The narrative psychology of community health workers

Murray, Michael; Ziegler, Friederike

doi:10.1177/1359105314566615

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Hallam & Creech, 2016). The context of this choir is similar to many other singing groups, however, and the structural elements identified reflect those found in other community settings (Dingle et al, 2013;Murray & Ziegler, 2015). Mixed methods have provided different perspectives on the stages of the project; employing World Café methods at two or more time points would be a valuable addition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Singing in later life: The anatomy of a community choir

Lamont

Murray

Hale

et al. 2017

Psychology of Music

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Previous research has highlighted the individual and social benefits of participation in arts activities for physical, psychological and social wellbeing. However, less is known about the transformative community aspects of the arts and very few studies have investigated arts participation over a substantial period. This paper reports a case study of an older people's choir over a four-year period, involving interviews, focus groups, observations and a World Café participatory discussion. In support of previous literature, choir members highlighted many individual and interpersonal benefits of being part of the choir. They also emphasised the importance of developing social relationships within a supportive community, and the importance of musical achievement was central to the ongoing development of the choir. Our analysis identified five main themes: personal investment and reward; inclusive community; always evolving yet fundamentally unchanged; a desire to connect; and leadership and organisation. Considering these with reference to Seligman's PERMA framework from positive psychology (2011), it is apparent that social relationships, meaning and accomplishment are particularly emphasised as reasons why older people find singing in a community choir so beneficial for wellbeing. Sustainability is a major concern, and factors such as an expert music leader to support this are identified.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Singing in later life: The anatomy of a community choir

Lamont

Murray

Hale

et al. 2017

Psychology of Music

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“…The re-entry CHWs emphasized dedication to fight for the key issue of equality and justice within their professional roles. A recent qualitative study of CHW narratives identified social justice as the driving force in what was meaningful to CHWs (Murray and Zeigler 2015 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Our commonality is our past:” a qualitative analysis of re-entry community health workers’ meaningful experiences

et al. 2015

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Background Re-entry community health workers (CHWs) are individuals who connect diverse community residents at risk for chronic health issues such as Hepatitis C virus and cardiovascular disease with post-prison healthcare and re-entry services. While the utilization of CHWs has been documented in other marginalized populations, there is little knowledge surrounding the work of re-entry CHWs with individuals released from incarceration. Specifically, CHWs’ experiences and perceptions of the uniqueness of their efforts to link individuals to healthcare have not been documented systematically. This study explored what is meaningful to formerly incarcerated CHWs as they work with released individuals. Methods The authors conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of twelve meaningful experiences written by re-entry CHWs employed by the Transitions Clinic Network who attended a CHW training program during a conference in San Francisco, CA. Study participants were encouraged to recount meaningful CHW experiences and motivations for working with re-entry populations in a manner consistent with journal-based qualitative analysis techniques. Narratives were coded using an iterative process and subsequently organized according to themes in ATLAS.ti. Study personnel came to consensus with coding and major themes. Results The narratives highlighted thought processes and meaning related to re-entry CHWs’ work helping patients navigate complex social services for successful re-integration. Six major themes emerged from the analysis: advocacy and support, empathy relating to a personal history of incarceration, giving back, professional satisfaction and responsibilities, resiliency and educational advancement, and experiences of social inequities related to race. Re-entry CHWs described former incarceration, employment, and social justice as sources of meaning for assisting justice-involved individuals receive effective, efficient, and high-quality healthcare. Conclusions Health clinics for individuals released from incarceration provide a unique setting that links high risk patients to needed care and professionalizes career opportunities for formerly incarcerated re-entry CHWs. The commonality of past correctional involvement is a strong indicator of the meaning and perceived effectiveness re-entry CHWs find in working with individuals leaving prison. Expansion of reimbursable visits with re-entry CHWs in transitions clinics designed for re-entering individuals is worthy of further consideration.

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“…The authors have made use of different theoretical approaches, including the literary work on polyvocality by Bakhtin (Caddick et al, 2015), the medical sociological work on illness stories by Frank (Caddick et al, 2015;Papathomas et al, 2015), the work in narrative therapy on definitional ceremonies by White and Epstein (Moore et al, 2015), the cognitive psychology of space by Tversky (Van Vuuren and Westerhof, 2015), work from environmental psychology and cultural psychology on spatial identity (Li and Tse, 2015), the field of narrative medicine and medical humanities (Kaptein et al, 2015), the ideas of community development (Murray, 2015), and interpretive epistemology from hermeneutics (Sools et al, 2015). The articles show that this interdisciplinarity is not opposed to strengthening a narrative approach within one specific discipline, for example, health psychology.…”

Section: Narrative Health Psychology As a Perspective In Narrative Hementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Li and Tse (2015) The second dimension refers to the way that stories are contextualized and brings the multilayered characteristics of narratives clearly to the fore. Some studies focus on the functionality, meaning, and structure of stories (Kaptein et al, 2015;Sools et al, 2015), others focus on how identities are situated in place (Li and Tse, 2015;Van Vuuren and Westerhof, 2015), how stories are dialogically co-constructed (Caddick et al, 2015;Moore et al, 2015;Mundle, 2015;Papathomas et al, 2015), or how they related to broader societal dynamics (Murray, 2015). It should be noted that these two dimensions are not independent from each other and that they have important implications for both the data collection and analysis.…”

Section: Narrative Health Psychology As a Form Of Narrative Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The articles in this issue address a wide range of significant health topics in specific groups: the representation of respiratory disorders by artists (Kaptein et al, 2015), cancer in children (Moore et al, 2015), extreme pain in rehabilitation therapy (Mundle, 2015), post-traumatic stress in combat veterans (Caddick et al, 2015), problem gambling in Chinese international students (Li and Tse, 2015), eating disorders in athletes (Papathomas et al, 2015), outreach professionals in alcohol and drugs prevention (Van Vuuren and Westerhof, 2015), community workers challenging health inequalities (Murray, 2015), and future imagination (Sools et al, 2015). All articles share a common approach in that they take the voice of patients and health professionals seriously.…”

Section: Narrative Health Psychology As a Form Of Narrative Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Narrative health psychology: Once more unto the breach

2015

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In this editorial, we position narrative health psychology as a variety of narrative psychology, a form of qualitative research in health psychology, and a psychological perspective that falls under the interdisciplinary term narrative health research. The aim of this positioning is to explore what are the most important features of the proposed approach and how they are relevant. We illustrate each positioning with the scope and diversity of narrative health psychology brought together in this special issue. Finally, we reflect on where narrative health psychology is now and how it could develop in the future.

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The narrative psychology of community health workers

Cited by 8 publications

References 20 publications

Singing in later life: The anatomy of a community choir

Singing in later life: The anatomy of a community choir

“Our commonality is our past:” a qualitative analysis of re-entry community health workers’ meaningful experiences

Narrative health psychology: Once more unto the breach

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