Narrative Inquiry Research Articles

Tangled and Bumpy Roads to Gender Equity: Socio-Cultural Insights from Media Stories About Olympic Athletes and Motherhood

With the 2024 Olympic Games touted as reaching gender parity (i.e., same number of female and male athletes participating), media conversations are continuing about elite athlete mothers. Researchers interrogating media stories of Olympic athlete mothers have shown that their sporting journeys are not straightforward due to tensions linked to gender (in)equity. In this paper we use narrative inquiry as a theoretical lens to explore “comeback themes” synthesized from published media studies of Olympic athlete mothers, along with recent examples of media stories of Olympic athlete mothers. We discuss four comeback themes that include: (in)compatible identities, super mums, veteran status/age, and exposing discrimination, and some implications for gender equity. The first three comebacks perpetuate gender ideologies of heteronormative femininity, good motherhood, ageism, and exceptionalism, which downplay equitable support and change. These themes, along with the exposing discrimination theme, also highlight shifting media representations of motherhood and sport whereby stories expose struggles, realities, and/or structural deficits. We reflect on these themes as a “tangled and bumpy road” to gender equity led by athlete mothers’ voices resulting in changes in maternity rights. These comeback themes show gains in gender equity for sportswomen and highlight areas where more work is needed. Future research recommendations include studying mainstream and social media spaces with an intersectional lens to expand understanding of media stories as pedagogical resources to learn more about motherhood, sport, and gender (in)equity.

What About Water? Implications for Body Composition Assessment in Military Personnel.

Sergi, TE, Roberts, BM, and Heileson, JL. What About Water? Implications for Body Composition Assessment in Military Personnel. J Strength Cond Res 38(9): e534-e540, 2024-Body composition standards ensure service members maintain physical fitness, wellness, and support mission readiness. Anthropometric techniques (i.e., height/mass, circumference-based "tape test") have been the primary screening and percent body fat (%BF) assessment method in military personnel for about 4 decades. Recently, the Army and Marine Corps have implemented more advanced body composition assessment methods, such as air displacement plethysmography (ADP), multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MF-BIA), and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), to serve as supplemental %BF assessment after failing the tape test. Although supplemental assessments are intended to improve on the accuracy and precision of the tape test, preassessment standardization, specifically regarding acute water ingestion (AWI), is lacking. Thus, the purpose of this narrative review was to (a) summarize the available literature regarding the influence of AWI on body composition estimates derived from ADP, MF-BIA, and DXA and (b) provide evidence-based recommendations for researchers and practitioners. Studies indicate that AWI increases %BF estimates with ADP (4 of 6 [4/6] observations) and MF-BIA (6/7), whereas AWI increases muscle mass (6/6) and likely decreases %BF (2/3) when obtained by DXA. In conclusion, ADP, MF-BIA, and DXA are susceptible to confounding from AWI, leading to inaccurate body composition estimates that may negatively affect the careers of military personnel. Based on the findings from this narrative review, military practitioners and researchers should (a) follow manufacturer guidelines for calorie intake [food and fluid] and exercise avoidance, (b) conduct urine-specific gravity testing [if possible], and (c) limit AWI to <250 ml before assessment.

Why do pressure injuries still occur? A multicenter qualitative study of nurses and caregivers

BackgroundThe frequent occurrence of pressure injuries despite their preventability, raises important questions about our understanding of the barriers to care. This study explores the lived experience of nurses and caregivers in Singapore to establish a conceptual framework for better understanding pressure injuries arising in the community. MethodsA multicentre qualitative study was conducted utilising semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions of nurses and caregivers of patients with pressure injuries. Data was collected with a narrative inquiry approach and analysed with grounded theory. An iterative cycle of interviewing, coding, discussion and reflection was conducted until theoretical saturation. ResultsTen inpatient nurses and ten caregivers from the community were recruited. Analysis identified cognitive (awareness and caregiver training), emotional (motivation and empowerment), resource (human and infrastructural), and biomedical factors which collectively impacted the effectiveness of prevention. Additionally, constructs of learning and sustainability of caregiving played a crucial role in long term prevention. LimitationThe derived framework requires further validation with quantitative data and may not be generalizable to other cultural and economic populations. ConclusionMultiple constructs have been identified to have a synergistic effect in prevention. Targeted measures should be implemented by healthcare institutions to better equip caregivers in prevention.

