Clinical Reasoning through Story Telling: Examining a Student's Case Story on a Fieldwork Placement

Abstract

This article considers narrative (story telling) as the way In which human experience Is made meaningful. Narrative reasoning has been Identified as a means of enabling occupational therapists to explain their practice. A review of the literature Includes the concepts of the professional artist, narrative reasoning, expert and novice practitioners, and experiential learning and reflection. A single case study looked at the use of narrative reasoning by a second year occupational therapy student (novice) on a fieldwork placement and an experienced therapist (expert) who was supervising her. During the routine fieldwork visit of the academic staff member to the student, both novice and expert were asked to tell their story about one particular client with whom they were working. The findings highlighted the fact that the expert and the novice told different narrative stories but that, by asking probing and reflective questions, the student's story could be enhanced to Include more narrative. This study has Implications for the education of students in both university and the fieldwork setting.