistence on traditional definitions of home and motherland, and instead pays tribute to the fluidity and flexibility of hybrid identity. She foregrounds the efficiency and fertility of the “third space” of diasporic life in several cases in her fiction by giving centrality and priority to those characters that are flexible, renounce the restricting customs of the left motherland, venture experiencing the inexperienced, and consequently can match themselves with their changed social position to achieve the best out of it.

  9. Stories and story telling in first-levellanguage learning: a re-evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert W. Blair

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes that in the midst of all our theories on language teaching and language learning, we might have overlooked an age-old tool that has always been at the disposal of mankind; the telling of stories. Attention is drawn to how some have found in stories and story telling a driving force of natural language acquisition, a key that can unlock the intuitive faculties ofthe mind. A case is being made out for the re-instalment of stories and associated activities as a means of real, heart-felt functional communication in a foreign language, rather than through a direct assault on the structure of the language itself. Met hierdie artikel word daar voorgestel dat daar opnuut gekyk moet word na 'n hulpmiddel wat so oud is as die mensheid self en wat nog altyd tot ons beskikking was, naamlik stories en die vertel daarvan. Die aandag word daarop gevestig dat daar persone is wat in stories en die verbale oordrag daarvan 'n stukrag ontdek het tot natuurlike taalvaardigheid, 'n sleutel tot die intultiewe breinfunksies. Daar word 'n saak uitgemaak vir die terugkeer na stories en gepaardgaande aktiwiteite as middel tot 'n egte, diep deurleefde en funksionele wyse van kommunikasie in 'n vreemde taal, eerder as 'n direkte aanslag op die taalstruktuur self.

  10. Life Stories of Mathematics Teacher Histórias de Vida de Professores de Matemática

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emerson Rolkouski

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this work is to understand how a Mathematics teacher becomes the teacher of Mathematics that he is. In other words, to understand how the individual becomes, through his life, his relationship with other individuals, this teacher of Mathematics, with these ideas, practices, and resistances. Four Mathematics teachers, with different degree levels, were interviewed according to the methodological parameters of the Oral History. Their testimonies allowed the composition of a scenary wich made it possible to extend the comprehension concerning becoming “the” Mathematics teacher. Their life stories were read with differentiated lenses. Under a sociological focus, based on Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu’s works, under the perspective of psychology, based on Jerome Bruner’s works and finally a last reading denominated scientific-literary, in which the testimony is read through the analogy of literary texts. These readings presented, considerations were made on their possibilities and impossibilities facing the understanding of “how a teacher of Mathematics becomes ‘the’ teacher of Mathematics that he is”. Key Words: Mathematic Education. Oral History. Teachers Formation.O objetivo deste trabalho é compreender como um professor de Matemática torna-se o professor de Matemática que é. Ou seja, compreender como o indivíduo vai se tornando, ao longo de sua vida, de sua relação com outros indivíduos, este professor de Matemática: com estas idéias, práticas, resistências. Quatro professores de Matemática, com diferentes níveis de titulação, foram entrevistados segundo os parâmetros metodológicos da História Oral. Seus depoimentos permitiram a composição de um cenário que possibilitou ampliar as compreensões acerca do tornar-se “o” professor de Matemática. As histórias de vida dos depoentes foram lidas com lentes diferenciadas: sob um enfoque sociológico, fundamentado nos trabalhos de Norbert

  11. Life below a ‘Language Threshold'?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liversage, Anika

    2009-01-01

    in three social locations: households, workplaces and language schools. During their first years in Denmark a gendered division of work may relegate the women to the Turkish- or Kurdish-speaking home environment. When they subsequently enter work, their poor Danish skills only allow them access into jobs......In many immigrant groups, women gain less command of the host country language than the men. Using life story interviews with marriage migrants from Turkey, now living in Denmark, this article investigates this limited language learning, linking it to these women's lives as they primarily unfold...... with little host country interaction. The available language education becomes fragmented after childbirth and often remains inadequate to substantially raise the women's command of Danish. Furthermore, national legislation may unintentionally impede language learning. As a result, even women with expressed...

  12. Cartographies of the Voice: Storying the Land as Survivance in Native American Oral Traditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivanna Yi

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This article examines how Native places are made, named, and reconstructed after colonization through storytelling. Storying the land is a process whereby the land is invested with the moral and spiritual perspectives specific to Native American communities. As seen in the oral traditions and written literature of Native American storytellers and authors, the voices of indigenous people retrace and remap cartographies for the land after colonization through storytelling. This article shows that the Americas were storied by Native American communities long before colonial contact beginning in the fifteenth century and demonstrates how the land continues to be storied in the present as a method of decolonization and cultural survivance. The article examines manifestations of the oral tradition in multiple forms, including poetry, interviews, fiction, photography, and film, to demonstrate that the land itself, through storytelling, becomes a repository of the oral tradition. The article investigates oral narratives from precontact and postcolonial time periods and across numerous nations and geographical regions in the Americas, including stories from the Mayan Popol Vuh; Algonkian; Western Apache; Hopi; Haudenosaunee/Iroquois; and Laguna Pueblo stories; and the contemporary poetry and fiction of Joy Harjo (Mvskoke/Creek Nation and Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo.

  13. [Adverse childhood experiences and their association to personality styles in a nonmelancholic depressive sample].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farar, Johannes; Schüssler, Gerhard

    2011-01-01

    Do some life story patterns exist, which are associated with depression? Can some life story factors be identified, which influence or determine a special kind of personality, predisposing to depression? Retrospective, cross sectional study with nonexperimental character, using a number of 60 nonmelancholic depressed patients. First, they were asked to give an interview on their life story. Then, they were asked to fill in questionnaires about personality, parental style of raising, clinical symptoms and personality disorders. Significant correlations could be found between parental style of raising, a family history affected by depression, a dysfunctional household, the family composition, negative school experience and all investigated styles of personality. Further, clusters of personality, clusters of parental style of raising and clusters of specific life story factors could be detected. Results show a strong relation between life story factors and personality styles, predisposing to depression and emphasize the importance of considering personality, when exploring special life story factors. Vice versa, actual personality styles can point to different patterns of life story and thus, show the relevance for the diagnostic and therapeutic process.

  14. An Interview with Arlie Russell Hochschild

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Willig, Rasmus

    2017-01-01

    This is the second of two interviews with Arlie Russell Hochschild, Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. In her work, Hochschild explores the many ways we manage our emotions in personal life and perform emotional labor in the workplace.......This is the second of two interviews with Arlie Russell Hochschild, Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. In her work, Hochschild explores the many ways we manage our emotions in personal life and perform emotional labor in the workplace....

  15. StoryTrek

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Khaled, Rilla; Barr, Pippin; Greenspan, Brian

    2010-01-01

    Narrative is an important aspect of persuasion, but persua- sive technologies often use narrative in its most traditional, linear form. We present StoryTrek, a prototype system which creates narratives based on a reader’s location and movements in the real world. StoryTrek yields a number of unique...

  16. PA11 The dreamers - life, death and dreams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wischer, Pippa

    2015-04-01

    Palliative Care Victoria is building community capacity to have end of life conversations. To create a conversation resource. In partnership with Pippa Wischer, we published The Dreamers, an exploration of life, death and dreams through interviews and photographs of forty palliative care patients. The Dreamers was an effective advocacy tool during the 2014 Victorian State Election. Palliative care services are using it with patients and families. The photographs are being exhibited at a rural regional gallery with several other galleries expressing interest. Other applications are being explored (e.g. conversation cards). The Dreamers highlights the importance of personal stories in overcoming the taboos around death and the value of the arts to foster community engagement and social change. © 2015, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  17. Patients' preferences for participation in treatment decision-making at the end of life: qualitative interviews with advanced cancer patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brom, Linda; Pasman, H Roeline W; Widdershoven, Guy A M; van der Vorst, Maurice J D L; Reijneveld, Jaap C; Postma, Tjeerd J; Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D

    2014-01-01

    Patients are often encouraged to participate in treatment decision-making. Most studies on this subject focus on choosing between different curative treatment types. In the last phase of life treatment decisions differ as they often put more emphasis on weighing quantity against quality of life, such as whether or not to start treatment aimed at life prolongation but with the possibility of side effects. This study aimed to obtain insight into cancer patients' preferences and the reasons for patients' preferred role in treatment decision-making at the end of life. 28 advanced cancer patients were included at the start of their first line treatment. In-depth interviews were held prior to upcoming treatment decisions whether or not to start a life prolonging treatment. The Control Preference Scale was used to start discussing the extent and type of influence patients wanted to have concerning upcoming treatment decision-making. Interviews were audio taped and transcribed. All patients wanted their physician to participate in the treatment decision-making process. The extent to which patients themselves preferred to participate seemed to depend on how patients saw their own role or assessed their own capabilities for participating in treatment decision-making. Patients foresaw a shift in the preferred level of participation to a more active role depending in the later phase of illness when life prolongation would become more limited and quality of life would become more important. Patients vary in how much involvement they would like to have in upcoming treatment decision-making. Individual patients' preferences may change in the course of the illness, with a shift to more active participation in the later phases. Communication about patients' expectations, wishes and preferences for participation in upcoming treatment decisions is of great importance. An approach in which these topics are openly discussed would be beneficial.

  18. Precision and Disclosure in Text and Voice Interviews on Smartphones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antoun, Christopher; Ehlen, Patrick; Fail, Stefanie; Hupp, Andrew L.; Johnston, Michael; Vickers, Lucas; Yan, H. Yanna; Zhang, Chan

    2015-01-01

    As people increasingly communicate via asynchronous non-spoken modes on mobile devices, particularly text messaging (e.g., SMS), longstanding assumptions and practices of social measurement via telephone survey interviewing are being challenged. In the study reported here, 634 people who had agreed to participate in an interview on their iPhone were randomly assigned to answer 32 questions from US social surveys via text messaging or speech, administered either by a human interviewer or by an automated interviewing system. 10 interviewers from the University of Michigan Survey Research Center administered voice and text interviews; automated systems launched parallel text and voice interviews at the same time as the human interviews were launched. The key question was how the interview mode affected the quality of the response data, in particular the precision of numerical answers (how many were not rounded), variation in answers to multiple questions with the same response scale (differentiation), and disclosure of socially undesirable information. Texting led to higher quality data—fewer rounded numerical answers, more differentiated answers to a battery of questions, and more disclosure of sensitive information—than voice interviews, both with human and automated interviewers. Text respondents also reported a strong preference for future interviews by text. The findings suggest that people interviewed on mobile devices at a time and place that is convenient for them, even when they are multitasking, can give more trustworthy and accurate answers than those in more traditional spoken interviews. The findings also suggest that answers from text interviews, when aggregated across a sample, can tell a different story about a population than answers from voice interviews, potentially altering the policy implications from a survey. PMID:26060991

  19. Precision and Disclosure in Text and Voice Interviews on Smartphones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schober, Michael F; Conrad, Frederick G; Antoun, Christopher; Ehlen, Patrick; Fail, Stefanie; Hupp, Andrew L; Johnston, Michael; Vickers, Lucas; Yan, H Yanna; Zhang, Chan

    2015-01-01

    As people increasingly communicate via asynchronous non-spoken modes on mobile devices, particularly text messaging (e.g., SMS), longstanding assumptions and practices of social measurement via telephone survey interviewing are being challenged. In the study reported here, 634 people who had agreed to participate in an interview on their iPhone were randomly assigned to answer 32 questions from US social surveys via text messaging or speech, administered either by a human interviewer or by an automated interviewing system. 10 interviewers from the University of Michigan Survey Research Center administered voice and text interviews; automated systems launched parallel text and voice interviews at the same time as the human interviews were launched. The key question was how the interview mode affected the quality of the response data, in particular the precision of numerical answers (how many were not rounded), variation in answers to multiple questions with the same response scale (differentiation), and disclosure of socially undesirable information. Texting led to higher quality data-fewer rounded numerical answers, more differentiated answers to a battery of questions, and more disclosure of sensitive information-than voice interviews, both with human and automated interviewers. Text respondents also reported a strong preference for future interviews by text. The findings suggest that people interviewed on mobile devices at a time and place that is convenient for them, even when they are multitasking, can give more trustworthy and accurate answers than those in more traditional spoken interviews. The findings also suggest that answers from text interviews, when aggregated across a sample, can tell a different story about a population than answers from voice interviews, potentially altering the policy implications from a survey.

  20. Precision and Disclosure in Text and Voice Interviews on Smartphones.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael F Schober

    Full Text Available As people increasingly communicate via asynchronous non-spoken modes on mobile devices, particularly text messaging (e.g., SMS, longstanding assumptions and practices of social measurement via telephone survey interviewing are being challenged. In the study reported here, 634 people who had agreed to participate in an interview on their iPhone were randomly assigned to answer 32 questions from US social surveys via text messaging or speech, administered either by a human interviewer or by an automated interviewing system. 10 interviewers from the University of Michigan Survey Research Center administered voice and text interviews; automated systems launched parallel text and voice interviews at the same time as the human interviews were launched. The key question was how the interview mode affected the quality of the response data, in particular the precision of numerical answers (how many were not rounded, variation in answers to multiple questions with the same response scale (differentiation, and disclosure of socially undesirable information. Texting led to higher quality data-fewer rounded numerical answers, more differentiated answers to a battery of questions, and more disclosure of sensitive information-than voice interviews, both with human and automated interviewers. Text respondents also reported a strong preference for future interviews by text. The findings suggest that people interviewed on mobile devices at a time and place that is convenient for them, even when they are multitasking, can give more trustworthy and accurate answers than those in more traditional spoken interviews. The findings also suggest that answers from text interviews, when aggregated across a sample, can tell a different story about a population than answers from voice interviews, potentially altering the policy implications from a survey.

  1. The Last Seat in the House: The Story of Hanley Sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, John

    Prior to the rush of live outdoor sound during the 1950s, a young, audio-savvy Bill Hanley recognized certain inadequacies within the widely used public address system marketplace. Hanley's techniques allowed him to construct systems of sound that changed what the audience heard during outdoor events. Through my research, I reveal a new insight into how Hanley and those who worked at his business (Hanley Sound) had a direct, innovative influence on specific sound applications, which are now widely used and often taken for granted. Hanley's innovations shifted an existing public address, oral-based sound industry into a new area of technology rich with clarity and intelligibility. What makes his story so unique is that, because his relationship with sound was so intimate, it superseded his immediate economic, safety, and political concerns. He acted selflessly and with extreme focus. As Hanley's reputation grew, so did audience and performer demand for clear, audible concert sound. Over time, he would provide sound for some of the largest antiwar peace rallies and concerts in American history. Hanley worked in the thickness of extreme civil unrest, not typical for the average soundman of the day. Conveniently, Hanley's passion for clarity in sound also happened to occur when popular music transitioned into an important conveyor of political message through festivals. Since May 2011 I have been exploring the life of Bill Hanley, an innovative leader in sound. I use interdisciplinary approaches to uncover cultural, historical, social, political, and psychological occasions in Hanley's life that were imperative to his ongoing development. Filmed action sequences, such as talking head interviews (friends, family members, and professional colleagues) and historical archival 8 mm footage, and family photos and music ephemera, help uncover this qualitative ethnographic analysis of not only Bill's development but also the world around him. Reflective, intimate interviews

  2. Barack Obama and His-Story : Paradox of Hybridity and Masculinity in His Autoandrography

    OpenAIRE

    瀬名波, 栄潤

    2008-01-01

    This essay, a revision of an oral presentation at NASSS, examines Barack Hussein Obama's 1995 autobiography Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance from literary perspectives as the text introduces not only a postmodern bildungsroman hero of hybridity but the author's paradoxical obsession to paternal heritage. As a result, his autoandrography, a life writing of a man about himself and by himself, represents a familiar story of a man who is trapped by the myth of masculinity. T...

  3. The Use of the Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview to Understand and Support Help Seeking After Gender-Based Violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saint Arnault, Denise M

    2017-09-01

    Gender-based violence (GBV), characterized by the abduction or rape of women and girls to humiliate, intimidate, and traumatize them and their communities, is a profoundly disturbing tactic in international conflict. Long after armed conflict has ended, survivors continue to experience physical injuries, psychological trauma, and social and cultural stigma. Guilt, shame, and continued interpersonal violence can become a normalized part of daily life, significantly challenging the road to healing and recovery. Research about self-disclosure and narrative after GBV has shown that help seeking rates are shockingly low, with estimates ranging from 4-27%. From a feminist and a humanistic perspective, studying trauma history and related help seeking is delicate work that must use interview processes that ensure the survivor can tell her story without revictimization, while also aiming to restore personal mastery, empowerment, and self-understanding. Based on theories about benefits and challenges of the narrative after GBV and trauma, we propose that the Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview (CENI) allows researchers and practitioners a safe container to examine the complex interplay between suffering, culture, and help seeking. Using this interview, the interviewer and the participant work as partners to define, compare, and contrast the socio-cultural barriers and facilitators of help seeking. This paper explains the narrative theory and the challenges and benefits of the narrative approach after trauma. Then we provide support for the use of the CENI for an understanding of the help seeking process and facilitating a health-promoting narrative interview for survivors. We then address implications for research, practice, and policy.

  4. Teaching Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stacy, Gerald

    2000-01-01

    Considers many ways to teach Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." Explores the ironic implications of Macomber's experience and compares it with the experience of Sammy in another initiation story, John Updike's "A&P." Describes how he leads the discussion about this story, and ends the discussion by…

  5. Stories after disaster survival: Preparing, heeding warnings, and self-reliance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Killian, Timothy S; Moon, Zola K; McNeill, Charleen C; Person-Michener, Joanna; Garrison, M E Betsy

    The purpose of the study was to examine the content of stories told by people personally impacted by disasters. Semistructured, qualitative interviews. Northwest part of a mid-south state. Fourteen disaster survivors who were recruited through their attendance at an emergency preparedness-related fair. Interview schedule based on previous research using the family resilience framework. Three themes emerged: prior emergency preparation, heeding warnings of impending disaster, and rural self-reliance. Participants had made prior emergency preparedness plans, but their personal experiences led to them adjusting their plans, or making more relevant plans for future disasters. Participants expressed the importance of sharing their experiences with family and community members, expressing hope that others would learn, vicariously rather than first-hand, from their experiences.

  6. What students learn about professionalism from faculty stories: an "appreciative inquiry" approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quaintance, Jennifer L; Arnold, Louise; Thompson, George S

    2010-01-01

    To develop a method for teaching professionalism by enabling students and faculty members to share positive examples of professionalism in a comfortable environment that reflects the authentic experiences of physicians. Medical educators struggle with the teaching of professionalism. Professionalism definitions can guide what they teach, but they must also consider how they teach it, and constructs such as explicit role modeling, situated learning, and appreciative inquiry provide appropriate models. The project consisted of students interviewing faculty members about their experiences with professionalism and then reflecting on and writing about the teachers' stories. In 2004, 62 students interviewed 33 faculty members, and 193 students observed the interviews. Using a project Web site, 36 students wrote 132 narratives based on the faculty's stories, and each student offered his or her reflections on one narrative. The authors analyzed the content of the narratives and reflections via an iterative process of independent coding and discussion to resolve disagreements. Results showed that the narratives were rich and generally positive; they illustrated a broad range of the principles contained in many definitions of professionalism: humanism, accountability, altruism, and excellence. The students' reflections demonstrated awareness of the same major principles of professionalism that the faculty conveyed. The reflections served to spark new ideas about professionalism, reinforce the values of professionalism, deepen students' relationships with the faculty, and heighten students' commitment to behaving professionally. Narrative storytelling, as a variant of appreciative inquiry, seems to be effective in deepening students' understanding and appreciation of professionalism.

  7. The Use of Retelling Stories Technique in Developing English Speaking Ability of Grade 9 Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sasitorn Praneetponkrang

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to advocate retelling stories technique for developing speaking ability of grade 9 students in Thailand. Morrow’s theory (1981 and other scholars in retelling stories technique are presented. This technique is integrated in the lesson plans following Morrow’s framework. Narrative text of short stories which refer to daily life and social including pictures have been used for each lesson plan.  Students are trained to work as a group using story’s mind map, illustrations, and role-playing activities in class. There are three main steps of teaching retelling stories: before retelling (alternative techniques, while retelling (students’ practice by using activities of brainstorming, role play, and discussion and retelling story. The lesson plans will be piloted with 15 9th graders. This preliminary study is expected to provide an example of useful techniques in improving speaking ability, thus, it is expected to be used in other foundation English courses for Thai students.

  8. Adolescents on the Edge: Stories and Lessons to Transform Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lent, ReLeah Cossett; Baca, Jimmy Santiago

    2010-01-01

    Fusing Jimmy Santiago Baca's talents as a writer of memoir with ReLeah Cossett Lent's expertise in building and empowering classroom communities, this book offers a completely new approach to reaching at-risk adolescents. Centered around conflicts and life-altering choices, Baca's gripping personal narratives--delivered through short stories and…

  9. Focusing the Lens to Share the Story: Using Photographs and Interviews to Explore Doctoral Students’ Sense of Well-being

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefanie Benjamin

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: This study explores PhD students’ transition into graduate school, which can be a challenging experience for many. Background: Using photographs and in-depth interviews, this study provides nuanced insight into influences on first-year PhD students’ lived experiences, with a specific focus on these students’ perceptions of doctoral student well-being. Methodology: Twenty-nine first-year biomedical science PhD students from 15 research institutions were asked to take photographs (Participant Produced Images to illuminate significant influences on their research skill acquisition. The participant-produced photographs were discussed within in-depth phone interviews allowing for a deeper understanding of their lived experiences. Contribution: While students were asked to identify factors influencing their research skill acquisition, unexpectedly, what emerged from these data was students’ clear focus on their concern for their physical and mental well-being. The researchers posit that students’ ability to create a “work-life balance” is the foundation of doctoral student success, especially in the early years of doctoral training. Findings: Findings suggest that it is essential to create a PhD culture in which students feel valued, supported, and nourished, both physically and mentally, for them to develop into successful researchers, teachers, and mentors. Recommendations for Practitioners: Findings suggest that doctoral programs must support a more collaborative work environment for students and help novice students create a work life balance, perhaps by encouraging them to pursue stimulating or fun activities outside their school environment. It is imperative for doctoral students to be confident during their doctoral studies, as a lack of confidence tends to breathe life into poor work habits that stymie well-being and happiness. Recommendation for Researchers: If doctoral programs support a culture that facilitates

  10. The participants' perspective: how biographic-narrative intervention influences identity negotiation and quality of life in aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corsten, Sabine; Schimpf, Erika J; Konradi, Jürgen; Keilmann, Annerose; Hardering, Friedericke

    2015-01-01

    People with aphasia experience a pronounced decrease in quality of life (QoL). Beyond that identity negotiation is hindered, which is crucial for QoL. Biographic-narrative approaches use life story telling to support identity (re)development after disruptive events like stroke. Because of the language deficits inherent in aphasia such 'talk-based' approaches have to be modified for an optimal use. To evaluate an adapted interdisciplinary biographic-narrative intervention using quantitative measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL) and mood. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of identity development processes in people with aphasia. Twenty-seven participants with various types of chronic aphasia were enrolled. The biographic narrative intervention consisted of five face-to-face in-depth interviews and seven group sessions conducted over 10 weeks in a mixed-method design with pre- and post-tests and a follow-up assessment 3 months post-intervention. For quantitative evaluation the Aachen Life Quality Inventory (ALQI), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the Visual Analog Mood Scales (VAMS) were used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted post-treatment, including questions concerning the participants' experiences with the intervention and identity change. Results were analysed using interpretative principles from Grounded Theory. For all 27 participants, we found significant and stable growth in HRQL. Self-reported states of mood also improved. As expected, overall cognitively based life satisfaction did not change. The interviews revealed two main categories: 'evaluation of the face-to-face interviews' and 'evaluation of the group sessions'. Further analysis found four overlapping main themes which were identified as identity issues: agency, control, disease concept and doing things. Our quantitative and qualitative results demonstrated the benefits associated with the biographic

  11. Ghost-Story Telling: Keeping It Appropriate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weintraub, Jeff

    1996-01-01

    Guidelines for telling ghost stories at camp involve considering children's fears at different ages, telling age appropriate stories, determining appropriate times for telling ghost stories, and minimizing fear when a child becomes frightened by a ghost story. Includes tips on the selection, preparation, and presentation of ghost stories. (LP)

  12. At the Membranes of Care: Stories in Narrative Medicine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charon, Rita

    2012-01-01

    Recognizing clinical medicine as a narrative undertaking fortified by learnable skills in understanding stories has helped doctors and teachers to face otherwise vexing problems in medical practice and education in the areas of professionalism, medical interviewing, reflective practice, patient-centered care, and self-awareness. The emerging practices of narrative medicine give clinicians fresh methods with which to make contact with patients and to come to understand their points of view. This essay provides a brief review of narrative theory regarding the structure of stories, suggesting that clinical texts contain and can reveal information in excess of their plots. Through close reading of the form and content of two clinical texts—an excerpt from a medical chart and a portion of an audio-taped interview with a medical student—and a reflection on a short section of a modernist novel, the author suggests ways to expand conventional medical routines of recognizing the meanings of patients' situations. The contributions of close reading and reflective writing to clinical practice may occur by increasing the capacities to perceive and then to represent the perceived, thereby making available to a writer that which otherwise might remain out of awareness. A clinical case is given to exemplify the consequences in practices of adopting the methods of narrative medicine. A metaphor of the activated cellular membrane is proposed as a figure for the effective clinician/patient contact. PMID:22373630

  13. Relation between a career and family life for English hospital consultants: qualitative, semistructured interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumelow, C; Littlejohns, P; Griffiths, S

    2000-05-27

    To explore the relation between work and family life among hospital consultants and their attitude towards the choices and constraints that influence this relation. Qualitative study of consultants' experiences and views based on tape recorded semistructured interviews. Former South Thames health region in southeast England. 202 male and female NHS hospital consultants aged between 40 to 50 years representing all hospital medical specialties. Three types of relation between work and family life (career dominant, segregated, and accommodating) were identified among hospital consultants. Most consultants had a segregated relation, although female consultants were more likely than male consultants to have a career dominant or an accommodating relation. Many male consultants and some female consultants expressed considerable dissatisfaction with the balance between their career and family life. A factor influencing this dissatisfaction was the perceived lack of choice to spend time on their personal or family life, because of the working practices and attitudes within hospital culture, if they wanted a successful career. Consultants are currently fitting in with the profession rather than the profession adapting to enable doctors to have fulfilling professional and personal lives. Current government policies to increase the medical workforce and promote family friendly policies in the NHS ought to take account of the need for a fundamental change in hospital culture to enable doctors to be more involved in their personal or family life without detriment to their career progress.