Intersections of social justice and emotion labor among English language teachers: A perezhivanie inquiry

In light of the recent growth of research on social justice and emotion labor in TESOL teacher education, the present study aimed to fill a gap regarding the intersections of these two constructs. Thus, the study explored emotion labor and social justice among Iranian English language teachers through the theoretical lens of perezhivanie. Data were collected from narrative frames and semi-structured interviews as situated within a narrative inquiry methodology. Data analyses showed that the teachers' perezhivanie included not just how contextual demands and institutional expectations impeded effective actualization of social justice, but the latter itself became a source of emotion labor for the teachers through discourse, culture, and ideology. The findings highlight that inasmuch as social justice is a constructive purpose in educational work, it should equally be understood and enacted cautiously because it has the potential to become a source of emotional challenges and professional conundrums for teachers. We provide implications for teachers and teacher educators to contextualize social justice based on situational particularities so that teachers’ perezhivanie is featured more by emotional transformation than by emotion labor.

Exploring Assessment Practice in Community Schools in Nepal

The assessment that reflects the praxis of students’ hands-on learning experiences motivates students to link theoretical learning to real-life situations. The existing assessment is blamed for being poor in assessing such quality. Therefore, this paper makes an in-depth study of existing practices of assessment systems and explores student-friendly, evidence-based, and goal-oriented assessment practices that lead students from the area of their interest to the designed goals. Following narrative inquiry as a research design, information was collected, coded, schematized, and generated meaning from the participants’ meaning making of the assessment system in the schools. The study found that the students have a sort of fear and detestation of the existing high stakes testing. Similarly, the practical examination has lacked trustworthiness, validity, and consistency. Although students have experienced some assessment tools as friendly, engaged, and goal oriented, they have weak decisive roles in grading. Classroom activities should be learner-engaged, performance-based, and hands-on experience-oriented. Their participation and performance in classroom activities can lead them to transcend the designed objectives. The grading scheme should be made so transparent and precise that the students by themselves can identify where their learning level is. The paper-pencil test as an assessment tool should reflect how the learning contents, classroom activities, and overall, the programs are. The study concludes that classroom activities should be designed in such a way that students’ participation in the activities can lead them to achieve the designed goals.

International Students Experiences and Identity Development while Joining Study in Indonesia: Narrative Inquiry in Magister Study Level

International Students Experiences and Identity Development while Joining Study in Indonesia: Narrative Inquiry in Magister Study Level

The influence of individual factors on the career preferences and specialty choices of final-year nursing students

BackgroundStatistical evidence shows that nursing students prefer a professional career in hospital settings, leading to a lack of career interest in non-hospital settings such as community and residential aged care facilities. The lack of preference for non-hospital settings has persisted over several decades and presents a need for different approaches that may reveal new information to better understand the individual factors that influence specialty choices and preferences from the students' viewpoints. PurposeThe aims of this study were to (1) explore individual factors that impact the nursing specialty choices of final-year nursing students and (2) explore how these factors influence the final-year nursing students' career decision-making process. MethodA narrative inquiry approach using semi-structured interviews was carried out with purposively sampled nursing students (n = 12) who had undertaken a final-year clinical placement(s). Data was analysed using two main steps. First, the interviews were restoried and then analysed using the three-dimensional framework. Subsequently, thematic analysis was applied to generate themes. ResultsData analysis generated three main themes: demographic factors, social factors, and career goals. Participants' characteristics and interactions with other individuals and systems influenced their nursing specialty preferences and professional career plans. ConclusionNursing students' career interests are influenced by individual factors external to their nursing education, such as their age, gender, and life experiences. These student characteristics and experiences facilitated or inhibited a career in some nursing specialties, with the students gauging their ability to practice in a specialty during their CPs. Nursing education should expose and inform students about the core skills, career opportunities, and how to advance their careers in the different nursing specialties. Most importantly, final-year students may need formal career guidance to encourage nursing students' positive attitudes and career interests in different nursing specialties and make realistic career decisions.

