Full Description
In its brief but vigorous history, gerontology has spawned a broadening range of specializations. One of the newest of such specializations is narrative gerontology, so named for its emphasis on the biographical, or inside, dimensions of the experience of aging.
Telling stories about our world, our relationships, and ourselves is fundamental to how we make meaning. Everything from our history to our religion and our memories to our emotions is linked to the tales we tell ourselves, and others, about where we have come from and where we are going. They are central to who we are.
The biographical side of human life is every bit as critical to fathom as the biological side, if we seek a more balanced, positive, and optimistic perspective on what aging is about; if we would honor the dignity and complexity, the humanity and uniqueness of the lives of older persons, no matter what their health or economic standing. In this respect, a narrative approach is particularly suited to the exploration of such topics as meaning, spirituality, and wisdom, and the connections they share.
This volume reflects a selection of new directions and insights, and constitutes a general broadening and deepening of narrative gerontology, exploring its implications for theory and research in the field of aging, and for the quality of life of older adults themselves. Such deepening indicates a greater refinement of thought, method, and intervention. The evolution of narrative gerontology is also evidenced by a significant increase in the number of faculty and graduate students engaged in research in this area, as well as by increasing collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and administrators in applying narrative insights to contexts such as long term care - indeed, healthcare in general. These initiatives have given rise to the phrase, "narrative care as core care".
Contents
Preface Gary Kenyon, William Randall, and Ernst Bohlmeijer
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Foreword James E. Birren
Part 1: Issues
1. Narrative Foreclosure in Later Life: Possibilities and Limits
Mark Freeman
2. Memory, Metaphor, and Meaning: Reading for Wisdom in the Stories of Our Lives
William L. Randall
3. Narrative Events and Biographical Construction in Old Age
Jaber F. Gubrium
4. Inventing Yourself: How Older Adults Deal with the Pressure of Late-Modern Identity Construction
Frits de Lange
5. Minding the Wisdom of the Ages: Narrative Approaches in Pastoral Care with Older Adults
R. Ruard Ganzevoort
6. In Waves of Time, Space, and Self: The Dwelling-Place of Age in Virginia Woolf's The Waves
Rishi Goyal and Rita Charon
7. The Narrative Frame in Discourse on Aging: Understanding Facts and Values Behind Public Policy
Phillip G. Clark
Part 2: Investigations
8. The Power of Stories Left Untold: Narratives of Nazi Followers
Stephan Marks
9. Young Bodies, Old Bodies, and Stories of the Athletic Self
Cassandra Phoenix
10. The Raging Grannies: Narrative Construction of Gender and Aging
Linda Caissie
11. Narrative and Gender Differences: How Men and Women Interpret Their Lives
Patricia O'Neill, James E. Birren, and Cheryl Svensson
12. Telling Stories: How Do Expressions of Self Differ in a Writing Group Versus a Reminiscence Group?
Kate de Medeiros
13. Mneme and Anamnesis: The Contribution of Involuntary Reminiscences to the Construction of a Narrative Self in Older Age
Philippe Cappeliez and Jeffrey Dean Webster
14. Achieving Narrative Coherence Following Traumatic War Experience: The Role of Social Support
Karen Burnell, Peter Coleman, and Nigel Hunt
15. Using Self-Defining Memories in Couples Therapy with Older Adults
Jefferson A. Singer and Beata Labunko Messier
Part 3: Interventions
16. On Suffering, Loss, and The Journey To Life: Tai Chi as Narrative Care
Gary M. Kenyon
17. Older Adults in Search of New Stories: Measuring the Effects of Life Review on Coherence and Integration in Autobiographical Narratives
Thijs Tromp
18. Reminiscence Interventions: Bringing Narrative Gerontology into Practice
Ernst Bohlmeijer and Gerben Westerhof
19. Life Review Using Autobiographical Retrieval: A Protocol for Training Depressed Residential Home Inhabitants in Recalling Specific Personal Memories
Bas Steunenberg & Ernst Bohlmeijer
20. "Green and Grey": an Educational Program to Enhance Contact Between Younger and Older Adults by Means of Lifestories
Gerben J. Westerhof
21. Implementation of Narrative Care in the Netherlands: Coordinating Management, Institutional, and Personal Narratives
Gerdienke M. Ubels
22. Asking the Right Questions: Enabling Dementing Persons to Speak for Themselves
Marie-Elise van den Brandt
23. The Ripple Effect: A Story of the Transformational Nature of Narrative Care
Daphne Noonan
Afterword
24. Towards a Narrative Turn in Health Care
Ernst Bohlmeijer, Gary Kenyon, William Randall