  14. Tell Me Your Story: A Pilot Narrative Medicine Curriculum During the Medicine Clerkship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chretien, Katherine C; Swenson, Rebecca; Yoon, Bona; Julian, Ricklie; Keenan, Jonathan; Croffoot, James; Kheirbek, Raya

    2015-07-01

    Narrative medicine educational interventions may enhance patient-centered care, yet most educational interventions do not involve actual patient-provider interactions, nor do they assess narrative competence, a key skill for its practice. An experiential narrative medicine curriculum for medical students was developed and piloted. The purpose of the study was to develop narrative competence, practice attentive listening, and stimulate reflection. Participants were third-year medicine clerkship students. The curriculum involved 1) an introductory session, 2) a patient storytelling activity, and 3) a group reflection session. For the storytelling activity, students elicited illness narratives in storytelling form from patients, listened attentively, wrote their versions of the story, and then read them back to patients. Five student focus groups were conducted between July 2011 and March 2012 (n = 31; 66%) to explore students' experiences, student-patient dynamics, challenges, and what they learned. Patient interviews (n = 17) on their experience were conducted in January 2013. Thematic analysis of the audiotaped stories of ten patients and corresponding student-written stories helped gauge narrative competence. The curriculum was found to be feasible and acceptable to both patients and students. Some patients and students were profoundly moved. Ongoing focus groups resulted in continual process improvement. Students' stories showed attainment of narrative competence.

  15. Exploring stories of occupational engagement in a regional secure unit

    OpenAIRE

    Morris, Karen; Cox, Diane; Ward, Kath

    2016-01-01

    Abstract This paper focuses on the occupational experiences of five men living within a forensic mental health unit over a year. This study used a descriptive qualitative case study methodology to explore the meaning and value placed on daily life (activities, occupations and routines), and how this changed over time. The men?s stories showed a complex picture of their experiences of daily life. This study demonstrated the impact of the environment on the men and the ongoing challenge of the ...

  16. Four Stories: People, Communities and Sustainability. Environments for Life Conservation Issues Forum Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, Andrew

    Education about sustainability is the foundation of conservation efforts. This publication was designed to inform and inspire individuals and communities that may be contemplating or already undertaking efforts to promote community sustainability. The four stories in this booklet are: (1) "Coastal Community Connections"; (2) "Cultivating Farm…

  17. Monoparentalidade, pobreza e resiliência: entre as crenças dos profissionais e as possibilidades da convivência familiar Single-parenthood, poverty and resilience: the professional's beliefs and the possibilities of family life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Angela Mattar Yunes

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available O presente artigo apresenta um estudo comparativo entre as crenças de agentes comunitários de saúde sobre possibilidades de resiliência em famílias monoparentais e de baixa renda e as estratégias de enfrentamento das adversidades que emergem nas histórias de vida destas famílias. Tomou-se como base a noção de resiliência aplicada à Psicologia, que se refere aos processos que explicam a superação de adversidades. Foram entrevistados quatro agentes comunitários de saúde e quatro famílias monoparentais. As estratégias metodológicas foram: entrevistas semi-estruturadas, histórias de vida, entrevista reflexiva e a análise dos dados através da grounded-theory. Os resultados revelaram crenças pessimistas dos agentes comunitários sobre o funcionamento das famílias pobres, em contraposição aos fatores indicativos de resiliência constatados nas histórias de vida destas famílias. Os resultados sinalizam para a necessidade de transformar e adequar as percepções dos agentes sociais acerca de grupos que vivem situação de pobreza.This article presents a comparative study on the health community agent's beliefs about the possibilities of resilience in low-income single-parent families and the coping strategies of these families in adverse situations that emerge from their life stories. The notion of resilience as applied in Psychology was taken as reference, which refers to the processes that explains how people overcome adversities. Four health agents and four single parent families were interviewed. The methodological strategies to guide the data analysis were: open interviews, life stories, reflexive interviews and grounded-theory. The results showed that the community agents hold pessimist beliefs about the poor families functioning in opposition to the elements that indicate resilience in these families' life stories. The results point to the need of transforming and adjusting the social agent's perceptions on groups who

  18. Using Counter-Stories to Challenge Stock Stories about Traveller Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Arcy, Kate

    2017-01-01

    Critical Race Theory (CRT) is formed from a series of different methodological tools to expose and address racism and discrimination. Counter-stories are one of these tools. This article considers the potential of counter-stories as a methodological, theoretical and practical tool to analyse existing educational inequalities for Traveller…

  19. A Little Solar Story

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ahmad, Bashir

    1997-01-01

    Experiences from use of solar cookers in India and many other places are different. But the story which is based on a field study in Gujarat state of India shows that during last twenty years there has been a tendency that many families do not continue to use their solar cookers. The study shows...... that the tendency is related with the lack of compatibility of this new technology (solar cooker) with the everyday real-life conditions of the families. In principle the findings are supported by an evaluation report on a solar cooker project in Burkina Faso. The conclusion is that the user should be involved...... in the solar cooker technological development process....

  20. A painful, never ending story: older women's experiences of living with an osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Svensson, H K; Olofsson, E H; Karlsson, J; Hansson, T; Olsson, L-E

    2016-05-01

    Vertebral compression fractures (VCF) cause pain and decreased physical ability, with no known well-established treatment. The aim of this study was to illuminate the experience of living with a VCF. The results show that fear and concerns are a major part of daily life. The women's initial contact with health-care providers should focus on making them feel acknowledged by offering person-centered and tailored support. In the past decade, osteoporotic-related fractures have become an increasingly common and costly public health problem worldwide. Vertebral compression fracture (VCF) is the second most common osteoporotic fracture, and patients with VCF describe an abrupt descent into disability, with a subsequent desire to regain independence in everyday life; however, little is known of their situation. The aim of this study was to illuminate the lived experience of women with an osteoporotic VCF. Ten women were interviewed during 2012-2013, starting with an open-ended question: could you tell me what it is like to live with a vertebral compression fracture? The verbatim transcribed interviews were analyzed using a phenomenological hermeneutical approach. The narrative provided descriptions of living in turmoil and chaos, unable to find stability in their life with little improvement regarding pain and physical function. Shifts from periods of constant pain to periods of fear of constant pain created a loss of confidence and an increased sense of confinement. The structural analysis revealed fear and concerns as the most prominent experience building on five themes: struggling to understand a deceiving body, breakthrough pain fueling fear, fearing a trajectory into isolation, concerns of dependency, and fearing an uncertain future. Until researchers find a successful prevention or medical/surgical treatment for osteoporotic VCFs, health-care providers and society abandon these women to remain in a painful and never ending story.

  1. The Life Story Method in research about self-perception of people with special educational needs

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    Rosana Glat

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The present text discusses self-perception of people who are stigmatized due to intellectual (mental, sensorial and /or physical handicapped; global developmental disturbance or high abilities. For this aim, it analyses a group of researches (Master dissertations and PhD thesis in the field of Special Education in Graduate programs in Education and Psychology of Brazilian universities. All these studies had as theoretical-methodological reference the Life History Method, which utilizes as main data collection instrument the open interview, without a pre-determined guide. The data analyzed pointed out the validity of the Life History method for researches in Special Education and other areas of the so-called Applied Social and Human Sciences, since, among other aspects, it allows a descriptive-analytical global view of the situation or group under investigation. This methodology shows not only de needs and expectations of these groups of subjects, but, maybe even more important, the way in which the services and professionals that are in their disposition are being (or not effective. Life History research, therefore, besides the analysis of the daily experience, has, in itself, a propositional impact since the subject when narrating his life experiences, also reflects upon it, and points out his needs and strategies in order to adapt or overcome the restrictions imposed by his stigmatized condition.

  2. Domestic Violence Against Partners According to Wife-Beaters: Construction of Lifestyle and Life Meaning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vignansky, Efrat; Timor, Uri

    2017-08-01

    This qualitative study examines the life stories of men who committed violent crimes against their intimate partners, for which they have served prison sentences. For the study, nine men in a rehabilitation hostel in Israel were interviewed. The study aim was to understand the psychological process that had brought the participants to behave violently towards their partners. Narrative analysis of the life stories resulted in two main themes. The first, childhood, was related to how the interviewee during his childhood perceived his personal identity and his parents. The second theme represented the adult interviewee's worldview of violence in general and of intimate partner violence in particular. The findings revealed a subjective feeling of inferiority and lack of worth and volition during childhood, a feeling of chaos, and the absence of existential meaning. To avoid these feelings in adulthood, the participants chose a lifestyle that included the use of force and violence, which provided them with a sense of control and meaning. Discussion of the findings is based on the individual psychology theory of Adler and his followers, as well as on the existentialist orientation. According to these approaches, the study participants, who lacked a sense of positive "existential being," developed a negative lifestyle that enabled them to feel a sense of security, value, and meaning.

  3. The Difference between Right and Wrong: Accuracy of Older and Younger Adults’ Story Recall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Danielle K.; Alea, Nicole; Bluck, Susan

    2015-01-01

    Sharing stories is an important social activity in everyday life. This study used fine-grained content analysis to investigate the accuracy of recall of two central story elements: the gist and detail of socially-relevant stories. Younger (M age = 28.06) and older (M age = 75.03) American men and women (N = 63) recalled fictional stories that were coded for (i) accuracy of overall gist and specific gist categories and (ii) accuracy of overall detail and specific detail categories. Findings showed no age group differences in accuracy of overall gist or detail, but differences emerged for specific categories. Older adults more accurately recalled the gist of when the event occurred whereas younger adults more accurately recalled the gist of why the event occurred. These differences were related to episodic memory ability and education. For accuracy in recalling details, there were some age differences, but gender differences were more robust. Overall, women remembered details of these social stories more accurately than men, particularly time and perceptual details. Women were also more likely to accurately remember the gist of when the event occurred. The discussion focuses on how accurate recall of socially-relevant stories is not clearly age-dependent but is related to person characteristics such as gender and episodic memory ability/education. PMID:26404344

  4. The Difference between Right and Wrong: Accuracy of Older and Younger Adults' Story Recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Danielle K; Alea, Nicole; Bluck, Susan

    2015-09-02

    Sharing stories is an important social activity in everyday life. This study used fine-grained content analysis to investigate the accuracy of recall of two central story elements: the gist and detail of socially-relevant stories. Younger (M age = 28.06) and older (M age = 75.03) American men and women (N = 63) recalled fictional stories that were coded for (i) accuracy of overall gist and specific gist categories and (ii) accuracy of overall detail and specific detail categories. Findings showed no age group differences in accuracy of overall gist or detail, but differences emerged for specific categories. Older adults more accurately recalled the gist of when the event occurred whereas younger adults more accurately recalled the gist of why the event occurred. These differences were related to episodic memory ability and education. For accuracy in recalling details, there were some age differences, but gender differences were more robust. Overall, women remembered details of these social stories more accurately than men, particularly time and perceptual details. Women were also more likely to accurately remember the gist of when the event occurred. The discussion focuses on how accurate recall of socially-relevant stories is not clearly age-dependent but is related to person characteristics such as gender and episodic memory ability/education.

  5. The Difference between Right and Wrong: Accuracy of Older and Younger Adults’ Story Recall

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danielle K. Davis

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Sharing stories is an important social activity in everyday life. This study used fine-grained content analysis to investigate the accuracy of recall of two central story elements: the gist and detail of socially-relevant stories. Younger (M age = 28.06 and older (M age = 75.03 American men and women (N = 63 recalled fictional stories that were coded for (i accuracy of overall gist and specific gist categories and (ii accuracy of overall detail and specific detail categories. Findings showed no age group differences in accuracy of overall gist or detail, but differences emerged for specific categories. Older adults more accurately recalled the gist of when the event occurred whereas younger adults more accurately recalled the gist of why the event occurred. These differences were related to episodic memory ability and education. For accuracy in recalling details, there were some age differences, but gender differences were more robust. Overall, women remembered details of these social stories more accurately than men, particularly time and perceptual details. Women were also more likely to accurately remember the gist of when the event occurred. The discussion focuses on how accurate recall of socially-relevant stories is not clearly age-dependent but is related to person characteristics such as gender and episodic memory ability/education.

  6. Artifacts as Stories: Understanding Families, Digital Literacies, and Storied Lives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis Ellison, Tisha

    2016-01-01

    This column focuses on the interactions during family and group conversation circles that not only helped participants talk about personal, emotional, and social issues in their digital stories but also helped them make sense of artifacts and the meanings that stories carry in shared spaces and practices. This work adds to the bourgeoning…

  7. Disrupting the habit of interviewing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eileen Honan

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper contributes to the growing domain of ‘post-qualitative’ research and experiments with a new (representational form to move away from traditional and clichéd descriptions of research methods. In this paper, I want to interrogate the category of interview, and the habit of interviewing, to disrupt the clichés, so as to allow thinking of different ways of writing/speaking/representing the interactions between researcher and researched that will breathe new life into qualitative inquiries. I will attempt to flatten and shred, destabilise and disrupt our common-sense ideas about interview, including those held most sacred to the qualitative community, that of anonymity and confidentiality, as well as the privilege of the ‘transcript’ in re-presenting interview data.

  8. An Analysis on Effects of Story Mapping in Writing Short Stories in EFL Classes, Iraqi Case

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    Emine Bala

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In this study, it is investigated that how much story map graphic organizers contribute to foster writing short stories. Eighteen EFL students from foundation year were randomly chosen and provided eight writing courses. First, the writing teacher provided a topic to the students for each course, and asked them to write three short stories about given topics. In the following two lessons, the instructor introduced graphic organizers and taught the elements of short story to the students. Later, they were given another three topics for the following three courses to create short stories using story map graphic organizers created by writing teacher. Then, the researcher selected two of their first and second pieces randomly and developed a scale to assess the students’ first and second products. The results were classified by including story elements.in two tables as percentage.

  9. Randomized controlled trial of SecondStory, an intervention targeting posttraumatic growth, with bereaved adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roepke, Ann Marie; Tsukayama, Eli; Forgeard, Marie; Blackie, Laura; Jayawickreme, Eranda

    2018-06-01

    People often report positive psychological changes after adversity, a phenomenon known as posttraumatic growth (PTG). Few PTG-focused interventions have been rigorously tested, and measurement strategies have had significant limitations. This study evaluated the effects of a new group-format psychosocial intervention, SecondStory, aimed at facilitating PTG by helping participants make meaning of the past and plan a purposeful future. In a randomized controlled trial, adults (N = 112, 64% women) bereaved within 5 years were randomly assigned to SecondStory or an active control, expressive writing. The primary outcome, PTG, was measured using two contrasting methods: the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, which asks participants retrospectively how much they believe they have changed due to struggling with adversity, and the Current-Standing Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, which tracks quantifiable change in participants' standing in PTG domains over time. Secondary outcomes included depression symptoms, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and life satisfaction. Outcomes were measured at 2-week intervals: pretest, posttest, and three follow-up occasions. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to assess whether SecondStory participants experienced greater gains in primary and/or secondary outcomes over the 8-week trial. Results indicated that SecondStory participants did not show significantly greater improvements than control participants on measures of PTG, posttraumatic stress, or life satisfaction, but they did show greater decreases in depression symptoms by the first follow-up. These findings suggest that SecondStory may not facilitate PTG more effectively than existing interventions but may be promising for addressing depression. Positive interventions may productively be refined to support people experiencing trauma and loss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Can All Doctors Be Like This? Seven Stories of Communication Transformation Told by Physicians Rated Highest by Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janisse, Tom; Tallman, Karen

    2017-01-01

    The top predictors of patient satisfaction with clinical visits are the quality of the physician-patient relationship and the communications contributing to their relationship. How do physicians improve their communication, and what effect does it have on them? This article presents the verbatim stories of seven high-performing physicians describing their transformative change in the areas of communication, connection, and well-being. Data for this study are based on interviews from a previous study in which a 6-question set was posed, in semistructured 60-minute interviews, to 77 of the highest-performing Permanente Medical Group physicians in 4 Regions on the "Art of Medicine" patient survey. Transformation stories emerged spontaneously during the interviews, and so it was an incidental finding when some physicians identified that they were not always high performing in their communication with patients. Seven different modes of transformation in communication were described by these physicians: a listening tool, an awareness course, finding new meaning in clinical practice, a technologic tool, a sudden insight, a mentor observation, and a physician-as-patient experience. These stories illustrate how communication skills can be learned through various activities and experiences that transform physicians into those who are highly successful communicators. All modes result in a change of state-a new way of seeing, of being-and are not just a new tool or a new practice, but a change in state of mind. This state resulted in a marked change of behavior, and a substantial improvement of communication and relationship.

  11. Characterizing lifespan development of three aspects of coherence in life narratives: a cohort-sequential study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Köber, Christin; Schmiedek, Florian; Habermas, Tilmann

    2015-02-01

    The ability to narrate stories and a synchronic self-concept develop in the pre- and primary school years. Life story theory proposes that both developments extend to an even later developmental stage, that is, to adolescents' acquisition of a coherent life story. Cross-sectional evidence supports the emergence of a life story in adolescence, but is mixed in terms of later life span development. The present study examines longitudinally the development of global coherence in life narratives across almost the entire life span. Starting in 2003, a total of 172 participants narrated their lives over the course of 8 years (aged 16, 20, 24, 28, 44, and 69 when last tested) resulting in up to 4 life narratives per person. Three aspects of global life narrative coherence--temporal, causal-motivational, and thematic coherence--were measured with global ratings and predicted by their respective textual indicators. Children lacked most aspects of global coherence. Almost all indicators of temporal and causal-motivational coherence increased substantially across adolescence up to early adulthood, as did thematic coherence, which continued to develop throughout middle adulthood. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  12. Anatomy of the story: Narratives of mortuary science learners and graduates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno, Jose Luis

    Using the anatomy of the story as a framework (Guajardo & Guajardo, 2010), this qualitative study reports the narratives of nine Mortuary Science learners and graduates from an accredited two-year Mortuary Science program in Texas. The research questions are: (1) What can we learn from the narratives of Mortuary Science learners and graduates? (2) What are the learning journeys of nine individuals currently enrolled or graduated from an accredited two-year Mortuary Science program? (3) What challenges and successes have they experienced during their residence in the program, their internship, and the process of obtaining a license? Data collected for the study include platicas (conversational interviews), artifacts, documents, and the researcher's analytic journal. Data analysis was multilayered and included several phases. First, MAXQDA software served to code the data using a priory codes (navel, heart, mind, hands, and legs) as the study framework. Next, the coded data were retrieved into a separate Word document to code it again for triangulation purposes. Narrative analysis techniques (story as data collection and data analysis) were at the center of reporting study findings to be faithful to storytelling and the anatomy of the story framework. This dissertation is divided into four main parts plus Appendix. Part I, Anatomy of the story, presents the research questions and the guidelines for the anatomy of the story to guide the reader on what to expect in this dissertation. Part II, Visualizing the main characters of the story, provides a rich description of the study participants---the navel. Part III, The main elements of the story, presents the heart, mind, hands, and legs of the story in separate sections. Part IV, Stories harvested for new beginnings, discusses the main learning product of analyzing the collective story of learners and graduates. The Appendix section of the dissertation includes important pieces explaining the elements that are expected

  13. EXAMINATION OF GULTEN DAYIOGLU’S CHILDREN STORIES ACCORDING TO THE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bekir GÖKÇE*

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The story is one of the literary products, making the taste of reading at the children. However, it is important that the relationship constituted by reading influence the life of the child. This case get attention of researchers and studies on the stories and become the subject of several scientific research. In this study, it considered 67 stories found in Gulten Dayıoglu’s 12 story books who is one of the leading writers of children literature. And it analyzed, by the method of “story map” used for the apprehension of text, 12 stories that are named of 12 story book of Dayıoglu. It concluded then that the method of the story map account plays an important role in the development of four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing. Öykü, çocuğa okumayı sevdiren edebî metinlerden biridir. Okuma yoluyla kurulan bu ilişki, çocuğu yaşam boyu etkiler. Bu durum, araştırmacıların dikkatini çekmiş; öykü üzerine yapılan incelemeler birçok bilimsel araştırmanın konusu olmuştur. Bu çalışmada; çocuk edebiyatının önde gelen yazarlarından Gülten Dayıoğlu’nun çocuklar için yazdığı 12 öykü kitabında bulunan 67 öykü değerlendirilmiştir. Ancak çalışmanın kapsamı içinde her öykü kitabına ad olan toplam 12 öykü, metin öğretiminde kullanılan “hikâye haritası” yöntemine göre çözümlenmiştir. Öykülerin çözümlenmesinde kullanılan hikâye haritası yönteminin dört temel dil becerisinin (dinleme, konuşma, okuma, yazma gelişiminde önemli bir rol oynadığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

  14. Discourse and Gender in Stories of Men and Women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elsa María Ortiz Casallas

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Young men and women create speeches and stories based on their experiences and everyday life. That is why their notions and ways of referring to realities, are closely linked to their gender. These modes –for this particular case– explicit in lexical categories (adjectives, topics, and use of metaphors, which are generically understood as tropes of thinking, finely link thought to language.