Are Syrians in Türkiye vulnerable to ‘epistemic injustice’?: A ‘narrative inquiry’ in the case of Bursa

Are Syrians in Türkiye vulnerable to ‘epistemic injustice’?: A ‘narrative inquiry’ in the case of Bursa

Narrative therapy focusing on bodily sensations: a case of enhancing treatment proactivity of adolescent anorexia nervosa

ABSTRACT Lack of treatment proactivity significantly affects the treatment outcomes for adolescent anorexia nervosa in China. This research illustrates a case where narrative therapy, focusing on bodily sensations, was employed for a Chinese adolescent with anorexia nervosa characterised by low treatment proactivity. The study analyses the case using a merged methodological frameworks of case study and narrative inquiry. This research delineates the client’s transformation through three primary themes: Detachment from Sensations of Dirtiness, Positive Development of Self-identity, and Enhancing Treatment Proactivity (two subthemes: Interpretation and Reversal of the ‘Dirtiness’ Bodily Sensations and Reconstruction of the Social Network). Finally, it analyses the relationships among various themes and constructs a process diagram to illustrate the entire transformation journey of the client. This study suggests that enhancing treatment proactivity could be linked to changes in understanding of bodily sensations and in self-narratives.

It’s Just Too Much: Narratives of International Educators Navigating COVID-19

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to address how international educators who work with international students in the United States experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. Using secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction as frameworks alongside a qualitative narrative inquiry research design, we interviewed 31 international educator participants to understand how they navigated organizational dynamics on their campuses, supported international students, and were impacted personally and professionally by the pandemic. Findings demonstrate participants’ experiences being in alignment with elements of secondary traumatic stress given institutional pressures and isolation, constant exposure to the trauma and challenges of international students that they sought to assist with, and complex immigration regulations that were constantly in flux during the pandemic. International educators’ work environment, broader professional network, satisfaction and passion in working with international students, and overall commitment to their profession served as positive mitigators to the challenges they experienced and reflected element of compassion satisfaction.

Effective Learning Experiences of Middle School Students in Social Studies Lesson: A Narrative Inquiry

Effective Learning Experiences of Middle School Students in Social Studies Lesson: A Narrative Inquiry

Personal narratives of three EMI teachers: construction of their identities based on their experiential development

ABSTRACT This study focuses on English-medium instruction (EMI) teacher development in the specific context of a technical university in Spain, where English-medium instruction has been adopted swiftly but irregularly over the past decade. In contexts where EMI implementation relies mainly on bottom-up initiatives, its success largely depends on the preparedness of content lecturers, which is why attention must be paid to lecturers’ experiential development. In order to understand how EMI lecturers view themselves, their teaching practices and their impact, we analyse the personal narratives of three effective EMI lecturers as they reflect on their lived experiences. The approach taken in this study is that of narrative inquiry, with the purpose of understanding the extent to which teachers’ experience and perceived identity relate to their teaching behaviour. Findings shed light on different experiential journeys and EMI lecturer profiles. These narratives help us gain insight that can inform EMI teacher trainers and institutions on how to bridge the gap between individual, volunteering approaches to EMI and scalable actions for institutionally implemented and quality EMI.

