The Lost Art of Storytelling in Nursing

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The Lost Art of Storytelling in Nursing

• Glenda Kaminski,
• PhD, RN, AOCN, CRNI
• Lakeland Regional Medical Center
• Florida Southern College

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Those of us with small ones

• Once Upon a Time . . .
• Is what we think about when
• Storytelling is mentioned

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Those of us who are older

• If youve heard this story before,
• Dont stop me,
• Because Id like to hear it again.
  
• Groucho Marx
  (1890 1977)

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Concept of Storytelling

• What is it????
• Essential to expression of the importance of our
  lives
• Fundamental form of communication
• Ancient tradition
• Narrative account

Why?
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We tell stories because . . .

• Witnesses
• Knowledge of essential life events
• Significant life events
• Exemplars
• Collective voice of Nursing
• Stories add to knowledge of
• the art and science of nursing

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Purpose of Storytelling

• Preservation of history
• Transmission of values
• Building of the community of persons
• Promotion of healing
• Stories educate, motivate, and comfort others

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5 Essentials of Storytelling

• Characters
• Event
• Interaction
• Setting
• Imagination
• The roots of the story are parables, rhetoric,
  folk lore, psychology, anthropology

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Power of Stories

• The difference between being a Tourist
• rather than merely a Traveler
• -- Stories provide a larger world view
• Stories affirm and validate the ultimate
  mysteries of life
• We become the hero!!!
• We become strengthened
• in our failures
• -- We acknowledge those who
• often go unacknowledged!

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Attentively Embracing Story (Smith Liehr, 1999)
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Attentively Embracing Story

• Connecting with Self-in-Relation
• Personal history
• Reflective awareness
• Intentional Dialogue
• Presence
• Attentive embrace of story
• Creating Ease
• Flow in the midst of anchoring

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Exemplars

• Trauma patient trying to make sense of the event
  that culminated in ICU admission
• Pregnant high schooler
• Middle-ager facing his mortality since being
  diagnosed with a chronic illness

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Benefits of Sharing a Story

• Clear perspective on personal experience and
  feelings is gained, which brings greater meaning
  to ones life
• Cherished experiences and insights are shared
  with others
• Joy, satisfaction, and inner peace are gained in
  sharing the story with others

Russell Timmons (2009)
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Encouraging Storytelling by Vulnerable Others

• There are many reasons for vulnerable people to
  tell their stories.
• Helps the patient come to understand their
  experience, legitimise their behavior and share
  their emotional experience with others.
• Stories of people in physical or mental pain, or
  of those who experience illness and disability,
  are not often heard.
• In the telling of stories, patients have the
  potential to regain the power to shape their own
  world and identity.

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Healing Effects of Shared Stories

• Sharing Memory
• Connecting with another
• Recognizing Trust and Hope
• Creating Reality
• Visioning the future

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You can inspire and educate others by beginning
to develop your own collection of favorite
stories!

• Who told you the stories?
• What made them meaningful?
• What emotions are evoked when you recall the
  story?
• Could this story be used to motivate or inspire
  another?

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In the Clinical Setting

• What learning outcomes do you hope
• for when you use storytelling with
• Patients? Families? Other nurses?
• How do you assess these outcomes?
• What has the response been to your storytelling?
• How do you decide when to use
• storytelling?
• What challenges did you encounter in
• telling or listening to stories in the
• clinical area?

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Implications for Research

• How does ones story bear on their
• Strategies for decision making?
• Trust reliance on support systems?
• Treatment selections?
• Response to interventions?
• Framework of narrative nursing
• Patient engaging in intentional dialogue
• Mutual goal-setting
• Patient and staff satisfaction
• Bridge between hi tech and hi touch

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Questions?
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References

• Cangelosi, P. R., Sorrell, J. M. (2008).
  Storytelling as an educational strategy for older
  adults with chronic illness. Journal of
  Psychosocial Nursing, 46(7), 19-22.
• Charon, R. (2006). Narrative medicine Honoring
  the stories of illness. New York, NY Oxford
  University Press
• Liehr, P. Smith, M.J. (2000). Using story
  theory to guide nursing practice. International
  Journal for Human Caring, 4(2), 13-18.
• Smith, M.J. Liehr, P. (1999). Attentively
  Embracing Story A middle-range theory with
  practice and research implications. Scholarly
  Inquiry for Nursing Practice An International
  Journal, 13(3), 187-204.
• Sunwolf (2005). Rx storytelling, prn
• Stories as medicine. Interdisciplinary
• Journal of Storytelling Studies, 1(2), 1-10.

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References

• Holm, A. K., Lepp, M., Ringsberg, K. C. (2005).
  Dementia. Involving patients in storytelling a
  caring intervention. Journal of Clinical Nursing,
  14, 256-263.
• Ibarra, H., Lineback, K. (2005). Whats your
  story? Harvard Business Review, 83(1), 1-9.
• Russell, C. Timmons, S. (2009). Life story work
  and nursing home residents with dementia. Nursing
  Older People, 21(4), 28-32.
• Williams, S. L (2009). Recovering from the
  psychological impact of intensive care How
  constructing a story helps. Nursing in Critical
  Care, 14, 281-288.