  15. Older adults' attitudes about continuing cancer screening later in life: a pilot study interviewing residents of two continuing care communities

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    Walter Louise C

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Individualized decision making has been recommended for cancer screening decisions in older adults. Because older adults' preferences are central to individualized decisions, we assessed older adults' perspectives about continuing cancer screening later in life. Methods Face to face interviews with 116 residents age 70 or over from two long-term care retirement communities. Interview content included questions about whether participants had discussed cancer screening with their physicians since turning age 70, their attitudes about information important for individualized decisions, and their attitudes about continuing cancer screening later in life. Results Forty-nine percent of participants reported that they had an opportunity to discuss cancer screening with their physician since turning age 70; 89% would have preferred to have had these discussions. Sixty-two percent believed their own life expectancy was not important for decision making, and 48% preferred not to discuss life expectancy. Attitudes about continuing cancer screening were favorable. Most participants reported that they would continue screening throughout their lives and 43% would consider getting screened even if their doctors recommended against it. Only 13% thought that they would not live long enough to benefit from cancer screening tests. Factors important to consider stopping include: age, deteriorating or poor health, concerns about the effectiveness of the tests, and doctors recommendations. Conclusion This select group of older adults held positive attitudes about continuing cancer screening later in life, and many may have had unrealistic expectations. Individualized decision making could help clarify how life expectancy affects the potential survival benefits of cancer screening. Future research is needed to determine whether educating older adults about the importance of longevity in screening decisions would be acceptable, affect older adults

  16. Stories of pain and health by elderly Pakistani women in Norway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sverre, Beate Lie; Solbrække, Kari Nyheim; Eilertsen, Grethe

    2014-11-01

    This ethnographic study investigates the stories of elderly Pakistani women living in Norway. Migration studies indicate that elderly migrant women are passive, ill victims caught in a marginalized position due to age, ethnicity and gender, and thus have little access to opposition and agency. To broaden the picture it is necessary to develop an innovative approach to understand what is implicated in the process of migration. The importance of considering life conditions that surrounds potential health promotion behaviors of immigrants is stressed by several researchers. However, up to now limited research guided by this perspective has been done in Norway. Therefore, this study explored how elderly Pakistani women in Norway promote their health and well-being through some distinct social interactions. The intention is to bring awareness to how health, even by so-called disadvantaged social groups, may take place. These practices are important to take into consideration when developing health-promoting policies for elderly immigrants. An ethnographic study of 15 Pakistani women, aged 53-75, was carried out in a multisided fieldwork in Oslo using participant observation and ethnographic interviews. The analytical approach was inspired by the constructivist theoretical framework of narrative ethnography. The elderly Pakistani women in Norway construct stories of living in-between cultures and experiences of acculturative stress caused by being elderly, immigrants and women. However, this analysis also suggests that through distinct social relationships, primarily in the context of a voluntary organization, elderly Pakistani women do health by the way they interact and construct a repertoire of social identities. The healing practices taking place among elderly Pakistani women may counteract the negative health outcomes associated with age, migration and gender implications for immigrant health-promoting policy in Norway may be to increase the establishment and

  17. The Singapore research story

    CERN Document Server

    Teck Seng, Low; Thampuran, Raj

    2016-01-01

    Ever since Singapore became independent in 1965, its leaders have invested tremendous efforts and resources to develop its economy in order to create jobs for its people and to support national development. This book describes the challenging journey of Singapore in developing a knowledge-based economy driven by research and innovation and the roles played by research institutes, universities, research manpower and appropriate collaboration between research institutes and industry. The book traces the foundations of Singapore's research story from the time of its independence in 1965 to the present day. Through interviews with the key players and research into the records, the establishment of the key institutes and the roles of a global cast of researchers, scientists and engineers in setting up the R&D infrastructure are outlined. The impact that the concerted efforts of the last 25 years to build up a credible and world-class research capability in Singapore is discussed, as are the tremendous challeng...

  18. An Interview with Stella Adler.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rotte, Joanna

    2002-01-01

    Details the life of Stella Adler, an actor, director, and teacher who studied with Stanislavsky. Includes an interview (conducted in 1974) which touches on her influences, teachers, theatre groups, and styles of acting. (PM)

  19. An Extended Positioning Analysis of a Pre-Service Teacher's "Better Life" Small Story

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barkhuizen, Gary

    2010-01-01

    The analysis of narrative data in applied linguistics has focused to varying degrees on their content, form, and context, with content and thematic analyses being the focus in much of the narrative research in language learning and teaching (Pavlenko 2007). The aim of this article is to report on a positioning analysis of a small story about the…

  20. Hypnosis is More Effective than Clinical Interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeida-Marques, Francisco Xavier De; Sánchez-Blanco, José; Cano-García, Francisco Javier

    2018-01-01

    To determine whether hypnosis is more effective than conventional interviewing to find traumatic life events in patients with fibromyalgia, we carried out a within-subject experimental design with complete intragroup counterbalancing. Thirty-two women under care in a public primary care center gave 2 identical interviews, with an interval of 3 months, in which the occurrence of traumatic life events was explored, once in a state of wakefulness and once in a state of hypnosis. The state of consciousness was evaluated using 3 measures: bispectral index, skin conductance level, and pain intensity. In the hypnotic state, the patients expressed 9.8 times more traumatic life events than in the waking state, a statistically significant difference with a large effect size.

  1. Archrtypal Analysis of Bijan and Manije Story

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tayebeh Jafari

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available  Abstract Manije and Bijan story, a poem by a great poet, Firdausi Tousi, like his other stories in Shahname is a story which can be analyzed by archetyoal approach. According to this approach, this story can be considered as the individuation of here of this story, Bijan, who voluntarily enters into the individuation and psychological growth by being called. In his perfection cycle which is started and in Iran, by the trickery of evil wise old (gorgin, Bijan meets his Anima of unconscious. Bijan, who lived in Ashkanian era as some researchers believe, is one of the prime characters in Shahnameh. From mythical point of view, Bijan story, which is known as one of ancient myths, is the indicator of feminine society in Iran. Bijan story, like Bahram Chobin, Rustam and Sohrab, Ardeshir Babakan, and Rustam and Esfandiar, is an independent story added to Shahnameh. The comparison of Bijan story with other stories of Shahnameh represents this issue that Ferdowsi composed Bijan story in his youth and just after Daghighi’s death. Because Bijan story, like most other stories of Shahnameh and other myths, has a quite symbolic structure and motifs, Jung archetypal point of view is helpful to discover a lot of mysteries. In the present article, Bijan story is analyzed from Jung’s archetypal point of view. According to this theory, there are a lot of symbols, motifs and archetypes in this story. There is a united structure in every story formed base on its plot thus, to discover the structure of a symbolic story is an important act.   The symbolic motif of Bijan story is reaching the perfection and the story structure is completely commensurate with this motif the move is started from Iran, which is the indicator of Bijan story’s consciousness, then the hero after getting individual experience in land of unconscious, Turan, comes back to Iran. Bijan voluntary goes on a dangerous and symbolic way as the hero. Actually he is the portrayal

  2. Data Stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Watts, Laura; Nafus, Dawn

    2013-01-01

    ‘Big Data’ rises and accumulates today from so much of our activity, off and online, that our lives seem almost suffused by ‘The Cloud’. But perhaps data might be otherwise? In this collection, Laura Watts and Dawn Nafus, two ethnographers, bring together stories from different data sites: from...... the marine energy industry, and from the Quantified Self movement. These Data Stories speak, not of clouds, but of transformations: in things, in energy, and in experience....

  3. Interviewing in Virtual Worlds: A Phenomenological Study Exploring the Success Factors of Job Applicants Utilizing Second Life to Gain Employment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koufoudakis-Whittington, Stefania

    2014-01-01

    This study explored the phenomenon of success factors of job applicants utilizing Second Life to gain employment. The study focused on identifying the perception of what qualified as a successful interview through the lived common experiences of 16 employment recruiters. The research problem was that a gap existed in scholarly research on…

  4. The archetypal criticism of "Hooshroba Castle" story

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jalil Moshydy

    2017-04-01

    .“Universal archetypes are the collective unconscious and are inherited from our ancestors” (Cuddon, 1380: 39. The basic fact of life archetype such as birth, growing up, love, family and tribal life, death ...at the same concepts as the archetype known myths. Elements such as death and rebirth, hero's journey, an old wise man, anima and animus, shadow. The archetypal criticism based on inter-textuality to look at the literature and a relationship based on dialogue among literary works have been written based on archetypes believes. "Zat os-Sovar Castle" storyis one of the most mysterious talesof Masnavi and it is more mysteriously unfinished. Checking archetypal story of "Zat os-Sovar Castle"shows that archetype in this story has a special place. The story begins with the heroes of the adventure trip which is known archetypes. The old wise man in the form of three characters, namely the father, the old man will appear enlightened and king China. King of China's daughter the owner image of the beautiful castle, man is a manifestation of the female psyche Anima they say. Shadow of the dark side of the human psyche and the origin of evil traits, in the second brother to be seen and adverse effects on the soul leaves his. Mask or persona archetype also is seen in the behavior of the king of China When unaware that his show and the secret are their spiritual brothers. The loss of brothers and another brother replacing the frequently happens in the story, reminiscent of the archetype of death and rebirth is and in the end, according to the story's elements and characters, the myth of the creation of the first man to be seen. By analyzing this archetype can be hidden concepts in this part of the Masnavi and realized similar literary works and the benefit.

  5. 'I am not the kind of woman who complains of everything': illness stories on self and shame in women with chronic pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werner, Anne; Isaksen, Lise Widding; Malterud, Kirsti

    2004-09-01

    In this study, we explore issues of self and shame in illness accounts from women with chronic pain. We focused on how these issues within their stories were shaped according to cultural discourses of gender and disease. A qualitative study was conducted with in-depth interviews including a purposeful sampling of 10 women of varying ages and backgrounds with chronic muscular pain. The women described themselves in various ways as 'strong', and expressed their disgust regarding talk of illness of other women with similar pain. The material was interpreted within a feminist frame of reference, inspired by narrative theory and discourse analysis. We read the women's descriptions of their own (positive) strength and the (negative) illness talk of others as a moral plot and argumentation, appealing to a public audience of health personnel, the general public, and the interviewer: As a plot, their stories attempt to cope with psychological and alternative explanations of the causes of their pain. As performance, their stories attempt to cope with the scepticism and distrust they report having been met with. Finally, as arguments, their stories attempt to convince us about the credibility of their pain as real and somatic rather than imagined or psychological. In several ways, the women negotiated a picture of themselves that fits with normative, biomedical expectations of what illness is and how it should be performed or lived out in 'storied form' according to a gendered work of credibility as woman and as ill. Thus, their descriptions appear not merely in terms of individual behaviour, but also as organized by medical discourses of gender and diseases. Behind their stories, we hear whispered accounts relating to the medical narrative about hysteria; rejections of the stereotype medical discourse of the crazy, lazy, illness-fixed or weak woman.

  6. Learning motivational interviewing in a real-life setting: a randomised controlled trial in the Swedish Prison Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forsberg, Lars; Ernst, Denise; Farbring, Carl Åke

    2011-07-01

    Motivational interviewing (MI) is a client-centred, directive counselling style for helping people to explore and resolve ambivalence about behaviour change and shown to decrease drug and alcohol use. A five-session semi-structured MI intervention [Beteende, Samtal, Förändring (BSF; Behaviour, Counselling, Change)] was implemented in Swedish prisons. To examine whether, in a real-life implementation of semi-structured MI, staff receiving ongoing MI training, based on audio-recorded feedback in peer groups (BSF+), possess greater MI skill compared with staff receiving workshop-only MI training (BSF), and staff conducting usual prison planning interviews (UPI). Prisoners were randomised to one of the three interventions. The fi rst sessions between staff and prisoner with complete data were assessed with the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code 3.0. Content analysis of 45 staff: prisoner sessions revealed that counsellors in the BSF+ group were significantly more competent in MI than those in the UPI group, but there was no difference in MI competency between the BSF and UPI groups. Overall, staff were rated as not having achieved beginning proficiency. Our findings suggest that staff delivering motivational interviewing programmes for substance-misusing prisoners in Sweden are not being given sufficient training for the task. Previous literature has suggested that staff need more than a basic 3- to 5-day workshop training, but our findings suggest that they may need longer-term continuing supervision and support than previously recognised.

  7. The Role of Orbitofrontal Cortex in Processing Empathy Stories in 4- to 8-Year-Old Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brink, Tila Tabea; Urton, Karolina; Held, Dada; Kirilina, Evgeniya; Hofmann, Markus J.; Klann-Delius, Gisela; Jacobs, Arthur M.; Kuchinke, Lars

    2010-01-01

    This study investigates the neuronal correlates of empathic processing in children aged 4–8 years, an age range discussed to be crucial for the development of empathy. Empathy, defined as the ability to understand and share another person's inner life, consists of two components: affective (emotion-sharing) and cognitive empathy (Theory of Mind). We examined the hemodynamic responses of preschool and school children (N = 48), while they processed verbal (auditory) and non-verbal (cartoons) empathy stories in a passive following paradigm, using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. To control for the two types of empathy, children were presented blocks of stories eliciting either affective or cognitive empathy, or neutral scenes which relied on the understanding of physical causalities. By contrasting the activations of the younger and older children, we expected to observe developmental changes in brain activations when children process stories eliciting empathy in either stimulus modality toward a greater involvement of anterior frontal brain regions. Our results indicate that children's processing of stories eliciting affective and cognitive empathy is associated with medial and bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activation. In contrast to what is known from studies using adult participants, no additional recruitment of posterior brain regions was observed, often associated with the processing of stories eliciting empathy. Developmental changes were found only for stories eliciting affective empathy with increased activation, in older children, in medial OFC, left inferior frontal gyrus, and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Activations for the two modalities differ only little, with non-verbal presentation of the stimuli having a greater impact on empathy processing in children, showing more similarities to adult processing than the verbal one. This might be caused by the fact that non-verbal processing develops earlier in life and is more

  8. Introducing Interactive Technology--"Toy Story 3"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikirk, Martin

    2011-01-01

    "To infinity and beyond!" is the catchphrase of Buzz Lightyear, Universe Protection Unit space ranger, a character in the Disney/Pixar "Toy Story" franchise. The three films in the franchise--"Toy Story," 1993; "Toy Story 2," 1999; and "Toy Story 3," 2010--incorporate an innovative blend of many different genres, having spun off video games and…

  9. Reliving Island Life: Staging Stories of the Blasket Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daithí Kearney

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The Blasket Islands are located off the south-west coast of Ireland. No longer inhabited, the Great Blasket Island and its distinctive culture have been documented by a variety of writers and are celebrated today in an interpretative centre on the mainland and in performances by Siamsa Tíre, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland. “Siamsa” developed from local initiatives in North Kerry during the early 1960s and is located today in Tralee, Co. Kerry. It aims to present Irish folklore and folk culture through the medium of theatre involving music, song, dance and mime but invariably no dialogue. In this paper, I focus on the production Oiléan, based loosely on the stories of the Blasket Islanders, which was initially devised as part of the fiftieth anniversary commemoration of the departure of the last inhabitants of the islands in 2003.

  10. Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Biljana Vlašković Ilić

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi, the winner of numerous prestigious awards, was described as“very bold and extreme with a wonderful central idea” (Irish Examiner 2002. The “central idea” of the novel has been described differently by readers and literary critics around the world. For many, it is Pi’s relationship with the tiger, Richard Parker; for some, it is the decentering of humans in favour of animals; and yet for others, the central idea of Life of Pi lies in Martel’s unusual treatment of religions and their role in human life. In this paper we argue that that the main idea of the novel is Martel’s ecocriticism of humanity in general, and especially the tendency of humans to put themselves at the center of any story, whether about animals or gods. Martel creates a tangled web of many different stories which define Pi’s life in order to prioritize the role of fiction in the development of human personality and dissect the relations between the human, the natural world, and the text. Although he favors the animal story, the final chapter reveals that the only story humans find “real” is the one in which animals are seen as anthropomorphic.

  11. Writing Stories in the Sciences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Eunbae; Maerz, John C.

    2015-01-01

    Writing stories is advocated as an excellent means of learning the process of science; however, little is understood about students' experiences of engaging in story writing in postsecondary science courses. The study described in this article was designed to improve the practice of using stories in science by examining students' lived experience…

  12. Ama Ata Aidoo's The Girl Who Can and Other Stories : Creating ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    That is why feminists like Ama Ata Aidoo and the rest strive to create political space for women in nation–building in fiction so that other women can emulate such successful female characters in everyday life. In the following short stories in this collection, Aidoo breaks down complacencies and reveals that most of those ...

  13. Telling stories: opportunities for word-of-mouth communication.

    OpenAIRE

    Cownie, Fiona

    2017-01-01

    Word-of-mouth is an important aspect of marketing communications and can be conceived as the story-telling of everyday life. This working paper suggests that marketing communicators’ understanding of word-of-mouth might usefully be enhanced by the consideration of the tools of the screenwriter, in particular the premise and the active question. The jeopardy of the premise and unresolved nature of the active questions the premise generates may contribute to the potency of word-of-mouth message...

  14. Family scenarios and violence: a clinical case story

    OpenAIRE

    Gabriella Ferrari Bravo; Caterina Arcidiacono

    2014-01-01

    This article describes the acceptance and taking-charge process of a history of incest involving a father and his daughter. This case arrived through an ad hoc telephone line set up by a territorial service aimed at listening, counselling, and treating problems and conflicts inherent in family life. The mother made the first contact with this service, ten years after the event. The case story is geared to outlining the development of the relational events within the pa...

  15. 'I would be sitting in the village room where people gather.’ Interview with Martin van Bruinessen

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruinessen, M.M. van; Ray, M. Le

    2006-01-01

    Interview conducted by Marie Le Ray, Utrecht, 23/12/06. EJTS: Could you introduce yourself and let us know more specifically how you got interested in the Kurdish question as a scholar? [2] Martin Van Bruinessen: It is a story that I have told too many times and it has become perhaps too

  16. Storytelling? Everyone Has a Story

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Cynthia

    2012-01-01

    School librarians can assume an important role in preserving and perpetuating the oral tradition. The same skills and techniques when telling a personal story can be transmitted to telling various kinds of stories from literature and history. For school librarians to be successful storytellers, they need to select stories that they like and enjoy…

  17. Discussing End-of-Life Decisions in a Clinical Ethics Committee: An Interview Study of Norwegian Doctors' Experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahus, Marianne K; Førde, Reidun

    2016-09-01

    With disagreement, doubts, or ambiguous grounds in end-of-life decisions, doctors are advised to involve a clinical ethics committee (CEC). However, little has been published on doctors' experiences with discussing an end-of-life decision in a CEC. As part of the quality assurance of this work, we wanted to find out if clinicians have benefited from discussing end-of-life decisions in CECs and why. We will disseminate some Norwegian doctors' experiences when discussing end-of-life decisions in CECs, based on semi-structured interviews with fifteen Norwegian physicians who had brought an end-of-life decision case to a CEC. Almost half of the cases involved conflicts with the patients' relatives. In a majority of the cases, there was uncertainty about what would be the ethically preferable solution. Reasons for referring the case to the CEC were to get broader illumination of the case, to get perspective from people outside the team, to get advice, or to get moral backing on a decision already made. A great majority of the clinicians reported an overall positive experience with the CECs' discussions. In cases where there was conflict, the clinicians reported less satisfaction with the CECs' discussions. The study shows that most doctors who have used a CEC in an end-of-life decision find it useful to have ethical and/or legal aspects illuminated, and to have the dilemma scrutinized from a new perspective. A systematic discussion seems to be significant to the clinicians.

  18. Once upon an algorithm how stories explain computing

    CERN Document Server

    Erwig, Martin

    2017-01-01

    How Hansel and Gretel, Sherlock Holmes, the movie Groundhog Day, Harry Potter, and other familiar stories illustrate the concepts of computing. Picture a computer scientist, staring at a screen and clicking away frantically on a keyboard, hacking into a system, or perhaps developing an app. Now delete that picture. In Once Upon an Algorithm, Martin Erwig explains computation as something that takes place beyond electronic computers, and computer science as the study of systematic problem solving. Erwig points out that many daily activities involve problem solving. Getting up in the morning, for example: You get up, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. This simple daily routine solves a recurring problem through a series of well-defined steps. In computer science, such a routine is called an algorithm. Erwig illustrates a series of concepts in computing with examples from daily life and familiar stories. Hansel and Gretel, for example, execute an algorithm to get home from the forest. The movie Groundho...

  19. Connecting People to Place: Stories, Science, Deep Maps, and Geo-Quests for Place-Based Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagley, C. A.; Silbernagel, J.; Host, G.; Hart, D. A.; Axler, R.; Fortner, R. W.; Axler, M.; Smith, V.; Drewes, A.; Bartsch, W.; Danz, N.; Mathews, J.; Wagler, M.

    2016-02-01

    The St. Louis River Estuary project (stlouisriverestuary.org) is about connecting the stories with the science of this special place to enhance spatial awareness and stewardship of the estuary. The stories, or spatial narratives, are told through vignettes of local resource activities, framed by perspectives of local people. The spatial narratives, developed through interviews and research, target six key activities of the estuary. The science is based on stressor gradients research, incorporating factors such as population and road density, pollutant point source density, and land use. The stressor gradient developed based on these factors was used as a basis for sampling water quality and plant and macroinvertebrate communities, with the intent of quantifying relationships between land-based stressors and aquatic ecosystem indicators of condition. The stories and science are interwoven, located in place on a Deep Map, and played out in GeoQuests to illustrate the complexity and multiple perspectives within the estuary's social, economic and ecological systems. Students, decision-makers, and Lake Superior enthusiasts can engage more deeply in the complexity of the stories and science by challenging themselves with these GeoQuests played on mobile devices. We hope these place-based learning tools will be valuable in advancing spatial literacy and conversation around environmental sustainability in coastal communities.

  20. Narrative mediation of conventional and new "mental health" paradigms: reading the stories of immigrant Iranian women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dossa, Parin

    2002-09-01

    The potential of storytelling to effect change and produce new knowledge is being recognized across disciplines. Two conditions are necessary to realize these goals: first, reading of stories must be contextualized to include larger social and political landscapes; and second, how stories are read and toward what end must be closely examined. This article explores these issues with reference to the subject of the "mental health" or emotional well-being of a cohort of postrevolution Iranian women from metropolitan Vancouver, British Columbia. Reading their stories at a particular moment in time shows that well-being is essentially grounded in spaces and places where we live, work, and engage in social interactions. This commonplace knowledge, which is subdued in medical discourse, is retrieved through Iranian women's stories of life and living told at a time when their experiences, histories, and viewpoints on health are subject to erasure.

  1. Story Map: un nuovo modo di raccontare storie con le mappe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esri Italia

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The article concern the latest web applications developed by ESRI calls Story Map. These represent a new way of telling stories and are simple to implement, intuitive, open source and have a varied series of application among which the most important are Map Tour, Storytelling text and legend, , Short list and Swipe.

