Overview

What is meant by narrative? How can one elicit a narrative or analyze it in research? How can narrative work best be facilitated among older adults? This is the only text to provide comprehensive information about the applications of narrative approaches in community and long-term settings, writing in the virtual world, and such individual work as journaling or poetry. The book explores the theories of narratives across many disciplines, research practices and analytical strategies, and applications in work with older adults. It has been written by a prominent researcher of the narrative construction of self in old age, whose studies have been funded by the NIH, the Brookdale Foundation, and the Alzheimer's Association, among other related achievements. The book brings together a unique blend of interdisciplinary perspectives and practices not found in other books on life stories, autobiography, and/or narrative approaches to understanding one's experiences. Specifically, it focuses on the myriad theoretical underpinnings of narrative, provides a developmental history of narrative use in gerontology, and details various ways to use narratives in a variety of research settings. Each chapter includes step-by-step guides on who to analyze and report on, and how to write up narrative data. It also discusses ways to incorporate narratives in varied practice settings such as writing workshops in retirement communities, individual writing projects, and others. Key Features: .: Offers a hands on research tool that guides the reader from theory to research to practice; Describes the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of narrative with older adults; Illustrates how narrative gerontology is fundamentally different in practice than narrative research with younger participants; Addresses the breadth of available narrative methods and how to apply them in a research settings; Designed for use in qualitative methods, service learning, and gerontological research courses

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9780826199386

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Kate de Medeiros, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Gerontology and Scripps Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Gerontology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Dr. de Medeiros is a gerontologist with research interests in the narrative construction of self in old age, genre and the life story, the meaning of generativity in later life, and understanding how friendship is defined and experienced by people with advanced dementia. Her studies have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Brookdale Foundation, and the Alzheimer's Association. In 2008, she was selected as one of only four national Brookdale Leadership in Aging Fellows for her work on autobiographical writing and cognitive performance in old age. Dr. de Medeiros is on the Editorial Boards of The Gerontologist, Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, and Narrative Works. Her work appears in such journals as International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Journal of Aging Studies, The Gerontologist, and Journal of Applied Gerontology; and she has published several book chapters.

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