Poetry and Prose: Telling the Stories of Formerly Homeless Mentally Ill People

Abstract

This article discusses some of the possible advantages of a poetic representation of social experience through a selection of four poems based on the words and organized by the salience and time sequence “logic” of participants in a study of formerly homeless mentally ill men and women who are currently housed. The initial report was a qualitative evaluation of the perceptions of this sample of formerly homeless mentally ill people of the benefits of the housing currently provided. It offers a categorical analysis of personal, relationship, and resource issues across childhood, adulthood, and since supported/supportive housing. The present analysis, based on the same interviews, destabilizes the original findings and offers a different window into the lives of the study participants. It does this through prose poems that replicate the language, the central issues of the participants, and their braided logic-in-use among other things.

Arts-based research and knowledge translation: Some key concerns for health-care professionals

“…Some investigators have turned to the arts-based methods in an effort to reveal lived experiences of illness in their complexity and to "give voice" to participants seldom heard from (Guillemin, 2004). Others have employed arts-based methods to empower and engage participants more fully in the research process and to challenge or rebalance traditional power relationships (Clarke, Febbraro, Hatzipantelis, & Nelson, 2005;Wang & Pies, 2004). The expressed intent of some authors is to garner audience awareness and allow for critical reflection on the topic at hand.…”

The construction of professional identity by physiotherapists: a qualitative study

“…Researchers have re-presented textual research data in a variety of ways, such as poetic transcription, prose poems, and crafted dialogues [24][25][26][27][28]. The intention was to create an evocative text that retained the individual voices of participants, the tenor of discussions and the work involved in dialogue.…”

“It’s sweeter where the bruise is”: making sense of the experience of family homelessness in a community–campus partnership

“…Cary, 2003), the mentally ill (e.g. Clarke, Febbraro, Hatzipentelis, & Nelson, 2005), and other single persons (e.g. Finley, 2003).…”