  2. Stories of change in drug treatment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Ditte

    2015-01-01

    ’ (story content) and ‘the hows’ (storying process) the article presents four findings: (1) stories of change function locally as an institutional requirement; (2) professional drug treatment providers edit young people's storytelling through different techniques; (3) the narrative environment of the drug...... treatment. Building on the sociology of storytelling and ethnographic fieldwork conducted at two drug treatment institutions for young people in Denmark, this article argues that studying stories in the context of their telling brings forth novel insights. Through a narrative analysis of both ‘the whats...... treatment institution shapes how particular stories make sense of the past, present and future; and (4) storytelling in drug treatment is an interactive achievement. A fine-grained analysis illuminates in particular how some stories on gender and drug use are silenced, while others are encouraged...

  3. The Life Story Experience of "Migrant Dentists" in Australia: Potential Implications for Health Workforce Governance and International Cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balasubramanian, Madhan; Spencer, A John; Short, Stephanie D; Watkins, Keith; Chrisopoulos, Sergio; Brennan, David S

    2016-10-10

    The migration of dentists is a major policy challenge facing both developing and developed countries. Dentists from over 120 countries migrate to Australia, and a large proportion are from developing countries. The aim of the study was to assess the life story experience (LSE) of migrant dentists in Australia, in order to address key policy challenges facing dentist migration. A national survey of all migrant dentists resident in Australia was conducted in 2013. Migrant experiences were assessed through a suite of LSE scales, developed through a qualitative-quantitative study. Respondents rated experiences using a five-point Likert scale. A total of 1022 migrant dentists responded to the survey (response rate = 54.5%). LSE1 (health system and general lifestyle concerns in home country), LSE2 (appreciation towards Australian way of life) and LSE3 (settlement concerns in Australia) scales varied by migrant dentist groups, sex, and years since arrival to Australia (chi-square, P international agenda to address dentist migration. Better integration of dentist migration with the mainstream health workforce governance is a viable and opportunistic way forward. © 2017 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

  4. Lesson Plans for "Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prososki, Lisa; Krouse, Judith; Harper, Judith E.

    These lesson plans for high school students were developed to accompany the documentary film by Ken Burns and Paul Barnes which tells the story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and their lifelong fight for women's rights. In the lessons students write editorials about women's rights around the world today, interview senior citizens…

  5. Stories on the go

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Karen Hvidtfeldt

    2014-01-01

    The article focuses on 1001 Stories of Denmark: an internet site and a mobile app that collects and displays stories and visual material connected to places all over Denmark. This site offers a “social media-like” communication frame with various levels of participation. But in reality, 1001...... and affective narratives. I argue that these videos and stories demonstrate the potential of mobile and digital cultural heritage sites; however, it requires strategic initiatives and long-term engagement from museums and cultural institutions to create and maintain the level of the dialogue and participation....

  6. Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... thanks 3-months free Find out why Close Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story NINRnews Loading... Unsubscribe ... This vignette shares the story of Rachel—a pediatric neuroblastoma patient—and her family. The story demonstrates ...

  7. Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... Queue Queue __count__/__total__ Find out why Close Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story NINRnews Loading... Unsubscribe ... This vignette shares the story of Rachel—a pediatric neuroblastoma patient—and her family. The story demonstrates ...

  8. Story-Making as Methodology: Disrupting Dominant Stories through Multimedia Storytelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rice, Carla; Mündel, Ingrid

    2018-05-01

    In this essay, we discuss multimedia story-making methodologies developed through Re•Vision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice that investigates the power of the arts, especially story, to positively influence decision makers in diverse sectors. Our story-making methodology brings together majority and minoritized creators to represent previously unattended experiences (e.g., around mind-body differences, queer sexuality, urban Indigenous identity, and Inuit cultural voice) with an aim to building understanding and shifting policies/practices that create barriers to social inclusion and justice. We analyze our ongoing efforts to rework our storytelling methodology, spotlighting acts of revising carried out by facilitators and researchers as they/we redefine methodological terms for each storytelling context, by researcher-storytellers as they/we rework material from our lives, and by receivers of the stories as we revise our assumptions about particular embodied histories and how they are defined within dominant cultural narratives and institutional structures. This methodology, we argue, contributes to the existing qualitative lexicon by providing innovative new approaches not only for chronicling marginalized/misrepresented experiences and critically researching selves, but also for scaffolding intersectional alliances and for imagining more just futures. © 2018 Canadian Sociological Association/La Société canadienne de sociologie.

  9. Giving an account of one's pain in the anthropological interview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchbinder, Mara

    2010-03-01

    In this paper, I analyze the illness stories narrated by a mother and her 13-year-old son as part of an ethnographic study of child chronic pain sufferers and their families. In examining some of the moral, relational and communicative challenges of giving an account of one's pain, I focus on what is left out of some accounts of illness and suffering and explore some possible reasons for these elisions. Drawing on recent work by Judith Butler (Giving an Account of Oneself, 2005), I investigate how the pragmatic context of interviews can introduce a form of symbolic violence to narrative accounts. Specifically, I use the term "genre of complaint" to highlight how anthropological research interviews in biomedical settings invoke certain typified forms of suffering that call for the rectification of perceived injustices. Interview narratives articulated in the genre of complaint privilege specific types of pain and suffering and cast others into the background. Giving an account of one's pain is thus a strategic and selective process, creating interruptions and silences as much as moments of clarity. Therefore, I argue that medical anthropologists ought to attend more closely to the institutional structures and relations that shape the production of illness narratives in interview encounters.

  10. End-of-Life Nursing Care and Education: End-of-Life Nursing Education: Past and Present.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DʼAntonio, Jocelyn

    The dying experience is forever carried in the life story of those for whom the nurse cares. A goal of end-of-life nursing education is to produce nurses who are comfortable with death and dying and who have had the opportunity to reflect on their thoughts and feelings about end-of-life care. This article reviews the history, development, and teaching methods of end-of-life care, offering recommendations for future education.

  11. Interview with the Creators of Love/Hate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolan, Stuart

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available On 25th November 2015, Studies in Arts and Humanities (SAH Journal hosted a public interview with leading Irish film and television producer James Flynn (Octagon Productions and creator/writer of the groundbreaking Irish television drama Love/Hate Stuart Carolan. The interview was conducted by Conor Murphy (Editor-in-Chief, SAH Journal at Filmbase Ireland before a live audience comprising students and faculty from the film schools of Dublin Business School, Filmbase and Pulse College. This lively and thought-provoking interview provided key insights into the artistic and production processes behind the making of a successful TV drama. James Flynn gave a detailed overview of the funding and legislative frameworks in which the modern day film producer operates both in Ireland and overseas. He provided a fascinating timeline of developments in the filmmaking industry in Ireland in parallel with his own career over the last twenty years. Stuart Carolan explained how the rich and varied characters that inhabit Love/Hate come into being and offered an insight into the daily writing rituals that shaped the development of character, plot and pace. He also spoke about the significance of casting in Love/Hate on the development of the story. The casting of John Connors, for example, influenced Stuart to develop a traveller theme to a greater extent than initially intended. Stuart’s passion for social justice and equality was evident throughout the interview. The interview is replete with analysis of the process of developing Love/Hate including the logistics of shooting in multiple locations and the tight deadlines under which they operated. In addition, James and Stuart offered focussed, helpful and encouraging advice for emerging screenwriters and filmmakers.

  12. How individuals with dementia in nursing homes maintain their dignity through life storytelling - a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heggestad, Anne Kari Tolo; Slettebø, Åshild

    2015-08-01

    The aim of this article was to present and discuss findings on what individuals with dementia do by themselves to maintain or promote their dignity of identity when they live in a nursing home. The majority of residents living in Norwegian nursing homes suffer from dementia. Individuals who suffer from dementia are particularly vulnerable, and their dignity of identity is at risk. It is therefore of great importance to explore how we can maintain their dignity of identity. The study builds on a phenomenological and hermeneutic design. The article reports three cases or life stories based on participant observation in two different nursing homes and interviews with five residents with dementia living in these nursing homes. Fifteen residents with dementia from these nursing home wards were included in the overall study. Individuals with dementia living in nursing homes may use life storytelling or narratives to manage chaos and to find safety in their lives. Storytelling is also used as a way to present and maintain identity. We can see this as a way of maintaining dignity of identity or social dignity. Life storytelling can be seen as an important way of preserving dignity for people with dementia. It is of great importance that health care professionals are open to and listen to the life stories people with dementia tell. As nurses we have an obligation to ensure that dignity is enhanced in care for people with dementia. Knowledge about how residents with dementia use life storytelling as a way to maintain dignity is therefore of great importance to health care workers in nursing homes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Study of Characters in Story of School Principal (Modir Madrese

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ghadamzli Sarrami

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract It is concluded from the story that the reader to be briefed on the writer that he is fully aware of the education system process, furthermore it signifies that the inefficiency and distortion virtually experienced in the field of education affect the life cycle of the author as well.  Modir Madrese or School Principal is a fiction composed by Jalale Aleahmad a writer with genre of third person addressee, he narrates the biography of a teacher that he got tired of his job therefore he got his mind to assume the post of school principal, he reached to the favorite post by bribery as a result the previous teacher turned to school principal, the school situated at the slope of mountain.  The principal encountered with seven teachers, a janitor and 235 student who were mostly poor, geographical status, hygienic Services, yard, pond and school insufficient facilities which outlined as major shortcomings in the story.  Cognizance of students` parents, local council and establishment of school and home association, pornographies carried by a student, injury of 4th grade class teacher by car of an American citizen, jail of 3 grade class teacher due to sympathy toward socialists, appearing the accountant of education dept at the school asking for bribery and finally sexual scandal by 5th grade student counted as the major parts of the story , the whole incidences forced the principal to resign.  The current story represented in three perspectives like prose, simplicity and motive.  Motive signifies the text of story in social style it means realism fad while the prose depicts soft and colloquial by contribution of simile, explanations, proverbs and folkloric idioms, the stressed discourses, sarcasms and mockery including intensive and expressive prose manifested by representation of samples drawn out from the text.  The prominent part of the criticism revealed by analysis of story characters, as a result criticism of individual characters

  14. Study of Characters in Story of School Principal (Modir Madrese

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr Ghadamzli Sarrami , Mohammad Moghiseh

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available It is concluded from the story that the reader to be briefed on the writer that he is fully aware of the education system process, furthermore it signifies that the inefficiency and distortion virtually experienced in the field of education affect the life cycle of the author as well. Modir Madrese or School Principal is a fiction composed by Jalale Aleahmad a writer with genre of third person addressee, he narrates the biography of a teacher that he got tired of his job therefore he got his mind to assume the post of school principal, he reached to the favorite post by bribery as a result the previous teacher turned to school principal, the school situated at the slope of mountain. The principal encountered with seven teachers, a janitor and 235 student who were mostly poor, geographical status, hygienic Services, yard, pond and school insufficient facilities which outlined as major shortcomings in the story. Cognizance of students` parents, local council and establishment of school and home association, pornographies carried by a student, injury of 4th grade class teacher by car of an American citizen, jail of 3 grade class teacher due to sympathy toward socialists, appearing the accountant of education dept at the school asking for bribery and finally sexual scandal by 5th grade student counted as the major parts of the story , the whole incidences forced the principal to resign. The current story represented in three perspectives like prose, simplicity and motive. Motive signifies the text of story in social style it means realism fad while the prose depicts soft and colloquial by contribution of simile, explanations, proverbs and folkloric idioms, the stressed discourses, sarcasms and mockery including intensive and expressive prose manifested by representation of samples drawn out from the text. The prominent part of the criticism revealed by analysis of story characters, as a result criticism of individual characters demonstrate symbol of

  15. Pragmatic Study of Directive Speech Acts in Stories in Alquran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rochmat Budi Santosa

    2016-10-01

    principles of the movement of human history. Those principles later we call the laws of God. He continues to invite people to reflect His guidance in life. Keywords: directive speech act, verses of stories, quran

  16. Life's pregnant pause of pain: pregnant women's experiences of pelvic girdle pain related to daily life: a Swedish interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elden, Helen; Lundgren, Ingela; Robertson, Eva

    2013-03-01

    Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) is a universally disabling condition affecting three of 10 pregnant women. Qualitative studies on the subject are lacking. To describe pregnant women's experiences of PGP as related to daily life. In all, 27 women with PGP participating in a randomised controlled study were interviewed during 2010-2011. Qualitative content analysis was used. Five main categories emerged: PGP affects the ability to cope with everyday life; Coping with motherhood; Relationships between partners often reached the breaking point; Questioning one's identity as defined by profession and work, and Lessons learned from living with PGP. The categories illustrate how women's everyday lives were interrupted. Their inability to meet their own and others' expectations put a strain on their lives causing disappointment, sadness and frustration. It made them question and doubt their roles and identities as mothers, partners and professionals, and kept them from looking forward to future pregnancies, in the absence of effective treatment for PGP. Knowledge gained was that women with PGP should seek help immediately, listen to their bodies, and acknowledge their limitations. PGP severely affects pregnant women's everyday lives. There appears to be a lack of knowledge and awareness in general, as well as among caregivers and employers of PGP that needs to be highlighted and rectified. There is also a great need to learn how to support those suffering from it. Appropriate support during this important and rare phase in a woman's life is highly warranted. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Pre-service Physics Teachers Views on Designing and Developing Physics Digital Stories

    OpenAIRE

    Kocakaya, Serhat; Karakoyun, Ferit; Kotluk, Nihat

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study is to determine the pre-service physics teachers views on the effect of designing and developing physics digital stories (DST) on improving their 21st centuries skills. The study is a qualitative research carried out with 13 pre-service physics teachers, who participated in the course of designing and developing DST, during 6 weeks, at Yuzuncu Yil University, Turkey, in the spring term of 2013-2014 academic year. Data were collected using semi-structured interview...

  18. Occupation embedded in a real life: interweaving occupational science and occupational therapy. 1993 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, F

    1993-12-01

    This lecture presents an example of research in the genre of interpretive occupational science and demonstrates how occupational science can inform clinical practice. The innovative qualitative methodology used blended elements of the anthropological tradition of life history ethnography, ethnomethodology, the naturalistic methods used by Mattingly and Schön to study practice, and especially narrative analysis as described by Polkinghorne. The bulk of the paper is presented in the form of a narrative analysis that provides an account of a stroke survivor's personal struggle for recovery, a story that emerged from transcription, coding, and analysis of transcripts from approximately 20 hours of interview time. First, this narrative analysis provides an example of how the occupational science framework can evoke a particular kind of storytelling in which childhood occupation can be related to adult character. Storytelling of this kind is later shown to be therapeutic for the stroke survivor. Next, the narrative illustrates how rehabilitation can be experienced by the survivor as a rite of passage in which a person is moved to disability status and then abandoned. Finally, a picture is given of how occupational story making and occupational storytelling embedded in real life can nurture the human spirit to act and can become the core of clinical practice.

  19. Story-dialogue: creating community through storytelling

    OpenAIRE

    Doyle-Jones, Carol Sarah

    2006-01-01

    This narrative case study examines the role of storytelling in creating community with a grade 7 class. Twelve girls and eleven boys, ages 12 to 13, participated in this classroom-based study. Students engaged in three structured storytelling activities incorporating home-to-school stories, story responses, and classroom presentations. First, students’ parents/guardians told a coming-of-age or Confirmation story to their child. Second, at school, students shared their family story with a part...

  20. Sewing Seams of Stories: Becoming a Teacher during the First World War

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinner, Anita

    2006-01-01

    In this article the author shares a partial biography of Elizabeth Evans, who became a domestic science teacher in Britain during the First World War. This story begins with a small collection of artefacts--professional letters and personal photographs--which infuse our understanding of teaching and learning and Elizabeth's everyday life nearly a…

  1. The experiences of health-related quality of life in patients with nonspecific symptoms who undergo a diagnostic evaluation for cancer: a qualitative interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moseholm, Ellen; Lindhardt, Bjarne Oerskov; Rydahl-Hansen, Susan

    2017-09-01

    The diagnostic phase of cancer can affect health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study was to investigate how patients with nonspecific symptoms experience HRQoL while undergoing diagnostic evaluations for cancer. Twenty-one participants who had completed a fast-track evaluation for possible cancer at one of three hospitals in the Capital Region, Denmark were interviewed 2-4 weeks after completing diagnostic evaluations. The interviews were semi-structured and were supported by an interview guide based on the same themes as in The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire (EORCT-QLQ-C30). Data analysis was based on qualitative content analysis by Krippendorff. The analysis generated six categories: symptoms, physical-, role-, emotional-, cognitive- and social functioning, and the diagnostic fast-track experience. From these categories, a main theme was identified: Health-related quality of life is not solely affected by the diagnostic process. The results provide a comprehensive understanding of HRQoL in the diagnostic phase of possible cancer, which can be used not only to enhance evidence-based care, but also in the interpretation of the EORTC-QLQ-C30 scores. Psycho-social support with a focus on individual informational needs during the diagnostic phase may be warranted. © 2016 Nordic College of Caring Science.

  2. Story and Recall in First-Person Shooters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Pinchbeck

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Story has traditionally been seen as something separate to gameplay—frequently relegated to an afterthought or epiphenomenon. Nevertheless, in the FPS genre there has been something of a renaissance in the notion of the story-driven title. Partially, this is due to advances in technology enabling a greater capacity for distributed storytelling and a better integration of story and gameplay. However, what has been underrecognised is the dynamic, epistemological, and psychological impact of story and story elements upon player behaviour. It is argued here that there is evidence that story may have a direct influence upon cognitive operations. Specifically, evidence is presented that it appears to demonstrate that games with highly visible, detailed stories may assist players in recalling and ordering their experiences. If story does, indeed, have a more direct influence, then it is clearly a more powerful and immediate tool in game design than either simply reward system or golden thread.

  3. Experiences of carrying out talking therapy in general practice: a qualitative interview study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Davidsen, Annette Sofie

    2008-01-01

    developed over time, or more active therapeutic use of the relationship; (3) knowledge of the patient's life story, told or written, used to form a model of the patient's problems, thoughts and feelings. The sessions were not offered if the GPs lacked time. CONCLUSION: Participants were mostly self...

  4. "Honey, You're Jumping about"--Mothers' Scaffolding of Their Children's and Adolescents' Life Narration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Habermas, Tilmann; Negele, Alexa; Mayer, Fernanda Brenneisen

    2010-01-01

    Research on mother-child reminiscing as a socializing practice for autobiographical memory is extended from early childhood and the narrating of single events to adolescence and the narrating of an entire life story. To explore whether the development of the life story in adolescence depends on qualities of the narrator or on the brevity of the…

  5. morfology of lyric storis of shahname

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    zeynab arabnejad

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available An important part of parsian literature is composed under the name of lyric genre.The subject of lyric gener is generally love or human feeling.we are about to study structure orformology of Shahname s stories on the basis of Prop method to understand are they following same structure or not? and what is the influence of epic genre on lyric themes on composing thos stories. to study the influence of epic on the forms of stories we will investigate the fictional elements. to do that we choose these storie: Zal and Rodabe,Rostam and Tahmine,Bijan and Manije,Sodabe and Siyavash. Key words:lyric stories, Shahname, epic, morfology

  6. Assessing Advanced Theory of Mind in Children and Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism: The Spanish Version of the Stories of Everyday Life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lera-Miguel, Sara; Rosa, Mireia; Puig, Olga; Kaland, Nils; Lázaro, Luisa; Castro-Formieles, Josefina; Calvo, Rosa

    2016-01-01

    Most individuals with autism spectrum disorders often fail in tasks of theory of mind (ToM). However, those with normal intellectual functioning known as high functioning ASD (HF-ASD) sometimes succeed in mentalizing inferences. Some tools have been developed to more accurately test their ToM abilities. The aims of this study were to examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of Stories of Everyday Life Test (SEL) in a sample of 29 children and adolescents with HF-ASD and 25 typically developing controls and to compare their performance. The Spanish-SEL demonstrated good internal consistency, strong convergence with clinical severity and another ToM test, and adequate discriminant validity from intellectual capability and age, identifying the condition of 70 % of participants.

  7. [The use of interviews in participative intervention and research: the GAM tool as a collective interview].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sade, Christian; de Barros, Leticia Maria Renault; Melo, Jorge José Maciel; Passos, Eduardo

    2013-10-01

    This paper seeks to assess a way of conducting interviews in line with the ideology of Brazilian Psychiatric Reform. In the methodology of participative intervention and research in mental health, the interview is less a data collection than a data harvesting procedure. It is designed to apply the principles of psychosocial care, autonomy as the basis for treatment, the predominance of the users and of their social networks and civic participation. Inspired by the Explicitation Interview technique, the contention is that the handling of the interview presupposes an open attitude able to promote and embrace different viewpoints. This attitude makes the interview a collective experience of sharing and belonging, allowing participants to reposition themselves subjectively in treatment with the emergence of groupality. As an example of using the interview as a methodological tool in mental health research, we examine research into adaptation of the tool of Autonomous Medication Management (GAM). It is an interventionist approach guided by principles that foster autonomy and the protagonist status of users of psychotropic medication, their quality of life, their rights and recognition of the multiple significances of medication, understood here as a collective interview technique.

  8. The social construction of identity in HIV/AIDS home-based care ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Home-based care volunteer (HBCV) identity and how it is shaped was the main focus of the study. Fifteen HBCVs were interviewed about their work and personal life stories and then interviewed reflectively using a narrative interviewing style. Specific attention was paid to contextual meta-narratives and social field ...

  9. Impression management strategies of deceivers and honest reporters in an investigative interview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Larissa Montalvo

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Understanding the subjective experience of respondents attempting to convince an investigator will enhance our theoretical knowledge of deception and improve assessment techniques. Discrepancies between respondents’ understanding and actual credibility criteria are especially important. Sixty-six participants engaged in a small crime, and were interviewed following a week’s preparation. All were provided incentive for convincing the interviewer of the veracity of their statement. Thirty-two were honestly reporting the theft, and thirty-four were responding to avoid being found guilty. After a Reality Interview (a derivative of the Cognitive Interview, participants were asked to describe what was important in convincing the interviewer through open-ended and Likert-type questions. These strategies of impression management are presented here. The basic task of convincing appeared similar for both groups, with participants focused on providing clear and careful stories without contradictions rather than attempting to provide vivid and spontaneously-constructed statements. Deceivers attached more importance to: 1 preparing in advance, 2 monitoring and controlling information, and 3 maintaining eye contact. Honest respondents were more concerned with providing correct peripheral detail. Importantly, both groups were reporting much more similarity than difference, and the strategies described are not likely to succeed against verbal content analysis.

  10. An exploration of reminiscence and post-war European immigrants living in a multicultural aged-care setting in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodges, Cherie; Schmidt, Rachael

    2009-01-01

    This phenomenological study explores the experiences and perceptions of the telling of life stories of four post-war immigrants living in a multicultural residential aged-care setting in Australia. This study aims to shed light on what participants feel about life stories, and the prospect of involvement in the documentation of their life story in order to provide insight and understanding for optimum programme facilitation and better resident care.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the four participants. Data were audiotaped and transcribed. Phenomenological methods were used to explicate data.Three main themes emerged: diminution of guilt, social sharing - common bonds and, the urge to 'feel' the past to 'fill' the present. It is apparent that aged survivors of war, and displacement to a new country, feel residual guilt regarding the leaving of their homeland. The prospect of documenting their life stories offers an opportunity to provide an explanation for their decision.Immersion in life stories allows the re-experiencing and sharing of past emotions and sensations. Engagement in occupational reminiscence enhances understanding a person's lived life experience, which adds meaning to one's life. Copyright (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  11. CineGlobe Film Festival, Wednesday programme with Science Story Telling Hackathon and Oculus Rift

    CERN Multimedia

    Marcelloni De Oliveira, Claudia

    2015-01-01

    Besides the short-film competitions, the second day of 2015 CineGlobe included a Soirée Oculus Rift with the public launch of the “Storytelling Science” Hackathon. CineGlobe and Festival Tous Ecrans joined forces to launch the “Storytelling Science” hackathon, in collaboration with Tribeca Film Institute and LIFT Conference. The keynote speech was given by renowned filmmaker and transmedia creator Michel Reihlac, who spoke about the role of interactive and immersive storytelling techniques in cinematic narrative. By placing the viewer in the center of the story, these new technologies are profoundly changing the way we tell stories. Michel Reilhac designs innovative story based experiences, using digital platforms (cinema, tv, mobile, tablets, …) and real life events. His creative approach to storytelling ambitions to offer viewers/ participants a unique opportunity for an immersive, participatory and interactive experience. During the evening, Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets were available to...