신체폭력을 동반한 교권침해로 인한 초등교사의 공무상요양 경험에 대한 자전적 내러티브 탐구

Objectives In this study, an elementary school teacher was subjected to violence by a student during class in a classroom within the school, and the case was filed as a violation of teaching rights. After becoming a recipient of official medical care and spending time devoting time to treatment, a study was conducted to derive and understand the meaning of the violation of teaching rights accompanied by physical violence and the experience of official medical care. Methods For this purpose, an elementary school teacher who was disrupted by a student during class hours at S Elementary School in Region C, and who suffered physical violence from a student while providing guidance on the student's disruptive behavior, was selected as a research participant. The study was conducted by applying an autobiographical narrative Inquiry research method. The field text collected according to the narrative Inquiry was composed of intermediate text, and the meaning of the experience was derived by converting it into research text through review and cooperation with a research participant. Results In the telling process of autobiographical narrative inquiry, the content was described in five themes centered on the three-dimensional axis of narrative inquiry(temporality, spatiality, and sociality). In retelling, there are three topics (looking at the violation of teaching rights accompanied by physical violence properly in the learning space, overcoming the violation of teaching rights through a culture of consideration and respect, and creating an education system that allows teachers who have been victims of teaching rights infringement to grow again). The meaning of experience was explored by grouping as topics. Conclusions These research results sought to reach a conclusion by clarifying the legitimacy of the research at the personal, practical, and social levels, which is the legitimacy of narrative inquiry, and ended the research by presenting three research suggestions.

A NARATIVE INQUIRY INTO TEACHING EXPERIENCES: CHALLENGES TEACHING STRATEGY IN NARATHIWAT THAILAND

This study aims to discover the experiences of 2 English teachers regarding challenges and how to deal with them who do not have a background in English education at Witthayathan Islamic School. The method used was narrative inquiry with qualitative research method. Data were obtained through structured interviews with two participant teachers. The results of the analysis showed two themes in the stories told by the two teachers, namely the challenges of teachers when teaching in Thailand, such as teachers who are not English graduates, differences in language structure, and lack of student motivation when learning, as well as teachers' strategies in teaching English by using varied methods such as memorizing ten vocabulary, playing games, reading and speaking exercises to improve students' abilities.

동료지지모임을 통한 상담수련생의 ‘상담자-되기’에 관한 자전적 내러티브 탐구

Objectives This study was conducted to understand the experiences and meanings of counseling trainees' ‘counselor-becoming’ through peer support group. Methods For this, the autobiographical narrative inquiry method of Clandin and Connelly was used. Researchers simultaneously played the role of research participants and explored the empirical meaning. It was intended to secure the validity of the study through recording of experiences, transcription of speech, social text, and SNS data, and in-depth writing and cross-analysis of three researchers. Results As a result of the study, the participants had the following experiences through peer support group. First, they experienced the process of embodying counseling knowledge through intellectual discussion and relationship dynamics. Second, by opening themselves up in the field of experiment called relationship, they experienced the experience of discovering ‘I’ and building introspection toward each other. Third, they experienced being a counselor by experiencing personal and professional care together within peer support group. Conclusions In the conclusions and suggestions, based on the derived research results, the implications of the ‘counselor-becoming’ experience in which cognition, emotion, and relationship skills are integrated through peer support groups and the significance of the study were derived. It also presented tasks on how counseling trainees, including research participants, can use peer support groups more effectively.

Reformation of the Almajiri Educational System in Nigeria Through the Maqashid Al-Shari’ah Paradigm

The Almajiri phenomenon is one of the pandemic matters affecting Muslims in the North, specifically Nigeria as a nation. It depicts a condition whereby children of school age, ostensibly enrolled to study under Mallams, roam about the streets in tattered clothes, begging, scavenging, and doing all sorts of odd jobs. While Islam places a high premium on education, emerging issues about The Almajiri system of education have heightened the need to re-examine the concept from the perspective of the essence, purpose, goal, and objective of Islamic law (Maqasid al-Shari’ah). To this extent, the practice of the Almajiri system of education as obtainable in Nigeria should be subjected to the balance of Maqasid as-Shari’ah to ascertain its acceptability and fecundity. This paper therefore attempts to assess and appraise the Almajiri educational system in Nigeria to reform its operation and recommend steps towards attaining the overall educational goals of Islam as enshrined in the Shari’ah. The researcher adopts both historical and narrative research methods in the work. This article finds a strong correlation between the Almajiri system of education and Maqasid as-Shari’ah. The research concludes that there is a dire need for Nigerian Muslims to adopt the Maqasid as-Shari’ah as the guiding principle for the reformation and operation of the Almajiri educational system, particularly in the northern part of the country.

