We highlight four challenges in engaging in narrative inquiry in medical education and point toward promising future research and practice possibilities.

Background: The Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) program is a longitudinal partnered program of research in Western Canada that aims to improve the quality of care and quality of life for residents and quality of worklife for staff in long-term care settings. This program of research includes researchers, citizens (persons living with dementia and caregivers of persons living in long-term care), and stakeholders (representatives from provincial and regional health authorities, owner-operators of long-term care homes). The aim of this paper is to describe how we used priority setting methods with citizens and stakeholders to identify ten priorities for research using the TREC data. Methods: We adapted the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership method to ensure our citizens and stakeholders could identify priorities within the existing TREC data. We administered an online survey to our citizen and stakeholder partners. An in-person priority setting workshop was held in March 2019 in Alberta, Canada to establish consensus on ten research priorities. The in-person workshop used a nominal group technique and involved two rounds of small group prioritization and one final full group ranking. Results: We received 72 online survey respondents and 19 persons (citizens, stakeholders) attended the in-person priority setting workshop. The workshop resulted in an unranked list of their ten research priorities for the TREC program. These priorities encompassed a range of non-clinical topics, including: influence of staffing (ratios, type of care provider) on residents and staff work life, influence of the work environment on resident outcomes, and the impact of quality improvement activities on residents and staff. Conclusions: This modified priority setting approach provided citizens and stakeholders with an opportunity to identify their own research priorities within the TREC program, without the external pressures of researchers. These priorities will inform the secondary analyses of the TREC data and the development of new projects. This modified priority setting may be a useful approach for research teams trying to engage their non-academic partners and to identify areas for future research.

To recognise that both residents and care providers are narrative beings shift the current culture of care away from rationalised and emotionally devoid consequences of care. Understanding the theoretical underpinnings of care itself as narrative practice is a first step in developing care practices that place relationships between residents and care providers at the centre of practice. There is a need for the implementation of strategies to think and work narratively in long-term care settings.

We tested the feasibility of a nursing intervention (DEMIAN) in routine care and its effects on care providers' job satisfaction, motivation, and work strain. This cluster-randomized trial was conducted in 20 German long-term care facilities. We randomly assigned 20 facilities to an intervention group (84 care providers, 42 residents with dementia) or a control group (96 care providers, 42 residents with dementia). Intervention group providers received two training days on the intervention; 68 providers attended both training days. Sixty two providers completed both baseline and follow-up questionnaires. Trained providers created individualized mini-intervention plans for participating residents. Control group residents received 'usual care'. Intervention group providers stated that the intervention was feasible and helped them improve emotional well-being of residents with dementia. We found significantly decreased time pressure and decreased job dissatisfaction for intervention group providers. DEMIAN is an effective and pragmatic contribution to implementing person-centred care in long-term care, with positive effects on providers' working conditions.

In Germany, the use of life story work as an approach to care in nursing homes has not been implemented successfully. Using Grounded Theory, we explored care staff's understandings of life story work when caring for persons with dementia. Thirty-six staff from seven nursing homes participated in semi-structured interviews or group discussions. In this paper we discuss new aspects and theoretical connections between understandings and practices of life story work. For some participants, obtaining 'true facts' about a resident's course of life was considered the most important topic. Others highlighted the importance of narratives as well as embodied stories told by persons with dementia, as aspects that generated emotionally meaningful situations. Delivering sound life story work can be challenging for care staff working with persons with dementia. To enhance care in nursing homes, the importance of life story work needs to be further developed.