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Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 32:2 (2022) ► pp.343–361

Preparing students for intentional conversations with older adults

Putting Story Theory into action

ORCID logo | Central Queensland University
 | Central Queensland University
ORCID logo | Central Queensland University
 | Central Queensland University
This paper presents the findings from a study introducing nursing students to narrative production. The aim was to use Story Theory to inspire students to intentionally collaborate with older people and produce a mini-biography of those individuals. Narrative theory was utilised in four ways: designing an educational intervention; collecting and developing older peoples’ life stories; framing an understanding of the meaning of the stories collected; analysing the significance of the storytelling approach. The paper explains the study approach and findings and outlines the benefits as well as challenges that occurred during the process. Most particularly, the anthology produced has become a tangible reminder about a clinical practice that allowed students to meet frail aged residents and come to know them as vibrant human beings.
Keywords: Aged care, Narrative competence, Narrative analysis, Older person, Story theory, Storytelling, Life storytelling, Nurse, Student, Mini-biography
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Method
    • Story theory
    • The educational innovation
      • The process of teaching about stories
      • The ways students collaboratively developed stories
  • Narrative analysis
  • Results
  • Reader responses
    • These responses indicated the anthology had value.
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 17 September 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.19096.rya
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