  12. A Mental Health Storytelling Intervention Using Transmedia to Engage Latinas: Grounded Theory Analysis of Participants' Perceptions of the Story's Main Character.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heilemann, MarySue V; Martinez, Adrienne; Soderlund, Patricia D

    2018-05-02

    Transmedia storytelling was used to attract English-speaking Latina women with elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety to engage in an intervention that included videos and a webpage with links to symptom management resources. However, a main character for the storyline who was considered dynamic, compelling, and relatable by the target group was needed. We conducted interviews with 28 English-speaking Latinas (target group) with elevated symptoms of depression or anxiety who participated in an Internet-accessible transmedia storytelling intervention. The objective of this study was to examine participants' perceptions of the lead character of the story. Development of this character was informed by deidentified data from previous studies with members of the target group. Critique of the character from a panel of therapists informed editing, as did input from women of the target group. All interviews were conducted via telephone, audio-recorded, and transcribed. Data analysis was guided by grounded theory methodology. Participants embraced the main character, Catalina, related to her as a person with an emotional life and a temporal reality, reported that they learned from her and wanted more episodes that featured her and her life. Grounded theory analysis led to the development of one category (She "just felt so real": relating to Catalina as a real person with a past, present, and future) with 4 properties. Properties included (1) relating emotionally to Catalina's vulnerability, (2) recognizing shared experiences, (3) needing to support others while simultaneously lacking self-support, and (4) using Catalina as a springboard for imagining alternative futures. Participants found Catalina's efforts to pursue mental health treatment to be meaningful and led them to compare themselves to her and consider how they might pursue treatment themselves. When creating a story-based mental health intervention to be delivered through an app, regardless of type, careful

  13. Spending Time in Normansfield: Changes in the Day to Day Life of Patricia Collen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadbury, Heather; Whitmore, Michelle

    2010-01-01

    The article explores the changes in care over the years for people with a learning disability by focusing on the life story of one individual, Patricia Collen, who spent many years within an institution. Her story shows that it is possible for people with a learning disability to live a full and active life, either in the community or within an…

  14. Origins the scientific story of creation

    CERN Document Server

    Baggott, Jim

    2015-01-01

    What is the nature of the material world? How does it work? What is the universe and how was it formed? What is life? Where do we come from and how did we evolve? How and why do we think? What does it mean to be human? How do we know? There are many different versions of our creation story. This book tells the version according to modern science. It is a unique account, starting at the Big Bang and travelling right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later. Chapter by chapter, it sets out the current state of scientific knowledge: the origins of space and time; energy, mass, and light; galaxies, stars, and our sun; the habitable earth, and complex life itself. Drawing together the physical and biological sciences, Baggott recounts what we currently know of our history, highlighting the questions science has yet to answer.

  15. Considerations and recommendations for conducting qualitative research interviews with palliative and end-of-life care patients in the home setting: a consensus paper.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sivell, Stephanie; Prout, Hayley; Hopewell-Kelly, Noreen; Baillie, Jessica; Byrne, Anthony; Edwards, Michelle; Harrop, Emily; Noble, Simon; Sampson, Catherine; Nelson, Annmarie

    2015-12-08

    To present and discuss the views of researchers at an academic palliative care research centre on research encounters with terminally ill patients in the home setting and to generate a list of recommendations for qualitative researchers working in palliative and end-of-life care. Eight researchers took part in a consensus meeting to discuss their experiences of undertaking qualitative interviews. The researchers were of varying backgrounds and all reported having experience in interviewing terminally ill patients, and all but one had experience of interviewing patients in their home environment. The main areas discussed by researchers included: whether participation in end-of-life research unintentionally becomes a therapeutic experience or an ethical concern; power relationships between terminally ill patients and researchers; researcher reflexivity and reciprocity; researchers' training needs. Qualitative methods can complement the home environment; however, it can raise ethical and practical challenges, which can be more acute in the case of research undertaken with palliative and patients at the end-of-life. The ethical and practical challenges researchers face in this context has the potential to place both participant and researcher at risk for their physical and psychological well-being. We present a set of recommendations for researchers to consider prior to embarking on qualitative research in this context and advocate researchers in this field carefully consider the issues presented on a study-by-study basis. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  16. Developing teachers, developing as a teacher: A story about a story

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kate Bennie

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I reflect on my changing roles as a mathematics educator, that is, as a teacher educator and as a classroom teacher in a secondary school. This is a personal account of the challenge of translating my beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning into everyday classroom practice. The presentation I use is based on the work of Rowland − the account is presented in the form of personal reflections on a story written about playing the two different roles of teacher educator and classroom teacher. I use the process of writing to try to make sense of my experiences and to explore the use of story as a research methodology. Although the story is intensely personal, there are identifiable themes that run through the narrative, which I suggest may resonate with the experience of other mathematics educators.

  17. Study of Characters in Story of School Principal (Modir Madrese

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ghadamzli Sarrami

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available  Abstract It is concluded from the story that the reader to be briefed on the writer that he is fully aware of the education system process, furthermore it signifies that the inefficiency and distortion virtually experienced in the field of education affect the life cycle of the author as well.  Modir Madrese or School Principal is a fiction composed by Jalale Aleahmad a writer with genre of third person addressee, he narrates the biography of a teacher that he got tired of his job therefore he got his mind to assume the post of school principal, he reached to the favorite post by bribery as a result the previous teacher turned to school principal, the school situated at the slope of mountain.  The principal encountered with seven teachers, a janitor and 235 student who were mostly poor, geographical status, hygienic Services, yard, pond and school insufficient facilities which outlined as major shortcomings in the story.  Cognizance of students` parents, local council and establishment of school and home association, pornographies carried by a student, injury of 4th grade class teacher by car of an American citizen, jail of 3 grade class teacher due to sympathy toward socialists, appearing the accountant of education dept at the school asking for bribery and finally sexual scandal by 5th grade student counted as the major parts of the story , the whole incidences forced the principal to resign.  The current story represented in three perspectives like prose, simplicity and motive.  Motive signifies the text of story in social style it means realism fad while the prose depicts soft and colloquial by contribution of simile, explanations, proverbs and folkloric idioms, the stressed discourses, sarcasms and mockery including intensive and expressive prose manifested by representation of samples drawn out from the text.  The prominent part of the criticism revealed by analysis of story characters, as a result criticism of

  18. An early story of Kho Ping Hoo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CW Watson

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Kho Ping Hoo (1926–1994 is the most well-known of all Indonesian writers of popular silat stories, largely set in China, which describe the adventures and romances of legendary heroes famed for their skill in martial arts. It is less well-known that he began his career writing critical stories about socio-economic conditions in the late 50s and early 60s. This paper discusses one of these stories. It places the story in the context of political developments of the time, in particular as they affected the Chinese Indonesian community. The paper argues that this story and one or two others like it come at the end of a tradition of Sino-Indonesian literature which had flourished from the end of the nineteenth century until the mid-1950s. After 1960, Chinese-Indonesian writers cease writing realist fiction of any kind and write either silat stories or romantic stories set in middle class urban environments.

  19. Everybody Has a Story

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    The book bears witness of Young peoples lived lives across Europe, Russia and Japan. It contains stories about love, loss of love and loss of loved ones, about dreams of future lives and wonders of lives as such. And it tells stories about bullying, mental illness and simple strives just to be able...

  20. ZHE: [Noun] Undefined--An Interview with Performers Antonia Kemi Coker and Tonderai Munyevu

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaskan, Victoria

    2013-01-01

    In February 2012, London-based theatre company Collective Artistes previewed "ZHE: [noun] Undefined," a new play created by director Chuck Mike and performers Tonderai Munyevu and Antonia Kemi Coker. The play follows the true life stories of the two performers, both British Africans, living at the intersections of culture, nationality, gender and…

  1. Vitiligo: Patient stories, self-esteem, and the psychological burden of disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P.E. Grimes, MD

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Vitiligo is a relatively common disorder that is characterized by depigmented patches of skin. Multiple studies characterize the overwhelming psychological burden that is experienced by many patients around the globe. This review examines personal patient stories and the impacts of age, culture, sex, race, and ethnicity in relationship to altered self-esteem and quality of life in patients who live with vitiligo.

  2. The Attitudes, Needs, and Requirements at End of Life in the Republic of Georgia (Comparative Analysis of Groups of Patients With Cancer and Elders).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chikhladze, Nana; Tebidze, Nino; Chabukiani, Tamar; Chabukiani, Nana; Chkhartishvili, Nikoloz; Jincharadze, Memed; Kordzaia, Dimitri

    2018-01-01

    In developing a model of palliative care, the attitudes, needs, and requirements of its beneficiaries recognizing the limited remaining life expectancy need to be met. We aimed to map and compare these issues at the end of life in the groups of patients with advanced cancer and elderly individuals. The prospective study based on the analysis of semistructured interviews was conducted. Fifty individuals aged older than 85 and 50 incurable patients with advanced cancer were studied. Transcripts of interviews were analyzed qualitatively (the interviews were divided into logically completed themes, and the compliance of each with one of the levels of Abraham Maslow pyramid was determined) and quantitatively (data comparisons of 2 groups were tested in bivariate analysis using Pearson χ 2 or Fisher exact test. Two-sided significance tests were used; P value of Maslow pyramid. Their comparison showed small differences in the narratives of the patients with advanced cancer and elderly individuals aged 85 and older-concerning the past, present, and future terms of lives. In studied themes explicitly prevail the stories that are consistent with satisfaction of the upper levels of the hierarchy of needs and demands of Maslow: social relation (belonging), love, esteem, and transcendence. The attitudes, needs, and requirements at the end of life of the people are basically similar, regardless of what determined the sense of limitation of the remaining life-incurable disease or advanced age.

  3. Performance-Based Seismic Retrofit of Soft-Story Woodframe Buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    P. Bahmani; J.W. van de Lindt; S.E. Pryor; G.L. Mochizuki; M. Gershfeld; D. Rammer; J. Tian; D. Symans

    2013-01-01

    Soft-story woodframe buildings are recognizable by their large garage openings at the bottom story which are typically for parking and storage. In soft-story buildings the relative stiffness and strength of the soft-story, usually the bottom story, is significantly less than the upper stories due to the presence of large openings which reduce the available space for...

  4. Exploring the potential of using stories about diverse scientists and reflective activities to enrich primary students' images of scientists and scientific work

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharkawy, Azza

    2012-06-01

    The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the potential of using stories about diverse scientists to broaden primary students' images of scientists and scientific work. Stories featuring scientists from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds (i.e., physical ability, gender, ethnicity) were presented to 11 grade one students over a 15 -week period. My analysis of pre-and post audio-taped interview transcripts, draw-a-scientist-tests (Chambers 1983), participant observations and student work suggest that the stories about scientists and follow-up reflective activities provided resources for students that helped them: (a) acquire images of scientists from less dominant socio-cultural backgrounds; (b) enrich their views of scientific work from predominantly hands-on/activity-oriented views to ones that includes cognitive and positive affective dimensions. One of the limitations of using stories as a tool to extend students' thinking about science is highlighted in a case study of a student who expresses resistance to some of the counter-stereotypic images presented in the stories. I also present two additional case studies that illustrate how shifts in student' views of the nature of scientific work can change their interest in future participation in scientific work.

  5. From Stories of Staying to Stories of Leaving: A US Beginning Teacher's Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Craig, Cheryl J.

    2014-01-01

    This narrative inquiry traces a beginning teacher's unfolding career over a six-year period in a diverse middle school in the fourth largest city in the USA. The work revolves around two conceptualizations: "stories to live by" and "stories to leave by." How these identity-related phenomena surface and play out in an…

  6. African therapy for a fractured world(view): The life of founder bishop ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2015-06-26

    Jun 26, 2015 ... spirit-matter worldview. Read online: ... liturgical rituals to be found in this church, and his life story, or rather stories, are also still exercising that role after ..... Indians, Blacks and others, and that is where they met each other.

  7. The Role of Episodic Structure and of Story Length in Children's Recall of Simple Stories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glenn, Christine G.

    1978-01-01

    It was hypothesized that if the episodic structure of a story determines subjects' organization of that story in memory, then variation in structure should affect the organization of information in recall. (Author/NCR)

  8. Telling business stories as fellowship-tales

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Smith, Robert; Neergaard, Helle

    2015-01-01

    Purpose – This paper aims to explore the “Fellowship-Tale” as an alternative tale type for narrating entrepreneur stories. The authors illustrate this by telling the Pilgrim business story. It is common for the deeds of men who founded businesses to be narrated as heroic entrepreneur stories...... – The research indicates that “fellowship-tales” provide a viable and credible alternative to the fairy-tale rendition common in entrepreneur and business stories. Research limitations/implications – An obvious limitation is that one merely swaps one narrative framework for another, albeit it offers dissenting...... voices a real choice. Practical implications – This study has the potential to be far reaching because at a practical level, it allows disengaged entrepreneurs and significant others the freedom to exercise their individual and collective voices within a framework of nested stories. Originality...

  9. Recension: Mao - The Unknown Story

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clausen, Søren

    2005-01-01

    Anmeldelse - kritisk! - til Sveriges førende Kinatidsskrift af Jung Chang & Jon Halliday's sensationelle "Mao - the Unknown Story".......Anmeldelse - kritisk! - til Sveriges førende Kinatidsskrift af Jung Chang & Jon Halliday's sensationelle "Mao - the Unknown Story"....

  10. Culturological discourse of A. Averchenko's story “The Death of an African Hunter”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina Lebedzeva

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article reconstructs the figurative concept of personality, embodied in the story of A. Averchenko “The Death of an African Hunter” (1914, through the prism of the author's value orientations and psychological transformations of the hero experiencing adulthood. The study of cultural discourse in the projection of artistic expression on the social context promotes the disclosure of the author's attitude to the characters and events and the comprehension of the “life-death”, “freedom-non-freedom” set forth in the work of philosophical oppositions. Sincerity as the highest manifestation of a person, typical for children and lost by adults, a rebellion against everyday life, farewell to illusions as a reaction to a collision with the real dimension of the modern world – all this turns out to be in the author's objective, objectively, psychologically and symbolically detailing the scale of life values within the framework of artistic integrity story. The comprehension of artistic models that embody the problem of the maturation of the personality, the “before” and “after” childhood conditions, the loss of illusions and the adaptation of the personality to the real world, allow us to reconstruct from the private artistic experience a picture of objective philosophical and psychological contradictions to which the individual aspires to resolve.

  11. Contesting Institutional Discourse to Create New Possibilities for Understanding Lived Experience: Life-Stories of Young Women in Detention, Rehabilitation, and Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Suniti

    2010-01-01

    This research explores autobiographies of young women in detention, rehabilitation, and education as counter-stories to the official, institutional stories of their lives. The context of the study is a private detention facility in the United States; the participants are young women aged 15-19 years in a detention classroom; and data for the study…

  12. Using Esri Story Map Technology to Demonstrate SERVIR Global Success Stories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, E. C.; Flores, A.; Muench, R.; Coulter, D.; Limaye, A. S.; Irwin, D.

    2016-12-01

    A joint development initiative of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), SERVIR works in partnership with leading regional organizations world-wide to help developing countries build their capacity to use information provided by Earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies for managing climate and weather risks, food security and agriculture, land use change, water resources, and natural disaster response. The SERVIR network currently includes 4 regional hubs: Eastern and Southern Africa, Hindu-Kush-Himalaya, the Lower Mekong region, and West Africa, and has completed project activities in the Mesoamerica region. SERVIR has activities in over 40 countries, has developed 70 custom tools, and has collaborated with 155 institutions to apply current state of the art science and technology to decision making. Many of these efforts have the potential to continue to influence decision-making at new institutions throughout the globe; however, engaging those stakeholders and society while maintaining a global brand identity is challenging. Esri story map technologies have allowed the SERVIR network to highlight the applications of SERVIR projects. Conventional communication approaches have been used in SERVIR to share success stories of our geospatial projects; however, the power of Esri story telling offers a great opportunity to convey effectively the impacts of the geospatial solutions provided through SERVIR to end users. This paper will present use cases of how Esri story map technologies are being used across the SERVIR network to effectively communicate science to SERVIR users and general public. The easy to use design templates and interactive user interface are ideal for highlighting SERVIR's diverse products. In addition, the SERVIR team hopes to continue using story maps for project outreach and user engagement.

  13. Building our stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tourism transforms people and places. New stakeholders are emerging, landscapes of power are shifting, and lines of responsibilities are being redrawn. Everyday stories of coping, success, empowerment, nurturing, relationship building and activism are important tools for reflection and learning...... for our first TEFI regional conference. Storytelling is a powerful way of exploring, linking and crafting values, articulating them is such a way as to instil action. This conference proceedings assembles 31research stories of sustainable, caring and ethical worldmaking in tourism....

  14. The cultural life script as cognitive schema: How the life script shapes memory for fictional life stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koppel, Jonathan Mark; Berntsen, Dorthe

    2014-01-01

    with the life script, memory for its valence was reconstructed to fit the script (in Study 2); and, third, intrusions in recall were disproportionately for life script events (in Study 3), though that was not the case in recognition (in Study 1). We conclude that the life script serves as a cognitive schema...

  15. Fusion special: E.ON/Ruhrgas, EDF/Gaz de France? Trends. Interview. Inquiry. Portrait

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schneid, O.; Carbier, M.Ch.

    2003-01-01

    This issue of 'Energies news' newsletter comprises 6 articles dealing with: the E.ON/Ruhrgas fusion and the birth of a leader of the gas-electric power convergence in Europe (the serial story of the fusion, the compromise with the adverse parties); the key economical data of RWE; the proposal of fusion between EdF (Electricite de France) and Gaz de France (interview of M. Boiteux, honorary president of EdF); the reorganization of RWE activities in France (interview of R. Felgentreff, head of RWE Solutions France); travel inside the French power market (part.2: opening of the power market to all professionals); portrait of J. Masdeu-Arus, co-president of a study group at the French house of commons, who made a report about the economical and financial situation of EdF. (J.S.)

  16. Living with cystic fibrosis - a qualitative study of a life coaching intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knudsen, Karin Bæk; Boisen, Kirsten Arntz; Katzenstein, Terese Lea; Mortensen, Laust Hvas; Pressler, Tacjana; Skov, Marianne; Jarden, Mary

    2018-01-01

    Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic, life-shortening disease with a significant treatment burden. To support young adults with CF in their everyday life, we previously conducted a life coaching feasibility trial (published elsewhere). The aim of the current study was to explore how life coaching was experienced by study participants within the context of their lives with CF. A qualitative study using individual interviews. Respondents (n=14) were recruited from the intervention group after participation in life coaching. Data were analyzed from a phenomenologic-hermeneutical perspective, inspired by Ricoeur's theory. Periodic exacerbations of CF led to worry about disease progression, and interrupted the respondents' ability to fulfill daily life roles satisfactory. The treatment burden demanded self-discipline and this was sometimes at the expense of social life or career. The young adults rarely spoke to others about their situation; therefore, they valued opening up to a professional coach about life and concerns. We identified three themes: 1) living an unpredictable life; 2) the conflict between freedom and the constraints of illness; and 3) the value of telling one's story. In relation to all three themes, coaching promoted reflection over life situations, reframed thoughts, and facilitated finding new ways to manage everyday life. Life coaching is an intervention that is valued for those who feel challenged by their CF disease. Coaching programs should be designed to include the participants, when they feel a need for coaching and are open for change. Screening parameters to identify persons who will most likely benefit from life coaching are needed.

  17. NIB Commentary on Oncofertility Stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gremmels, Becket

    2017-01-01

    The authors of these stories describe tales of struggle with cancer and secondary infertility. Yet, they each have a different response to similar circumstances. Their stories touch on a lack of informed consent regarding infertility, spiritual discussions of the problem of evil, the need for improved collaboration among physicians to further care of the whole person, societal norms regarding reproduction and gender roles, the injustice of cancer in young people, and other topics. Of note, no stories mention prominent ethical concerns of in-vitro fertilization like how couples should deal with "extra" frozen embryos or concerns about the potential for commodification of children. This shows a disconnect between the concerns of bioethicists and the concerns of real patients facing actual problems. Both cancer patients and providers can learn something from these stories that directly apply to their lives.

  18. Can classic moral stories promote honesty in children?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kang; Talwar, Victoria; McCarthy, Anjanie; Ross, Ilana; Evans, Angela; Arruda, Cindy

    2014-08-01

    The classic moral stories have been used extensively to teach children about the consequences of lying and the virtue of honesty. Despite their widespread use, there is no evidence whether these stories actually promote honesty in children. This study compared the effectiveness of four classic moral stories in promoting honesty in 3- to 7-year-olds. Surprisingly, the stories of "Pinocchio" and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" failed to reduce lying in children. In contrast, the apocryphal story of "George Washington and the Cherry Tree" significantly increased truth telling. Further results suggest that the reason for the difference in honesty-promoting effectiveness between the "George Washington" story and the other stories was that the former emphasizes the positive consequences of honesty, whereas the latter focus on the negative consequences of dishonesty. When the "George Washington" story was altered to focus on the negative consequences of dishonesty, it too failed to promote honesty in children. © The Author(s) 2014.

  19. Clients' and therapists' stories about psychotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adler, Jonathan M

    2013-12-01

    This article provides an overview of the emerging field of research on clients' stories about their experiences in psychotherapy. The theory of narrative identity suggests that individuals construct stories about their lives in order to provide the self with a sense of purpose and unity. Psychotherapy stories serve both psychological functions. Focusing on the theme of agency as a vehicle for operationalizing purpose and coherence as a way of operationalizing unity, this article will describe the existing scholarship connecting psychotherapy stories to clients' psychological well-being. Results from cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative studies as well as longitudinal research indicate a connection between the stories clients tell about therapy and their psychological well-being, both over the course of treatment and after it is over. In addition, a preliminary analysis of therapists' stories about their clients' treatment is presented. These analyses reveal that the way therapists recount a particular client's therapy does not impact the relationships between clients' narratives and their improvement. The article concludes with a discussion of how this body of scholarship might be fruitfully applied in the realm of clinical practice. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Assessing Vocational Development in Prospective School Librarians. A Review of: Jones, S. (2010. The occupational choice of school librarians. Library Trends, 59(1-2, 166-187.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gayle Bogel

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To explore the motivations for choosing school librarianship as a career.Design – Narrative research, qualitative interviews.Setting – The School Media program specialization in a Master of Library Science program at a large research university.Subjects – Five graduate school students seeking initial certification as school library media specialists.Methods – The researcher employed narrative research, based on career construction theory and the Life Story Interview, (McAdams, 1995. This methodology is a set of loosely-structured, open-ended questions designed to encourage detailed, in-depth responses from the participant teller, combined with a more structured Career Style Interview (Savickas, 2005 designed to elicit self-defining stories.Data was collected through qualitative interviews, using personal narrative interviews that focused on the entire life of each person from birth to present (Life Story Interviews and additional questions in an interview format (Career Style Interview.Data was collected and analyzed in two stages. The analysis first examined participants as individuals then tried to identify commonalities among the stories. Each life story was examined to determine a career style on the basis of vocational personality, career adaptability and life theme. The interview data was then analyzed for thematic connections and occupational choice. Main Results – The final analysis identified the following themes as relevant to the study, and to the career choices of graduate students planning to be school librarians: parental expectations; career changers; librarian mentors; prior library work experiences; reading; library experiences; altruism-service; desire to work with children; financial stability and security; flexibility of work schedule; emotional distance; and vocational personality.In general, the participants appear to value safe, traditional career choices that allow them to put family first and

  1. The Story of Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grady, Marilyn L.

    2008-01-01

    In this article, the author shares Elizabeth Ann Seton's story as a woman's story. Seton was born in 1774 to a New York family. Through her work in Maryland, Seton was credited with being the founder of the parochial Catholic school system in the U.S. Seton formed a group of sisters known as the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph. The sisters…

  2. Bringing the Story Alive

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunne, Ian B.