Motherhood and competitive coaching: six stories of generational differences in persisting and resisting gender inequities in sport

ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine mothers’ experiences of coaching; specifically investigating the nuances of generational cohorts (i.e. Generation X and Millennials). Using critical feminist narrative inquiry, we conducted interviews with fourteen mother-coaches (apprentice, assistant, or head coaches) within the context of an amateur national, 10-day multi-sport games event in Canada. Participants represented eight different provinces across Canada and 10 different sports. Three themes were constructed that call attention to the Canadian coaching culture: a) creating space in sport’s hetero-patriarchal culture, b) sport policy reproduces gendered coaching discourses, and c) reimagining coaching and the value of communities of practice. The findings draw attention to the importance and variation among generational cohorts and how mother-coaches engage in individual and collective acts of resistance to the everyday inequities. This study highlights the importance of support (e.g. from spouses and other women coaches) while exposing systemic inequities.

CHILDREN'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN AN INDONESIAN FAMILY: PERSPECTIVES FROM LANGUAGE POLICY

The primary purpose of this research is to find out the English language acquisition of children in Indonesian families. More specifically, this research analyzes the role of parents in children's acquisition of foreign language skills. The object of this research was taken from one of the families in the city of Probolinggo. The method used is Narrative Inquiry. Information was received through participant statements and interviews. It was analyzed using an inductive evaluation technique, including studying the transcript several times and identifying texts associated with the study's targets and observations. The results of this study reveal 3 points, namely parents' experiences, challenges faced by parents, and language policies.

Contextualizing Islamic Traditions in English Language Teaching at Indonesian Islamic Higher Education

English language teaching (ELT) in the context of Indonesian Islamic higher education has been particular and little known. The spirit of interconnecting ELT and Islamic tradition has given birth to the concept of dual tasks suggesting the practitioners to teach English and preach Islam. The practitioners are faced with strategic efforts to contextualize Islamic traditions into ELT. By examining six State Islamic higher education located in Lombok, Java, and Sumatera as the main contexts, this study explores issues related to the English teachers' dual tasks and their practiced strategies of contextualizing Islamic traditions into their teaching activities. Narrative inquiry was employed to explore those issues as they are closely related to the participants’ life experiences as English teachers at Indonesian Islamic higher education. This study concludes that the participants’ dual tasks are supported by theological narratives, particularly that of the Islamic propagation argument, and by academic narratives highlighting scientific distinction and knowledge integration. Further, the contextualization of Islamic tradition in ELT is polarized in the explicit mode narratives, referring to the strategies directly related to ELT, and the implicit mode narratives which cover the strategies indirectly connected to ELT. The findings highlight the intricate interaction between ELT and Islamic tradition within the realm of Indonesian higher education, thereby indicating potential pathways for subsequent research endeavors and pedagogical enhancements.

Pengalaman Kesepian pada Mahasiswa Tahun Pertama: Kajian Naratif

When entering the world of college as new students, students experience a transition phase from being high school students. In this new environment, students are expected to be able to develop new social networks, such as new friends. Students who experience problems in this case do not escape the experience of experiencing loneliness. Loneliness is a universal phenomenon experienced by almost everyone, including students. Students in their first year who were the subjects of this research were those who had previously experienced distance learning during Covid-19. The aim of this research is to understand students' experiences of loneliness after becoming students. What is the background to the emergence of feelings of loneliness? determine the initial causes of first-year students' experiences of loneliness. The research subjects were four people, consisting of male and female students, who were obtained using purposive sampling. Subjects are students who have different socio-cultural backgrounds. The research method uses narrative inquiry to reveal students' experiences of loneliness. Individual interviews were conducted to collect data. The research results showed that there were three themes related to the antecedents of students' experiences of loneliness, namely the theme of longing, the theme of losing friends, and the theme of low self-esteem.