This study aimed to explore Occupational Therapists’ narratives of “the self” as a therapeutic agent, linking personal development and insight to professional development as an Occupational Therapist (OT). Three female, newly qualified OTs constructed a series of six arts based narratives, using creative media, over the course of three workshops. The narratives developed from an initial exploration of “the self as therapist” then continued through individual exploration of emergent personal themes. Each pictorial narrative was presented verbally to the group and the presentation and discussion of the images were videotaped. The transcribed stories, alongside the artwork, were analysed and revealed clear evidence that personal narratives have the potential to be active, dynamic processes with important implications for therapeutic practice, education and research. The study highlighted the tension generated by conflict or dissonance between the therapist’s sense of self and their professional role. Exploration of this conflict using art and narrative approaches showed how active story telling around challenging issues can lead to greater personal insight, autonomy and resolution through the re-integration of concealed aspects of the self.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:515835 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Job, Teresa |
| Publisher | University of Southampton |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/73619/ |
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