    2006-01-01

    Science is a story, a narrative, and scientists are storytellers. Teaching is quite possibly the ultimate in storytelling so if one is teaching science he/she is already storytelling. Using a story to set up a science topic is effective. One can engage the brains of the audience, paint the scene, let them realise why the idea or work is important…

  3. Acceptability and Applicability of an American Health Videogame with Story for Childhood Obesity Prevention Among Hong Kong Chinese Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jingjing; Baranowski, Tom; Lau, Patrick W C; Pitkethly, Amanda Jane; Buday, Richard

    2015-12-01

    Positive changes in diet have been observed in research carried out in the United States from the use of "Escape from Diab" (Diab), a health videogame designed to lower the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Whether the American story and characters in Diab might be perceived by Hong Kong Chinese children as interesting has not been explored. This study assessed the acceptability and applicability of Diab among Hong Kong Chinese children, whether the Diab story was understood by them, and whether it had potential to influence them both during the game and afterward. Thirty-four students (21 males, 13 females) 9-12 years of age were included. Upon completion of all the Diab episodes, children completed an immersion scale with 18 items, as well as an individual interview with 10 open-ended questions. Children achieved average immersion after playing Diab with the mean score at 39.1 (standard deviation = 9.0), higher than the median (36) of possible scores (range, 18-54). Four themes using framework analysis emerged from the interviews, including intuitive feelings about the interface, playing experience, perception of the effect of Diab on behavior change, and the applicability of Diab to Hong Kong children. The story and game developed for American children were found acceptable and applicable to Hong Kong Chinese children. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods confirmed the acceptability and applicability of Diab to Hong Kong Chinese children.

  4. Storytelling as a communication tool for health consumers: development of an intervention for parents of children with croup. Stories to communicate health information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hartling Lisa

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Stories may be an effective tool to communicate with and influence patients because of their ability to engage the reader. The objective of this paper is to describe the development of a story-based intervention for delivery of health evidence to parents of children with croup for use in a randomized controlled trial. Methods A creative writer interviewed parents of children with croup presenting to the pediatric emergency department (ED and drafted stories. We revised the stories based on written participant feedback and edited the stories to incorporate research evidence and health information. An illustrator and graphic designer developed story booklets which were evaluated through focus groups. Results Ten participants provided feedback on the five stories drafted by the creative writer. Participants liked the concept but found the writing overly sophisticated and wanted more character development and more medical/health information. Participants highlighted specific story content that they liked and disliked. The revised stories were evaluated through focus groups involving eight individuals. Feedback was generally positive; one participant questioned the associated costs. Participants liked the graphics and layout; felt that they could identify with the stories; and felt that it was easier to get information compared to a standard medical information sheet. Participants provided feedback on the story content, errors and inconsistencies, and preferences of writing style and booklet format. Feedback on how to package the stories was provided by attendees at a national meeting of pediatric emergency researchers. Conclusions Several challenges arose during the development of the stories including: staying true to the story versus being evidence based; addressing the use of the internet by consumers as a source of health information; balancing the need to be comprehensive and widely applicable while being succinct

  5. The role of orbitofrontal cortex in processing empathy stories in 4-8 year-old children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tila Tabea eBrink

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the neuronal correlates of empathic processing in childrenaged 4 to 8 years, an age range discussed to be crucial for the development ofempathy. Empathy, defined as the ability to understand and share another person’sinner life, consists of two components: affective (emotion-sharing and cognitiveempathy (Theory of Mind. We examined the hemodynamic responses of pre-schooland school children (N=48, while they processed verbal (auditory and non-verbal(cartoons empathy stories in a passive following paradigm, using functional NearInfrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS. To control for the two types of empathy, childrenwere presented blocks of stories eliciting either affective or cognitive empathy, orneutral scenes which relied on the understanding of physical causalities.By contrasting the activations of the younger and older children, we expected toobserve developmental changes in brain activations when children process storieseliciting empathy in either stimulus modality towards a greater involvement ofanterior frontal brain regions. Our results indicate that children's processing of storieseliciting affective and cognitive empathy is associated with medial and bilateralorbitofrontal cortex (OFC activation. In contrast to what is known from studies usingadult participants, no additional recruitment of posterior brain regions was observed,often associated with the processing of stories eliciting empathy. Developmentalchanges were found only for stories eliciting affective empathy with increasedactivation, in older children, in medial OFC, left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, and theleft dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC. Activations for the two modalities differonly little, with non-verbal presentation of the stimuli having a greater impact onempathy processing in children, showing more similarities to adult processing thanthe verbal one. This might be caused by the fact that non-verbal processing developsearlier in life

  6. the satiric use of the zombie myth in the short story zoologo by ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    User

    splatter iconography – and the influence of American films, the giovani cannibali also ... cities of the Italian industrialised north are the settings for most of the stories. ... with a great deal of visual impact, the slang of modern urban sub- cultures, what ..... as semi-dead when all around him only the semi-real life of the television ...

  7. Grandparents’ Stories of Family Life After Donor Conception (Parents of heterosexual couples with children conceived using donor sperm or eggs)

    OpenAIRE

    Burke, Hazel; Nordqvist, Petra; Smart, Carol

    2015-01-01

    This leaflet is written for the parents of heterosexual couples who have, or are planning, children using donor conception. It is based on many hours of research interviews, during which parents and grandparents of donor-conceived children told usabout their experiences of family life after donor conception.This leaflet is one of a series of four, written for parents and grandparents with donor-conceived children. They are based on research from the Relative Strangers project.

  8. Towards a Pedagogy of Listening: Teaching and Learning from Life Stories of Human Rights Violations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Low, Bronwen E.; Sonntag, Emmanuelle

    2013-01-01

    In response to the task of designing curriculum that helps youth engage thoughtfully with digital stories of human rights violations, the authors articulate the central tenets of a pedagogy of listening that draws upon elements of oral history, concepts of witnessing and testimony, the work on listening of Dewey, Freire and Rinaldi and the…

  9. The Tragedy in the Story of Rostam and Sohrab in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mokhtar Ebrahimi

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Tragedy is a stunning example of confrontation between man and nature along with sadness and consequently fate and life. In tragedy, usually one person (hero is in the center of the story and all of the stories come together to make the inevitable fate happen for that hero. This inevitable fate is usually along with death or a tragic end which occurs for the hero. The purpose of poet in tragedy is illustration of an advice for readers after death of the hero. In this article, we have tried to review various aspects of tragic story of Rostam and Sohrab and the way the Master of Tous makes his audience and fans aware of passage of time and the eternal destiny using analytical descriptive method. Undoubtedly, what the ancient Greeks, especially Aristotle have proposed as a definition for tragedy as, is in some cases different from Ferdowsi's view but there is a close consistency between the nature of tragedy and the base of tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab and definition of tragedy.

  10. Pain relief at the end of life: nurses' experiences regarding end-of-life pain relief in patients with dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brorson, Hanna; Plymoth, Henrietta; Örmon, Karin; Bolmsjö, Ingrid

    2014-03-01

    Patients with dementia receive suboptimal palliative care, and this patient group is at risk to have pain at the end of life. Because communicative impairments are common in this patient group, nurses play an important caregiver role in identifying, assessing, and relieving patients' pain. This study aimed to describe nurses' experiences regarding end-of-life pain relief in patients with dementia. This descriptive exploratory qualitative study was based on seven semistructured interviews. Burnard's content analysis inspired the data analysis. Two main categories were identified: (1) nurses' experience of difficulties concerning pain relief and (2) nurses' experience of resources concerning pain relief. Nurses experienced difficulties, such as feeling of powerlessness because of difficulties in obtaining adequate prescriptions for analgesics, ethical dilemmas, feeling of inadequacy because analgesia did not have the desired effect, and a feeling of not being able to connect with the patient. Factors, including knowledge about the patient, professional experience, utilization of pain assessment tools, interpersonal relationships, and interprofessional cooperation, served as resources and enabled end-of-life pain relief. The results of this study highlight the complexity of pain relief in patients with dementia at the end of life from a nursing perspective. The inability of patients with dementia to verbally communicate their pain makes them a vulnerable patient group, dependent on their caregivers. Knowing the life story of the patient, professional experience, teamwork based on good communication, and use of a pain assessment tool were reported by the nurses to improve pain relief at the end of life for patients with dementia. Copyright © 2014 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Giving birth to death.Life professionals managing the bereavement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Manuel Hernández Garre

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to investigate the main representations, experiences and coping strategies developed by health professionals involved in perinatal bereavement care. A qualitative and phenomenological approach was used conducting a series of semi-structured interviews to professionals of different categories of obstetric areas of three public hospitals in the region of Murcia. The stories talk about of professionals trained for the life they have to face death, talk about of a lack of institutional training to the professionals react drawing on the experience, empathy or self-taught. They talk about painful situations that are experienced by clinicians with hints of tragedy, speak of care directed to the psychological management of mourning, talks about the transition from coping models duels based on avoidance and emotional detachment to others centered on the verbalization of experience and contact with the stillborn.

  12. Transmedia storytelling on travel stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adolfo Baltar Moreno

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Travel stories form part of a great tradition inside Western Culture which has served historically to describe, to understand and to imagine other cul - tures and communities, far or near, being constituted into a real narra - tive genre. This type of story has been and is a reflection of the perception of the world based on the imaginary worlds created by the travelling narrators. How do modern authors of travel stories take advantage of the opportunities offered by transmedia storytelling? The present article explores the potential of these types of stories as a privileged object of study for transmedia storytelling studies, from the analysis of a sample of 80 narrative productions based on experiences of travel and presented in diverse editions of the Festival Le Grand Bivouac (France. It also shows the existence of a new contemporary trend inside this narrative form that transcends its literary nature.

  13. Dental stories for children with autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marion, Ian W; Nelson, Travis M; Sheller, Barbara; McKinney, Christy M; Scott, JoAnna M

    2016-07-01

    To investigate caregivers' preference regarding dental stories to prepare children with autism for dental visits. Caregivers of children with autism were allowed use of dental stories available via different media (paper, tablet computer, computer) and image types (comics or drawings, photographs, video). Caregivers completed pre- and postintervention surveys. Fisher's exact tests were used to determine associations between predictive factors and preferences. Forty initial and 16 follow-up surveys were completed. Subjects were primarily male (85%). Mean child age was 6.7 years. Nine (64%) caregivers found the dental story useful for themselves and their child. Two (14%) caregivers found the aid only helpful for themselves. Preferred media type was associated with language understanding (p = .038) and home media preference (p = .002). Practitioners should consider using dental stories to help prepare families and children for dental visits. Individual preferences for dental stories vary; using prior history can aid in selection. © 2016 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Explaining the moral of the story.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Caren M; Lombrozo, Tania

    2017-10-01

    Although storybooks are often used as pedagogical tools for conveying moral lessons to children, the ability to spontaneously extract "the moral" of a story develops relatively late. Instead, children tend to represent stories at a concrete level - one that highlights surface features and understates more abstract themes. Here we examine the role of explanation in 5- and 6-year-old children's developing ability to learn the moral of a story. Two experiments demonstrate that, relative to a control condition, prompts to explain aspects of a story facilitate children's ability to override salient surface features, abstract the underlying moral, and generalize that moral to novel contexts. In some cases, generating an explanation is more effective than being explicitly told the moral of the story, as in a more traditional pedagogical exchange. These findings have implications for moral comprehension, the role of explanation in learning, and the development of abstract reasoning in early childhood. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Non-Linear Interactive Stories in Computer Games

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bangsø, Olav; Jensen, Ole Guttorm; Kocka, Tomas

    2003-01-01

    The paper introduces non-linear interactive stories (NOLIST) as a means to generate varied and interesting stories for computer games automatically. We give a compact representation of a NOLIST based on the specification of atomic stories, and show how to build an object-oriented Bayesian network...

  16. Argument Strength and the Persuasiveness of Stories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schreiner, Constanze; Appel, Markus; Isberner, Maj-Britt; Richter, Tobias

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Stories are a powerful means to change people’s attitudes and beliefs. The aim of the current work was to shed light on the role of argument strength (argument quality) in narrative persuasion. The present study examined the influence of strong versus weak arguments on attitudes in a low or high narrative context. Moreover, baseline attitudes, interindividual differences in working memory capacity, and recipients’ transportation were examined. Stories with strong arguments were more persuasive than stories with weak arguments. This main effect was qualified by a two-way interaction with baseline attitude, revealing that argument strength had a greater impact on individuals who initially were particularly doubtful toward the story claim. Furthermore, we identified a three-way interaction showing that argument strength mattered most for recipients who were deeply transported into the story world in stories that followed a typical narrative structure. These findings provide an important specification of narrative persuasion theory. PMID:29805322

  17. The Sam and Nora Stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nijim, Basheer; Nijim, Germana

    1992-01-01

    Presents a series of five short stories for children that incorporate geographic concepts. Includes the concepts of region, boundaries, and grids. Suggests that the stories will help children master challenging concepts and vocabulary that in turn will increase their knowledge and self-esteem. (DK)

  18. Digital Media Stories for Persuasion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leopold, Lisa

    2010-01-01

    Digital media story-telling (which enhances traditional oral story-telling with images, music, and text) has been a focus of recent scholarship for its potential to produce numerous educational benefits. Through digital media storytelling, students' imagination, creativity, critical thinking, writing, public speaking, and organizational or…

  19. Mary's Story: A Curriculum for Teaching Medical Terminology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park. Inst. for the Study of Adult Literacy.

    This packet of materials for a class on medical terminology consists of a collection of stories with highlighted vocabulary, teacher's guide, and student's guide. The materials teach medical terms in a series of stories about a woman named Mary Consola. Each story begins with a list of word parts that will be learned; after the story, new word…

  20. Constructing principals' professional identities through life stories ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Life History approach was used to collect data from six ... experience as the most significant leadership factors that influence principals' ... ranging from their entry into the teaching profession to their appointment as ..... teachers. I think I learnt from my principal to be strict but accommodating ..... Teachers College Press.

  1. Three Sides to Every Story: Preparing Patient and Family Storytellers, Facilitators, and Audiences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawthornthwaite, Lisa; Roebotham, Taylor; Lee, Lauren; O’Dowda, Mim; Lingard, Lorelei

    2018-01-01

    Background There is a growing recognition that patient engagement is necessary for the cultivation of patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) in the hospital setting. Acting on the emerging understanding that hearing stories from our patients gives valuable insight about our ability to provide compassionate PFCC, we developed an educational patient experience curriculum at our acute care teaching hospital. Objectives To understand the benefits and consequences of patient storytelling and to explore the impact of our curriculum on participants. Methods The curriculum was codesigned with patients to illustrate the value and meaning of PFCC to health professional audiences. We surveyed audience members at nursing orientation events and interviewed the patient storytellers who shared their stories. Results Participants indicated that patient stories could serve as lessons or reminders about the dimensions of PFCC and could inspire changes to practice. Storytellers reported an immensely rewarding experience and highlighted the value of educating and connecting with participants. However, they reported that the experience could also pose emotional challenges. Conclusion Careful and considerate facilitation of storytelling sessions is crucial to the delivery of a curriculum that is beneficial to both patients and participants. Our storytelling framework offers a novel approach to engaging patients in education, and it contributes to our existing understanding of how patient engagement efforts resonate within organizations. PMID:29702058

  2. 45 King: A Story of the Southern Home

    OpenAIRE

    Deluca, Paul Matthew Webb

    2014-01-01

    The house at 45 King St. in Charleston, South Carolina is more than a home. It is a story of the home. A story told through history, through a vision exhibited in architectural drawings, and through the social heritage closest to my heart. 45 King is a story for the South; the story of its grandeur, its climate, its natural beauty, its hospitality, its comfort, and its veils. It is a story that was told yesterday and one that is still told today. Like an oral history, the telling of it may...

  3. This is my life : The stories of independent workers in the creative industries in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hermes, J.; Koch, K.; Bakhuisen, N.; Borghuis, P.

    2017-01-01

    The new precariat or free agents? Two powerful stories dominate discussion of labour in what are now called the creative industries. A policy invention, the creative industries in the Netherlands combine media, the arts, cultural heritage and creative business services as a new top sector, expected

  4. Story Presentation Effects on Children's Retell Content

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Phyllis; Dube, Rita Vis

    2005-01-01

    This study investigated the possibility that the amount of content children include in their stories is affected by how stories are presented. Simple stories were presented to kindergarten and Grade 2 children in 3 conditions: orally (oral only), pictorially (pictures only), and combined oral and pictures. The kindergarteners recalled more content…

  5. Top medical news stories 2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robbins RA

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available No abstract available. Article truncated after 150 words. Here is our list of the top seven medical news stories for 2015 with special emphasis on the Southwest. 7. Wearable health devices: A wave of wearable computing devices such as Fitbit and UP wristbands have people keeping track of how much they sit, stand, walk, climb stairs and calories they consume (1. These fitness-tracking devices herald a series of devices that will detect and monitor serious diseases. However, these so-called medical-grade wearables require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a regulatory hurdle avoided by the fitness-tracking devices which will likely slow their introduction. 6. Caitlyn Jenner: Caitlyn Jenner became the most famous transgender woman in the world following an interview published in Vanity Fair (2. The Vanity Fair website saw 11.6 million visits curious about the former Olympic athlete. Though Jenner publicly shared her gender identity, many transgender Americans do not-12% of gender non-conforming adults said they ...

  6. TEACHING SPEAKING THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STORY TELLING TECHNIQUE BY USING STORY-TELLING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Purwatiningsih Purwatiningsih

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Learning a language especially English is expected to help students to be able to use it as a means of communication. Communicating is understanding and expressing information, thought and feeling, and expanding science, technology and culture. Communicating ability means being able to understand a discourse, namely being able to understand and produce spoken and written texts through the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing this classroom action research was conducted to solve the students’ problems in speaking. It is to improve the students’ ability in speaking through story-telling technique using picture series in terms of content and delivery of the story. The design of this study is classroom action research which was conducted in two cycles consisting of six meetings. The subjects of this study were students of grade x-9 of MAN 2 Madiun in 2012/2013 academic year. The instruments to collect the data were observation checklists, field notes, speaking task measured using scoring rubrics, and questionnaire. The criteria of success were determined on the basis of the students’ participation in the teaching-learning process, the students’ speaking achievement in terms of score (telling a story individually, and the students’ responses to the implementation of story-telling technique using picture series. The finding of the study indicated that the implementation of the technique was successful in improving the students’ speaking ability, since the criteria of success were achieved. The first criterion was if 70% of the students participate or are actively involved in the teaching and learning process, and the data analysis confirmed that 84% of students were actively involved. Concerning the second criterion was if 70% of the students achieve the score greater than or equal to 75, the finding showed that 81% of the students already achieved scores greater than 75. The last criterion, if 70% of students

  7. Community Story Circles: An Opportunity to Rethink the Epistemological Approach to Heritage Interpretive Planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curthoys, Lesley; Cuthbertson, Brent; Clark, Julie

    2012-01-01

    Storytelling is one way of sharing what it means to live in a particular place: its history, inhabitants, opportunities, challenges, rhythms, ways of life, and obligations to that place. This paper offers an exploration of the nature and significance of coming together to orally share place-based stories, within the context of environmental and…

  8. Generation of Variations on Theme Music Based on Impressions of Story Scenes Considering Human's Feeling of Music and Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenkichi Ishizuka

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a system which generates variations on theme music fitting to story scenes represented by texts and/or pictures. Inputs to the present system are original theme music and numerical information on given story scenes. The present system varies melodies, tempos, tones, tonalities, and accompaniments of given theme music based on impressions of story scenes. Genetic algorithms (GAs using modular neural network (MNN models as fitness functions are applied to music generation in order to reflect user's feeling of music and stories. The present system adjusts MNN models for each user on line. This paper also describes the evaluation experiments to confirm whether the generated variations on theme music reflect impressions of story scenes appropriately or not.

  9. Making up History: False Memories of Fake News Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danielle C. Polage

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Previous research has shown that information that is repeated is more likely to be rated as true than information that has not been heard before. The current experiment examines whether familiarity with false news stories would increase rates of truthfulness and plausibility for these events. Further, the experiment tested whether false stories that were familiar would result in the creation of a false memory of having heard the story outside of the experiment. Participants were exposed to false new stories, each portrayed by the investigator as true news stories. After a five week delay, participants who had read the false experimental stories rated them as more truthful and more plausible than participants who had not been exposed to the stories. In addition, there was evidence of the creation of false memories for the source of the news story. Participants who had previously read about the stories were more likely to believe that they had heard the false stories from a source outside the experiment. These results suggest that repeating false claims will not only increase their believability but may also result in source monitoring errors.

  10. Readiness for Solving Story Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunlap, William F.

    1982-01-01

    Readiness activities are described which are designed to help learning disabled (LD) students learn to perform computations in story problems. Activities proceed from concrete objects to numbers and involve the students in devising story problems. The language experience approach is incorporated with the enactive, iconic, and symbolic levels of…

  11. Sweet Secrets: Stories of Menstruation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Grady, Kathleen; Wansbrough, Paula

    This book combines short stories with clear, factual health information for adolescent females about menstruation and their bodily changes they are experiencing. It focuses on young girls' concerns and questions about menstruation and educates through a combination of the front matter and the stories themselves. Coming from different generations…

  12. RN students need to tell their stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blecke, J; Flatt, M M

    1993-04-01

    Finally, what is it about RN students' experiences in the transition process in nursing education that makes their stories need to be told? Actually this question is asked from both the side of the RN students who are the learners and need to tell the stories, and the side of the educator/advisor who needs to have the stories told. In short, the answer to both is that these stories reveal very graphically and meaningfully what is happening in the learning and professional development processes and, simultaneously, they facilitate the progression of those processes. The RN students seem to have an innate sense about what telling their stories will do for them in relation to their learning and professional development processes. They require very little encouragement to prompt their story telling. For the educators/advisors, no other strategy is as adaptable and achieves as much in relation to facilitating the learning and development processes. For both parties, the graphic revelations in stories paint a picture of how past, present, and future blend together to form a meaningful, coherent view of a position in the world. According to Antonovsky's (1979) work on stress and coping, such a view is necessary if stress is to be resisted and health maintained.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

  13. Holistic nurses' stories of healing of another.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enzman Hines, Mary; Wardell, Diane Wind; Engebretson, Joan; Zahourek, Rothlyn; Smith, Marlaine C

    2015-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to uncover the essence and meaning of healing through narrative accounts of holistic nurses, using a qualitative, descriptive design integrating narrative and story inquiry. Twenty-five stories were collected. Seven stories revealed personal healing and have been published in a prior article. Eighteen stories, the focus of this analysis, revealed healing of another. A hybrid method blending narrative and story guided the overall process for the study. Nine themes emerged describing healing of another within three story segments: The Call to Healing, The Experience of Healing, and Insights. The theme within The Call to the Healing Encounter was Drawn by Compassion to the Vulnerability and/or Suffering of Another. Five themes describe the Experience of Healing: Connection: Cocreating Relationships; Taking Risks and Dealing With Skeptical Colleagues; Use of Modalities and Actions as Tools in Developing Self as an Instrument of Healing; Profound, Ineffable Events; and Using Metaphor and Rituals to Describe Healing. Three themes describe Insights: Mutual Transformation, Change, and Reciprocity; Gratitude for the Healing Encounter; and Leaving a Legacy. The metastory, a reconstructed story created by the researchers, was the final phase of research synthesizing and demonstrating themes of healing of another. Results were compared to existing healing literature. © The Author(s) 2014.

  14. Theoretical and methodological notes on visual and audiovisual sources in researches on Life Stories and Self-referential Memorials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Helena Menna Barreto Abrahão

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The text explicits the reflection that bases the use of pictures, films and videofilms as sources in research on Life Stories and Self-re- ferential Memorials in Teachers’ Education. After refering to the researches in which we use this support since 1988, we work with two complementary pairs of theoretical dimensions of narratives in visual and audiovisual sources and their use in such empirical rese- arch: subjectivity/truth and space/time. These dimensions are worked grounded in Barthes (1984 to propose an interpretative effort of these sources to understand the essence of photography according to the photographer and the essence of photography according to the photographed person concocted to the essence of photography according to the researcher. The Barthesian constructs studium and punctum are applied to reading the narratives of the filmic and pho- tographic material, reaching the more radical expression of the Bar- thesian puctum: real or representational death of the referent that serves the photos and movies. The discussion of these dimensions for the analysis of (audio visual sources is complemented with the support of several other authors.

  15. Identity of Professors of Medical and Surgical Graduate Programs at a University Hospital: A View from Life Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejandra Salcedo Monsalve

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This article shows the results of a research in which I decided to analyze the narratives of profes­sors of medical and surgical specialties in a university hospital in the city of Bogota, and inter­pret their teaching experiences, to learn some elements of their identity and the pedagogical knowledge they have built. A qualitative study was conducted from the hermeneutical historical approach, using life stories. Five teachers participated voluntarily. An analysis of the narratives focused on the meaning and the interpretation of the findings in the light of pedagogical theory was performed. In relation to teacher identity, the specialists became teachers unintentionally as a response to own labor requirements of the job at the university hospital. The construction process of the teachers started from their years of schooling, and pedagogical practice has a strong influence on what they learned from their own teachers. The academic activity is being under­taken by the major motivation vocation, expressions of thanks of their students and satisfaction for achieving the proposed learning objectives. The lack of teacher training creates tension and concern among teachers, which could be prevented with teacher education programs.

  16. The Impact of Embedded Story Structures versus Sequential Story Structures on Critical Thinking of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Samadi

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Confirming the constructive effects of reading comprehension on critical thinking, this paper attempted to investigate the impact of story structures on critical thinking of Iranian EFL learners. In doing so, the researcher utilized a quasi–experimental design with 60 intermediate students who were divided into two embedded story structures and sequential story structures groups (experimental groups. After taking PET, a critical thinking questionnaire was employed as a pre-test. The two groups received 16 sessions of treatment. All participants received similar amount of instruction but one group was given embedded short stories and the other group sequential short stories. To compare the two groups, they were received the parallel critical thinking questionnaire as a post-test. The two null hypotheses in this study were rejected due to different performance of the two groups. Statistical results did not support the superiority of neither structures. Therefore, the researcher was not able to suggest which structure caused a better or higher impact on critical thinking. However, the findings reveal that teaching story structures in EFL context can develop critical thinking of intermediate EFL learners. The study have some implications for test-designers, teachers, and students.

  17. Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... University (NEOMED) 26,193 views 5:39 Little Stars – Paediatric Palliative Care – Charlie's Story - Duration: 10:35. Little Stars 12,759 views 10:35 Teen Cancer Stories | ...

  18. The transformative power of story for healing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Profeit-LeBlanc, Louise

    2003-01-01

    One of our goals in this session was, not just to talk about the healing power of narrative, but to experience it as well. Louise Profeit-LeBlanc is one of the presenters we invited specifically because of her skills as a storyteller. She has been heavily involved for several years as both an organizer and a participant in the Yukon Storytelling Festival, held every year in late May in Whitehorse. Woven into her presentation is a useful framework for differentiating various kinds of stories. As she tells us a series of stories, she takes us through a wide range of emotions from grief and loss to laughter and awe. For each of her stories, she gives us some personal contextual information that adds to the story’s meaning and helps us appreciate its significance. Her final story, in particular, is the kind of traditional story that has probably existed for a very long time. Such stories may be told with slightly different emphases, depending on the occasion, but they carry wisdom and value for every generation that hears them.

  19. Stories from Haiti: a comparison of three approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumann, Steven L; Bellefleur, Carmelle

    2014-04-01

    Two stories from Haiti are considered from three different perspectives. The first story is about a boy named Joseph Alvyns, whose mother died from cholera in 2011. His story is told in a short film titled Baseball in the time of Cholera. The second story is about Mme. Yolande Marie Nazaire, who was the Director of the Haiti National School of Nursing in Port-au-Prince on the morning of January 12, 2010, when an earthquake killed 90 students and faculty. The three perspectives discussed here are: (a) Critical Reflective in health professional education as used by the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine; (b) The Capacities of Stories, which is part of a socio-narratology methodology; and(c) Story Theory with implications for global health nursing.

  20. [Motivational interviewing with alcohol-dependent patients].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spaeth, Michael; Bleich, Stefan; Hillemacher, Thomas

    2017-09-01

    Motivational interviewing with alcohol-dependent patients Alcohol-dependent patients do not need to be motivated from the outside. They are mostly ambivalent, and the inner voice, which already speaks for change (change talk), is heard through motivational interviewing, carefully strengthened and developed together with the patient. The practitioner has to deal with the human spirit of motivational interviewing and should be able to communicate with empathy, respect, congruence, and openness. The patient's autonomy should always be maintained. Advice is only given upon request. The conversation style is directive-guiding instead of authoritariansteering. OARS and the EPE principle are the motivational interviewing basics, which are consistently applied over 4 processes of motivational interviewing: engaging, focusing, evocing, and planning. The likelihood of change talk increases as soon as discrepancies between life goals and alcohol consumption emerge. An increased rate of change talk makes a change in behavior more likely. If a patient argues against change (sustain talk), one should not confront, but should consistently work with reflections, reframing, and an emphasis on autonomy. Motivational interviewing can be applied in different settings and populations, should be learned by the entire team (best professional guidance) in teamwork, and be subjected to a critical and constant evaluation. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  1. Theoretical Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tanya Serisier

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available A review of Clare Hemmings, Why Stories Matter: The Political Grammar of Feminist Theory (Duke 2011 and Janet Halley & Andrew Parker (eds. After Sex? On Writing Since Queer Theory (Duke 2011.

  2. Portable MP3 players: innovative devices for recording qualitative interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Ritin S; Griffiths, Rhonda

    2007-01-01

    Digital technology has provided a new way of recording qualitative interviews, surpassing the clarity, usability and storage capabilities of conventional tape recorders. Ritin Fernandez and Rhonda Griffiths examine a technological resource that pervades modern social life and which can be used effectively for digitally recording interviews for qualitative research.

  3. Doing It for Athol: Representation and appropriation in My Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. West

    1999-04-01

    Full Text Available Athol Fugard has spoken of his need to start again, as an artist. This new beginning is manifest in the two plays published jointly in 1996, My Life & Valley Song. The focus of this article is My Life, an innovative workshopped piece, involving five young women between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one, who offer a selection of “Images and stories from [their] personal biographies” - sub-title of the play. The stories that emerge in the text, I have argued, are not the ones that could have or would have emerged had the actors not been prompted and directed by Fugard. To justify this position a number of questions have been raised: Why did Fugard choose an all-female cast? Why are the actors all so young? What effect did the facilitator have on the actors’ willingness to share their stories? How are the concerns of race and gender treated? How are (self-censorship and (auto-biography to be understood in terms of the stories told? Fugard has claimed that he did not write this play, that the words and stories come from the actors themselves. The validity of this claim is examined in the light of these questions, and the politics of representation and of authorship are central to the argument.

  4. Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... shares the story of Rachel—a pediatric neuroblastoma patient—and her family. The story demonstrates how palliative care can positively influence a patient's and family's experience with illness. Category Science & Technology ...

  5. Enhancing children's health through digital story.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyatt, Tami H; Hauenstein, Emily

    2008-01-01

    Stories in all of their many forms, including books, plays, skits, movies, poems, and songs, appeal to individuals of all ages but especially the young. Children are easily engaged in stories, and today's generation of children, the millennium generation, demands interactive, multimedia-rich environments. Story as a teaching and learning technique is pervasive in the classroom but is infrequently used to promote health. Because of advancing technology, it is possible to create interactive digital storytelling programs that teach children health topics. Using digital storytelling in an interactive environment to promote health has not been tested, but there is empirical support for using story in health education and interactive technology to promote health. This article briefly reviews the literature and discusses how technology and storytelling can be joined to promote positive health outcomes.

  6. Acceptability and Applicability of an American Health Videogame with Story for Childhood Obesity Prevention Among Hong Kong Chinese Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jingjing; Baranowski, Tom; Pitkethly, Amanda Jane; Buday, Richard

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Objective: Positive changes in diet have been observed in research carried out in the United States from the use of “Escape from Diab” (Diab), a health videogame designed to lower the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Whether the American story and characters in Diab might be perceived by Hong Kong Chinese children as interesting has not been explored. This study assessed the acceptability and applicability of Diab among Hong Kong Chinese children, whether the Diab story was understood by them, and whether it had potential to influence them both during the game and afterward. Subjects and Methods: Thirty-four students (21 males, 13 females) 9–12 years of age were included. Upon completion of all the Diab episodes, children completed an immersion scale with 18 items, as well as an individual interview with 10 open-ended questions. Results: Children achieved average immersion after playing Diab with the mean score at 39.1 (standard deviation = 9.0), higher than the median (36) of possible scores (range, 18–54). Four themes using framework analysis emerged from the interviews, including intuitive feelings about the interface, playing experience, perception of the effect of Diab on behavior change, and the applicability of Diab to Hong Kong children. The story and game developed for American children were found acceptable and applicable to Hong Kong Chinese children. Conclusions: The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods confirmed the acceptability and applicability of Diab to Hong Kong Chinese children. PMID:26382015

  7. The impossible interview with the man of the hidden biological structures. Interview by Paolo Mazzarello.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golgi, Camillo

    2006-12-01

    This paper presents an "impossible interview" to Professor Camillo Golgi, placed in time in December 1906. The Italian Professor Golgi from Pavia has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine ex aequo with the Spanish anatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Both scientists have obtained the award for their work on the anatomy of the nervous system. However, they have opposite views on the mechanisms underlying nervous functions. Golgi believes that the axons stained by his "black reaction" form a continuous anatomical or functional network along which nervous impulses propagate. Ramón y Cajal is the paladin of the neuron theory, a hypothesis questioned by Golgi in his Nobel lecture of Tuesday, December 11. After the ceremony, an independent journalist has interviewed Professor Golgi in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. Excerpts about his education, his main scientific discoveries, and his personal life are here given (reconstructing the "impossible interview" on the basis of Golgi's original writings).

  8. Everybody Has a Story III

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    . The teacher, Erin Gruwell, found herself more or less forced to base her teachings on the stories of the living conditions of her students. When she became aware of these stories and managed to relate the content of the curriculum to them, her students started to find interest in the subjects of the school...

  9. story from the joseph narrative

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The story of Judah within the longer Joseph story (Genesis 37-50) provides an apt place for .... from the center, to honor all humans with absolute justice, equity, respect; to refrain ..... they were simply general behavior types with no relation to me (too abstract) ... the Bible and extract theology and then replicate it into theory.

  10. End-of-life-vignettes. A Chaplain's story.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodemann, Christina

    2014-03-01

    Julia, a 31-year-old woman, is brain dead after having suffered a cardiac arrest. This article describes a hospital chaplain's journey with her family through the tragedy of letting her die. It addresses the power of pastoral presence and prayer in a situation of loss and grief and the importance of storytelling for everyone involved in Julia's end-of-life care.

  11. The novel as short story

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kirk Schlueter

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available In recent history, the novel has been thought of and defined primarily as a long prose narrative. However, this has not been the case historically, as the original meaning of "novel" was for "a piece of news" or "a short story or novella." Returning to this original definition, I propose a new way of viewing the work known contemporarily as the novel as a collection, or sequence, of united short stories rather than a single indivisible work, with the component short stories or novellas comprising the sequence renamed as "novels." A brief examination of several classic works traditionally considered novels serves to illustrate how this change in definition will affect reading.

  12. Patient life in hospital

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ludvigsen, Mette Spliid

    Patient life in hospital.A qualitative study of informal relationships between hospitalised patients Introduction Within a patientology framework, this PhD dissertation is about an empirical study on patient life that provides insight into the nature of informal relationships between patients...... are created through stories about three roughly framed aspects of hospitalisation: A. Being together with fellow patients entails a constant dilemma, B. Relationships between patients are restricted and extended and C. Shifting perspectives in solidarity. Conclusion Patients' hospitalisation is strongly...

  13. Storied experiences of school-based habitat restoration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Anne C.

    The purpose of this study has been to consider the eco-pedagogical promise of school-based habitat restoration. How does the practice of restoration foster a lived sense of being in a more-than-human world1 while inviting alternative approaches to teaching and learning? What opportunities does it offer to resist the societal forces and patterns, reinforced through the school system, which are eroding and effacing human relationships with other life? A literature review sets the broader context for an in-depth exploration of the experiences and understandings of participants (students, teachers, parents) involved in a case study. I proceeded with my research on the assumption that both the discursive and non-discursive dimensions of habitat restoration were key to appreciating its eco-pedagogical potential. Through participant observation over a ten month period, interviewing and a survey, I listened to some of the ways that habitat restoration challenged the typically disembodied, decontextualized organization of schooling by privileging hands-on involvement and encouraging attentive, caring relationships within the human and natural communities of which students were a part. I investigated particular storylines and metaphors which encoded and supported participants' endeavours, especially with regard to their potential to disrupt human-centered values and beliefs. This study suggests that the promise of habitat restoration lies in the openings created to attune to and interact with human and nonhuman others in fully embodied, locally situated and personally meaningful ways. Participants overwhelmingly attested to the importance of the experience of restoration which many deemed to be memorable and motivating and to provide fertile ground for future engagements in/for nature and society. As participants attended to the nuances and complexities of their interactions with a specific place and its inhabitants, their intimate involvement added a depth of feeling and

  14. Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... it free Find out why Close Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story NINRnews Loading... Unsubscribe from NINRnews? ... and her family. The story demonstrates how palliative care can positively influence a patient's and family's experience ...

  15. Pediatric Palliative Care: A Personal Story

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... views 11:08 Mia Tatun - Albany Medical Center Children's Hospital - Journeys Palliative Care Story - Duration: 3:32. ... 4:01 Mitochondrial Disease Patient Story - Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital - Duration: 4:17. Cleveland Clinic 82,065 ...

  16. Life Stories of Graduate Students in Chile and the United States: Becoming a Scientist from Childhood to Adulthood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva Fernandez, Marta A.

    The purpose of this cross-national study was to gain a more comprehensive understanding about doctoral students in the United States and Chile and how their decisions to pursue a career in the life sciences field occurred throughout their lives. . I interviewed 15 doctoral students from the Seven Lakes University (Chile) and 15 students from the West Coast University (US), using a life history approach. Analyses revealed that the degree of flexibility in the schooling system and the degree of individualism and collectivism of the social groups in which the students were learning science seemed to influence the informants' vocational decisions in three interrelated processes: (1) Deciding the informants' degree of interest and ability in science by the opportunity of choosing science classes and activities. The highly tracked Chilean system socializes students to science at an early age. The more flexible school system in the US enabled the interviewees to gradually decide about pursuing their interest in science; (2) Experiencing science as a collective learning process for the Chilean informants and an individualistic learning process for the US students; (3) Perceiving science differently at each life stage for both groups of interviewees including: Playing science, Studying science, Doing science, Working in science, Practicing Science in their doctoral programs.

  17. Beijing Bicycle - Stories from a Transformative Space

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bagger-Petersen, Mai Corlin

    2012-01-01

    Ideas, words, images and stories travel from west to east – and from east to west. Stories are chosen and retold in different settings and images are reproduced and appropriated into new contexts – and in new times. Cinema, in this case the mainland Chinese, becomes both a space of production...... and a production of space that reveals how transnational and translocal mechanisms affect the cinematic language, transforming the images and stories chosen for the cinematic representation. Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle (Shiqi Sui de Danche) (2001) is a result of transnational currents weaving the carpet...... relevant in a new context – that of the Chinese mainland society in the 21st century. Doreen Massey (2005: 9) defines space as “a simultaneity of stories-so-far”, a space that is constantly exploding and imploding with the influx of new and old stories. Within this theoretical framework Wang Xiaoshuai...

  18. From Becquerel to Oppenheimer-Nuclear energy story. De Becquerel a Oppenheimer: histoire de l'energie nucleaire

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mataix, M

    1994-02-01

    To tell the nuclear energy story is to tell the story of a science, which in less than a century was born in a small laboratory to reach a large industry level. This science upset the principles that physics established since the time origin and then left a mark the men story course and their way of life while arousing enthusiasm or rejection reactions that no human invention incited until then. Such a topic is critical to deal, the author does with much talent. He describes us these epic participants and the bonds that they kept up. He places their thoughts and works advance in the historical, sometimes turbulent context which was that of the century beginning. We will discover the personality of these scientists whose name is often recalled by a physical law or a measure unit, but who were first of all women and men applied to improve the human beings welfare while studying thoroughly the atom mysteries.

  19. Book Review of Love Story Written by Erich Segal

    OpenAIRE

    Handayani, Candra

    2015-01-01

    In this study, the writer will analyze the novel Love Story by Erich Segal by using the intrinsic theories. The purposes of this study are to analyze the main characters and toreveal the strengths and the weaknesses of Erich Segal‟s Love Story. Love Story tells aromantic story of two main characters, Oliver Barret IV and Jennifer Cavileri who arefrom different social and culture background. Although Love Story has some weaknesses,the strengths of this novel make it still be recommended to be ...

  20. Story-telling, women's authority and the "Old Wife's Tale": "The Story of the Bottle of Medicine".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrams, Lynn

    2012-01-01

    The focus of this article is a single personal narrative – a Shetland woman's telling of a story about two girls on a journey to fetch a cure for a sick relative from a wise woman. The story is treated as a cultural document which offers the historian a conduit to a past that is respectful of indigenous woman-centred interpretations of how that past was experienced and understood. The "story of the bottle of medicine" is more than a skilful telling of a local tale; it is a memory practice that provides a path to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of a culture. Applying perspectives from anthropology, oral history and narrative analysis, three sets of questions are addressed: the issue of authenticity; the significance of the narrative structure and storytelling strategies employed; and the nature of the female performance. Ultimately the article asks what this story can tell us about women's interpretation of their own history.

  1. Teaching English Using Local Culture Content Short Story

    OpenAIRE

    Sanda, Silfi

    2009-01-01

    This paper is mainly about the use of local culture content short story in developing students' English proficiency and some activities that can be employed for this purpose. The local culture exposed in the short story is the traditional woven clothes of Palembang, Songket in term of process and product. The short story used in this topic is Cek Ipah "The Palembang Songket Weaver". This short story is authors' original work telling about everyday live of palembang songket weaver which covers...

  2. 'All stories bring hope because stories bring awareness': students' perceptions of digital storytelling for social justice education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Gachago

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Although becoming a more racially-integrated society, the legacy of Apartheid still affects learners' social engagements in and outside their classrooms. Adopting Nussbaum's (2010 capabilities framework for a socially just democracy, this paper examines 27 pre-service teacher education students' perceptions of a digital storytelling project and its potential for recognising and honouring capabilities necessary for engaging empathetically with the 'other'. Using narrative inquiry, and specifically Bamberg's (2006 'small stories' approach, the research team analysed 30 stories students constructed in four focus group conversations at the end of the project. In these stories, most of Nussbaum's (2010 capabilities were evident. We found that, in the collective sharing of their stories, students positioned themselves as agentive selves, displaying the belief that they can make a difference, not only individually within their own classrooms, but also as a collective of teachers.

  3. Life History Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Henning Salling

    2015-01-01

    as in everyday life. Life histories represent lived lives past, present and anticipated future. As such they are interpretations of individuals’ experiences of the way in which societal dynamics take place in the individual body and mind, either by the individual him/herself or by another biographer. The Life...... History approach was developing from interpreting autobiographical and later certain other forms of language interactive material as moments of life history, i.e. it is basically a hermeneutic approach. Talking about a psycho-societal approach indicates the ambition of attacking the dichotomy...... of the social and the psychic, both in the interpretation procedure and in some main theoretical understandings of language, body and mind. My article will present the reflections on the use of life history based methodology in learning and education research as a kind of learning story of research work....

  4. Better Buildings Neighborhood Program Progress Stories

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2012-04-19

    n neighborhoods across the country, stories are emerging constantly of individuals, businesses, and organizations that are benefiting from energy efficiency. Included are the stories of real people making their homes, businesses, and communities better with the help of the Better Buildings Neighborhood Program.

  5. The charming physician (El médico encantador): neurological conditions in a short story by Silvina Ocampo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delgado-García, Guillermo; Rodríguez-Návarez, Carolina; Estañol, Bruno

    2017-11-01

    The Argentinian author Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993) left us a vast body of works which are considered outstanding in many ways. In 1960, she published a short story, entitled "El médico encantador" (The Charming Physician), in the renowned literary magazine Sur. The central character of this piece is a family doctor named Albino Morgan, who had a secret truth: in any house he visited, all variety of disease also entered. He brought with him the viruses he disseminated. The narrator of this short story-one of his patients-describes four of Morgan's diseases. These imaginary neurological conditions allowed Ocampo to explore improbable situations in everyday life.

  6. Prayer Life of a Professor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baesler, E. James

    2009-01-01

    This autoethnographic account describes interconnections among the author's personal prayer life, teaching, and research. The contextual frame for the story includes episodes and observations from a twelve-year span, encompassing postacademic tenure and promotion to the present. The author's prayer is that others might resonate with parts of this…

  7. What's your story?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibarra, Herminia; Lineback, Kent

    2005-01-01

    When you're in the midst of a major career change, telling stories about your professional self can inspire others' belief in your character and in your capacity to take a leap and land on your feet. It also can help you believe in yourself. A narrative thread will give meaning to your career history; it will assure you that, in moving on to something new, you are not discarding everything you've worked so hard to accomplish. Unfortunately, the authors explain in this article, most of us fail to use the power of storytelling in pursuit of our professional goals, or we do it badly. Tales of transition are especially challenging. Not knowing how to reconcile the built-in discontinuities in our work lives, we often relay just the facts. We present ourselves as safe--and dull and unremarkable. That's not a necessary compromise. A transition story has inherent dramatic appeal. The protagonist is you, of course, and what's at stake is your career. Perhaps you've come to an event or insight that represents a point of no return. It's this kind of break with the past that will force you to discover and reveal who you really are. Discontinuity and tension are part of the experience. If these elements are missing from your career story, the tale will fall flat. With all these twists and turns, how do you demonstrate stability and earn listeners' trust? By emphasizing continuity and causality--in other words, by showing that your past is related to the present and, from that trajectory, conveying that a solid future is in sight. If you can make your story of transition cohere, you will have gone far in convincing the listener--and reassuring yourself--that the change makes sense for you and is likely to bring success.

  8. Holistic nurses' stories of personal healing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Marlaine C; Zahourek, Rothlyn; Hines, Mary Enzman; Engebretson, Joan; Wardell, Diane Wind

    2013-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to uncover the nature, experiences, and meaning of personal healing for holistic nurses through their narrative accounts. The study employed a qualitative descriptive design with methods of narrative and story inquiry. Participants were nurse attendees at an American Holistic Nurses' Association conference who volunteered for the study. They were invited to share a story about healing self or another. Twenty-five stories were collected; seven were about personal healing, and these are the focus of this analysis. Data were analyzed using a hybrid approach from narrative and story inquiry methods. Eleven themes were clustered under three story segments. The themes within the Call to the Healing Encounter are the following: recognition of the need to resolve a personal or health crisis, knowledge of or engagement in self-care practices, and reliance on intuitive knowing. Themes under the Experience of Healing are the following: connections; profound sensations, perceptions, and events; awareness of the reciprocal nature of healing; inner resolution: forgiveness, awakening, and acceptance; use of multiple holistic approaches; and witnessing manifestations of healing. The themes for Insights are the following: gratitude and appreciation and ongoing journey. A metastory synthesizing the themes is presented, and findings are related to existing literature on healing.

  9. Story and recall in first person shooters

    OpenAIRE

    Pinchbeck, Dan

    2008-01-01

    Story has traditionally been seen as something separate to gameplay—frequently relegated to an afterthought or epiphenomenon. Nevertheless, in the FPS genre there has been something of a renaissance in the notion of the story-driven title. Partially, this is due to advances in technology enabling a greater capacity for distributed storytelling and a better integration of story and gameplay. However, what has been underrecognised is the dynamic, epistemological, and psychological impact of sto...

  10. Policy stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ren, Carina Bregnholm; Rasmussen, Rasmus Kjærgaard

    This article uses Arctic Winter 2016 as an exploration site of values and futures in Greenland. By taking a valuation approach where the creation and interpretation of event values are seen as an ongoing and taxing accomplishment, we firstly expand the understanding of events beyond their actual...... present three central policy stories from the field. The stories tell of how the event was first interested, then activated and finally evaluated. Besides adding a new understanding to policy-driven events as a locus of value creation, we also argue that the AWG 2016 offer speculative bets for new...... planning and execution and of event outcomes beyond the narrow confines of bed nights and legacies. Second, we introduce policies as an entry point to unlock discussions and manifestations of value and futures which connect to AWG. In order to exemplify the workings of the AWG event in these domains, we...

  11. The Children, Intimate Relationships, and Conflictual Life Events (CIRCLE) interview for simultaneous measurement of intimate partner and parent to child aggression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Amy D; Feinberg, Mark E; Jones, Damon E; Chote, Daniel R

    2017-08-01

    Despite substantial rates of parent to child aggression (PCA) and intimate partner aggression (IPA) co-occurrence within families, the co-occurrence of PCA and IPA within incidents of aggression has not previously been examined. To do so, we developed the Children, Intimate Relationships, and Conflictual Life Events (CIRCLE) interview to simultaneously measure incidents of psychological and physical PCA and IPA. The CIRCLE interview was administered quarterly for approximately 1 year to 109 women and 94 men from 111 couples with a first born child approximately 32 months of age at study initiation. Demonstrating the CIRCLE interview's ability to yield new knowledge about the nature of family aggression, we describe the frequency of aggressive incidents, the average number of aggressive behaviors within incidents, the daily occurrence of multiple aggressive incidents, and rates of within-incident PCA and IPA co-occurrence. With the exception of men's physical IPA, aggression scores derived from the CIRCLE interview exhibited a relatively high degree of interpartner reporting concordance, as well as structural validity and convergent validity with common aggression measures. Aggression reports via repeated testing were not influenced by social desirability or attempts to avoid aggression. Participants who perceived enhanced memory for aggression as a function of study participation reported increasing PCA and IPA frequencies over time. In the prediction of child conduct and emotional problems, the CIRCLE interview demonstrated predictive validity and incremental validity over traditional aggression measures. For the first time, within-incident co-occurrence of PCA and IPA was documented and shown to uniquely impact child outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. [Arrived in Germany: When Children Who have Fled Tell their Stories].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerarts, Katharina; Andresen, Sabine; Ravens-Sieberer, Ulrike; Klasen, Fionna

    2016-12-01

    Arrived in Germany: When Children Who have Fled Tell their Stories For this study, we listened to children who had fled with their families. We made a very conscious decision to focus on accompanied minors who have been displaced, because they go through the standard asylum system with their parent/guardian, which is why they often remain "invisible" as regards their own needs and their specific situation. We gave accompanied children who had fled a space where they could tell their stories and asked them to talk about their memories of their countries of origin, their experiences during their journey and on arrival in Germany, and their lives here, their concerns, but also their hopes and desires. The children presented here come from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Kosovo, Serbia and Syria. They therefore represent the countries from which people have set out on the always difficult, often life-threatening journey to Germany. And they represent the diversity of experiences of flight and arrival. Those responsible for this study come from various academic disciplines and areas of work. This was important to us in order to focus on the complexity of being a child and a child's everyday life under the conditions experienced while on the run. In view of the vulnerability of children, many challenges are regarded in a different light from previously, for example concerning the organisation of initial reception centres, education and care provisions, medical care, protected spaces and privacy. We want to encourage you to see these spaces, the bureaucratic procedures and coping with everyday life through the eyes of a child.

  13. The Path Tells a Story

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nack, Frank

    Stories have been shared in every culture because they are a powerful means to entertain, educate, and preserve traditions or instill values. In the history of storytelling technological evolution has changed the tools available to storytellers, from primarily oral representations that have been enriched with gestures and expressions to the sophisticated forms we enjoy today, such as film or complex layered hypermedia environments. Despite these developments the traditional linear presentation of a story is still the most dominant. Yet, the first decade of the twenty-first century established a technology that finally, after many attempts, can challenge the dogma of passive linearity. It is mobile technology that makes people aware that a digital environment opens opportunities to everybody to freely socialize through and with stories relevant for the current spatial, temporal, and social context.

  14. Story Development in Cinematography

    OpenAIRE

    Anderson, L

    2011-01-01

    First off, I’ve got to argue for the use of the word “cinematography” over “camera”. One is to utilize a word I would like to further unpack. Another is to utilize a word that simply implies a relationship to another art form entirely – photography. I often say to my students that some cinematographers initially come from the lighting point of view and some come from the camera, but ultimately what great cinematographers do is understand a story (not just a moment that tells a story – there i...

  15. Ironic Effects of Drawing Attention to Story Errors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eslick, Andrea N.; Fazio, Lisa K.; Marsh, Elizabeth J.

    2014-01-01

    Readers learn errors embedded in fictional stories and use them to answer later general knowledge questions (Marsh, Meade, & Roediger, 2003). Suggestibility is robust and occurs even when story errors contradict well-known facts. The current study evaluated whether suggestibility is linked to participants’ inability to judge story content as correct versus incorrect. Specifically, participants read stories containing correct and misleading information about the world; some information was familiar (making error discovery possible), while some was more obscure. To improve participants’ monitoring ability, we highlighted (in red font) a subset of story phrases requiring evaluation; readers no longer needed to find factual information. Rather, they simply needed to evaluate its correctness. Readers were more likely to answer questions with story errors if they were highlighted in red font, even if they contradicted well-known facts. Though highlighting to-be-evaluated information freed cognitive resources for monitoring, an ironic effect occurred: Drawing attention to specific errors increased rather than decreased later suggestibility. Failure to monitor for errors, not failure to identify the information requiring evaluation, leads to suggestibility. PMID:21294039

  16. «Truman» (2015: About Friendship, of Life and Death

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nani GRANERO MOYA

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Truman deals with last stage of Julian´s life, an Argentinian actor who suffers from lung cancer and refuses to continue chemotherapy because his prognosis is gloomy. In the film, Julian meets his friend Tomás, and through the narration of the meeting we are revealed the protagonist´s concerns, fears, emotions and desires from his illness experience. We think this story may be useful to citizens because the death topic is treated with naturalness.  His analysis can also help healthcare professionals and Health Sciences professors to deliberate with patients, their families or students about coping with a terminal illness and it can bring them to reflect on personal relationships, life events and the values that really matter. This is a story that speaks, ultimately, about friendship, about life and death.

  17. Proxy reporting in after-death interviews: the use of proxy respondents in retrospective assessment of chronic diseases and symptom burden in the terminal phase of life

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klinkenberg, M.; Smit, J. H.; Deeg, D. J. H.; Willems, D. L.; Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D.; van der Wal, G.

    2003-01-01

    This study evaluates the quality of data obtained from after-death interviews with significant others of deceased older persons regarding the prevalence of chronic diseases and symptoms in the terminal phase of life. These data are compared with reports from physicians and earlier self-reports from

  18. Composing Storied Ground: Four Generations of Narrative Inquiry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaafsma, David; Pagnucci, Gian; Wallace, Rob; Stock, Patricia Lambert

    2007-01-01

    Narrative inquiry in English education comes in many shapes and forms--tales of classrooms and communities, didactic argu-stories, postmodern pastiches, open tales with O. Henry endings--but the heart of the enterprise is research in the form of story or, in other words, exploring the world by telling a story about it. In many such tales, all of…

  19. Interviewee Perceptions of Employment Screening Interviews: Relationships among Perceptions of Communication Satisfaction, Interviewer Credibility and Trust, Interviewing Experience, and Interview Outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jablin, Fredric M.; And Others

    A study examined employment screening interviews to determine the relationships between an interviewee's perceptions of interview communication satisfaction, interviewer credibility and trust, previous interviewing experiences, and a number of interview outcomes, including expectation of a second interview. Data were collected from 69 students…

  20. Development of Temporal Macrostructure in Life Narratives across the Lifespan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Köber, Christin; Habermas, Tilmann

    2017-01-01

    In Western cultures, life narratives are typically expected to recount the narrator's life from birth to the present. Disparate autobiographical memories need to be integrated into a more or less coherent story, which is facilitated by an overarching temporal macrostructure. The temporal macrostructure consists of elaborated beginnings that…

  1. Exploring Cultures and Their Stories: Stories from Uganda, Bolivia, Sri Lanka, Korea, Bulgaria, Germany, and Macedonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joy, Flora

    Intended for teachers of middle and secondary schools, this book presents folk-stories to provide readers (listeners) with insight into other cultures. The book is organized into eight sections, each featuring a country or a people. Each section has a divider page (which gives the story title, the country or region of the culture, and a map), a…

  2. Ethnographic Stories as Generalizations that Intervene

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winthereik, Brit Ross; Verran, Helen

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we show why we think the notion of instrumental ethnography should be revived (compared to Steve Woolgar's 1982 use of the term). We see instrumental ethnography as a particular form of ethnography that recognizes ethnographic stories as agential through their capacity to work...... partners in a development aid project; it tells about the seemingly magic actions of a database used for monitoring. We use the note for discussing why we think it is important, in a situation where ethnographic stories are bought and sold as products, to name some of the ontological commitments that go...... into the crafting of these stories....

  3. Red rover: inside the story of robotic space exploration, from genesis to the mars rover curiosity

    CERN Document Server

    Wiens, Roger

    2013-01-01

    In its eerie likeness to Earth, Mars has long captured our imaginations—both as a destination for humankind and as a possible home to extraterrestrial life. It is our twenty-first century New World; its explorers robots, shipped 350 million miles from Earth to uncover the distant planet’s secrets.Its most recent scout is Curiosity—a one-ton, Jeep-sized nuclear-powered space laboratory—which is now roving the Martian surface to determine whether the red planet has ever been physically capable of supporting life. In Red Rover, geochemist Roger Wiens, the principal investigator for the ChemCam laser instrument on the rover and veteran of numerous robotic NASA missions, tells the unlikely story of his involvement in sending sophisticated hardware into space, culminating in the Curiosity rover's amazing journey to Mars.In so doing, Wiens paints the portrait of one of the most exciting scientific stories of our time: the new era of robotic space exploration. Starting with NASA’s introduction of the Discovery...

  4. Contributions to the empirical validation and adaptation to Spanish of the mentalist task of strange stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aguilar, María José

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The theory of the mind is a core capacity in the social development of people that allows us to infer what another is thinking or feeling and behaving in a manner appropriate to a social situation. One of the main criticisms made to instruments measuring Theory of Mind, is that their results are not reflected in the situations of everyday life. In 1994, Happe created a test trying to overcome the constraints. The aim of this paper was to generate empirical evidence contributing to the validation and Spanish adaptation of the mind theory test named Strange Stories of Happé, used to assess the capability to recognise non literal senses. Results revealed a good internal consistency of the test. The factorial analysis showed five factors that explained the 54% of the variance of data. Significant associations were found between non literal senses and social sensibility tests. Happé Strange stories are attempts to analyze aspects that come into play in everyday life and are an appropriate tool for evaluating the Theory of mind.

  5. Story immersion in a health videogame for childhood obesity prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stories can serve as powerful tools for health interventions. Story immersion refers to the experience of being absorbed in a story. This is among the first studies to analyze story immersion’s role in health video games among children by addressing two main questions: Will children be more immersed...

  6. Thinking Visually: An Interview with Scott Bennett.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gamble, Harriet

    2002-01-01

    Presents an interview with Scott Bennett, an artist of abstract art and traditional craft. Focuses on issues such as the role of art in his life, how his art has developed over time, and his process of creating his works of art. Includes directions for a glazing project. (CMK)

  7. Digital story telling in social justice nursing education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LeBlanc, Raeann G

    2017-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore and evaluate how digital stories integrated into public health nursing education can teach social justice concepts essential for nurse leadership. Four digital stories were selected and incorporated into a public health nursing course. Students were asked to reflect on these stories. A retrospective qualitative analysis was completed on the student narrative reflections and analyzed for themes. A total of 108 narrative reflections of public health nursing students were included from 2015 to 2016. Themes were identified based on analysis and include-Encountering Vulnerability, Questioning Systems and Choosing Moral Courage. Digital stories offer an innovative medium to convey the importance of story, advance social justice as an essential practice of nursing, and create opportunities that addresses social justice in nursing and in developing nursing leaders. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Researcher Story: Stuttering

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... Registries Personal Stories For Parents and Children For Health Care ... known as stuttering and about the King’s work with a speech therapist to overcome this communication ...

  9. Beginning with Our Voices: How the Experiential Stories of First Nations Women Contribute to a National Research Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acoose, Sharon; Blunderfield, Debbie; Dell, Colleen Anne; Desjarlais, Val

    2009-12-01

    The purpose of this paper is to review how the experiential stories of First Nations women contribute to a national research project. The project focuses on how women's healing is impacted by their views about themselves as - and the stigma associated with being - a drug user, involved in crime and an Aboriginal woman. Our project began with three First Nations women on our research team documenting the role of stigma and self-identity in their personal healing journeys from problematically using drugs and being in conflict with the law. In this paper we discuss how key components of feminist research practices, Aboriginal methodology and community-based research helped us position the women's experiential stories in authoritative, recognized and celebrated ways in our study. We illustrate how the women's stories uniquely contributed to the creation of our interview questions and the research project in general. We also discuss how the women personally benefited from writing about and sharing their experiences. Key benefits include the women discovering the impact of the written word, promotion of their healing, personal recognition of their ability to offer hope to women in need, increased self-esteem, and increased appreciation of the importance of sharing their lived experiences with others. Our method of research differs from a conventional western scientific approach to understanding, and as such made important contributions to both the project itself and the women who shared their experiential stories.

  10. Meek and Mild: American Children's Bibles' Stories of Jesus as a Boy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalton, Russell W.

    2014-01-01

    The four canonical gospels provide readers with few details of the life of Jesus as a boy. Many authors of children's bibles in America, however, have been happy to fill in some of the details. This article suggests that these retellings regularly create or adapt stories of Jesus' childhood to teach children virtues that serve to affirm…

  11. Stories, Action and Ethics in Management Education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Kenneth Mølbjerg

    2018-01-01

    This chapter discusses ethics in management education from Hannah Arendt’s notion of action. Action for Arendt is disclosed in storytelling and other artful expression whereby people make their appearance in the world as distinct human beings with passions, feelings, intentions, and voices. Stories...... are collective, situated, embodied, and material. It is through stories that people disclose themselves as subjects in interaction with other people. The chapter suggests that stories have ethical consequences in three areas. Firstly, they emphasize the creative act and the new beginning. “True” action distorts...... for the world and our worldly becoming. These three areas serve as important signposts for reworking management students’ stories. They have consequences for the design of teaching practices for heightening students’ moral awareness. These concern both management students’ work of the self on the self...

  12. Gatotkaca Birth Story As A First Step To Introduce Children With Puppets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leocadia Desy Pranatalisa

    2017-02-01

    To introduce the puppets against children, can be done by introducing one puppet stories. The story introduced should also start from scratch a puppet story. It is expected with the introduction of one of the stories of the many stories puppet, can make children interested in puppets and imitating good attitude conveyed in the story. Stories that can be used for the initial introduction of the puppet is a story about the birth of Gatotkaca. This is because many know about the characters Gatotkaca therefore begins with the initial story of his birth. From the story of the birth Gatotkaca there are also many good things delivered and there are also other figures like clown is widely known. It is expected to also be able to facilitate the children to get to know the story because there are already several characters they know.

  13. Ancient loons stories Pingree told me

    CERN Document Server

    Davis, Philip J

    2016-01-01

    The book is a collection of short stories, small anecdotes in the life of some historical characters. More concretely, it focuses on the oddities and singularities of some well-known historical figures, not only in science, but also in arts, politics and social sciences. … the book shows the fascination for ancient history, the treasures hidden in original sources and the importance of exploring unusual connections.-Javier Martinez, The European Mathematical Society, January 2013… a rambling, illuminating and thoroughly enjoyable bio/autobiographical and historical sketch, setting Pingree's immense erudition in its professional and intellectual context. Besides a string of amusing and intriguing anecdotes plentifully sprinkled with photos and sketches, this small volume supplies a valuable reminder of how complex, surprising and just plain strange the history of the exact sciences can be.-Kim Plofker, MAA Reviews, October 2012.

  14. Atoms stories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Radvanyi, P.; Bordry, M.

    1988-01-01

    Physicists from different countries told each evening during one learning week, to an audience of young people, some great discoveries in evoking the difficulties and problems to which the researchers were confronted. From Antiquity to a more recent history, it is a succession of atoms stories. (N.C.)

  15. [Walter Matthias Diggelmann--the healing effect of story telling].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmid, H J

    2001-06-21

    "Stories are weapons against disease" wrote Swiss writer WM Diggelmann (1927-1979). In writing stories he hoped to counteract the lethal course of his cancer. In the past it had helped him to overcome destitution and social disgrace and had given him identity. His last story Walking on the Island of St. Margaret is a ritual which conjures up an intact future by celebrating the past. Stories try to explain the world. They inform or clarify emotions. In telling stories, doctors and nurses demonstrate sympathy and understanding. Perhaps even greater benefits might be derived from patients telling their own stories. In doing so they emerge as individuals and give their lives purpose. Language is more than communication: it is shelter, link, home, ritual. Storytelling helps patients cope with their diseases. It is not clear whether this or any technique of psychotherapy has any effect upon the course of cancer.

  16. Can the computer replace the adult for storybook reading? A meta-analysis on the effects of multimedia stories as compared to sharing print stories with an adult.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takacs, Zsofia K; Swart, Elise K; Bus, Adriana G

    2014-01-01

    The present meta-analysis challenges the notion that young children necessarily need adult scaffolding in order to understand a narrative story and learn words as long as they encounter optimally designed multimedia stories. Including 29 studies and 1272 children, multimedia stories were found more beneficial than encounters with traditional story materials that did not include the help of an adult for story comprehension (g+ = 0.40, k = 18) as well as vocabulary (g+ = 0.30, k = 11). However, no significant differences were found between the learning outcomes of multimedia stories and sharing traditional print-like stories with an adult. It is concluded that multimedia features like animated illustrations, background music and sound effects provide similar scaffolding of story comprehension and word learning as an adult.

  17. Perceived motor problems in daily life: Focus group interviews with people with Noonan syndrome and their relatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croonen, Ellen A; Harmsen, Mirjam; Van der Burgt, Ineke; Draaisma, Jos M; Noordam, Kees; Essink, Marlou; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria W G

    2016-09-01

    Studies from a patient perspective on motor performance problems in Noonan syndrome in daily life are lacking. The aims of this study were to provide insight into the motor performance problems that people with Noonan syndrome and/or their relatives experienced, the major consequences they suffered, the benefits of interventions they experienced, and the experiences with healthcare professionals they mentioned. We interviewed 10 adults with Noonan syndrome (two were joined by their parent), and 23 mothers (five of whom had Noonan syndrome), nine fathers (one of whom had Noonan syndrome) and one cousin who reported on 28 children with Noonan syndrome. People with Noonan syndrome reported particular problems related to pain, decreased muscle strength, fatigue, and clumsiness, which had an evident impact on functioning in daily life. Most participants believed that problems with motor performance improved with exercise, appropriate physiotherapy guidance, and other supportive interventions. Nevertheless, people with Noonan syndrome and/or their relatives did not feel heard and supported and experienced no understanding of their problems by healthcare professionals. This was the first study from a patient perspective that described the motor performance problems in people with Noonan syndrome, the major consequences in daily life, the positive experiences of interventions and the miscommunication with healthcare professionals. To achieve optimal support, healthcare professionals, as well as people with Noonan syndrome and/or their relatives themselves, should be aware of these frequently presented problems with motor performance. Research on these different aspects is needed to better understand and support people with Noonan syndrome.© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  18. Coming in from the Margin: Research Practices, Representation and the Ordinary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greiner, Karen P.

    2010-01-01

    This essay explores issues of marginality and representation in research, which emerged during life history interviews with Tammi, an "ordinary" woman living in Appalachia. I examine how my research practices, namely my thirst for drama and marginality, nearly silenced the preferred stories of the woman who shared her life with me. I…

  19. Telling Stories: Past and Present Heroes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Colin Bridges

    2007-01-01

    Among the Xhosa tribe in South Africa storytelling is a magnificent art. But these stories are more than mere entertainment. Xhosa scholar Harold Scheub says story-telling for the Xhosa people is "not only a primary means of entertainment and artistic expression in the society, it is also the major educational device." Beyond education,…

  20. Engaging Elements of Cancer-Related Digital Stories in Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cueva, Melany; Kuhnley, Regina; Revels, Laura; Schoenberg, Nancy E.; Lanier, Anne; Dignan, Mark

    2015-01-01

    The tradition of storytelling is an integral part of Alaska Native cultures that continues to be a way of passing on knowledge. Using a story-based approach to share cancer education is grounded in Alaska Native traditions and people’s experiences and has the potential to positively impact cancer knowledge, understandings, and wellness choices. Community health workers (CHWs) in Alaska created a personal digital story as part of a 5-day, in-person cancer education course. To identify engaging elements of digital stories among Alaska Native people, one focus group was held in each of three different Alaska communities with a total of 29 adult participants. After viewing CHWs’ digital stories created during CHW cancer education courses, focus group participants commented verbally and in writing about cultural relevance, engaging elements, information learned, and intent to change health behavior. Digital stories were described by Alaska focus group participants as being culturally respectful, informational, inspiring, and motivational. Viewers shared that they liked digital stories because they were short (only 2–3 min); nondirective and not preachy; emotional, told as a personal story and not just facts and figures; and relevant, using photos that showed Alaskan places and people. PMID:25865400