Narrative Development Research Articles

Recounting the untold stories of breast cancer patient experiences: lessons learned from a patient-public involvement and engagement storytelling event.

Breast cancer remains a prevalent disease in women worldwide. Though advancements in breast cancer care have improved patient survival, a breast cancer diagnosis, and subsequent interventions have a lasting impact on patients' lived experiences during the pandemic. We present the collaborative learning process from this patient engagement workshop series as a community-academic partnership. Narrative medicine tools were used to recount patients' lived experiences following diagnosis, where both patients and researchers shared their cancer research activities in each workshop, and the role of the multidisciplinary healthcare team was discussed. We used an iterative approach to cohort building, narrative development, and the use of multiple media formats to capture stories. Over 20 patients with breast cancer shared their stories for the first time since their diagnosis with a wider audience. Here, we present the learning process and considerations from this event. Understanding patients' lived experiences can support researchers and healthcare professionals in developing an empathetic approach to shared healthcare decision making. Moreover, understanding the lived experiences of patients is critical to addressing disparities in healthcare.

Strengthening Tourism Products Through Storytelling Exploration in Kemiriombo, Gerbosari Village, Samigaluh District, Kulonprogo Regency

Kemiriombo, a hamlet in Gerbosari Village, Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, is known for its diversity of spices (empon-empon) cultivated and processed by the local community. This area has significant potential for developing tourism based on local culture and traditions, but the tourism narrative has not been optimally managed. This study aims to explore the potential of storytelling as a strategy for developing tourist destinations in Kemiriombo. The methods used include observation, interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), surveys, and community participation to understand the needs and expectations of the local community. The study found that Kemiriombo has tourism potential such as the processing of empon-empon at Rumah Jamu Menoreh, local cultural arts such as Jathilan, Gejog Lesung, and Karawitan, as well as culinary traditions like Sega Brongsong and Legondo. The 5W1H technique (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How) was applied in the storytelling analysis to produce engaging narratives that can promote local cultural identity. Storytelling plays a crucial role in introducing local products and traditions, enhancing tourist attraction, and preserving community culture. Through the development of strong narratives, Kemiriombo is expected to become a tourist destination that offers not only visual experiences but also emotional and social dimensions for visitors. The integration of local traditions and storytelling innovation is expected to positively impact the welfare of the local community.

Different Stories for Different People - Engagement with the Archaeology of HS2 Area North

The UK high-speed railway High Speed Two (HS2) will link London and the Midlands following the route of the 19th-century London and Birmingham Railway. After years of work, including the largest programme of historic environment investigation in the UK across a swathe of the landscape over a number of years, the construction stage is now in progress. The lead document for the delivery of the historic environment works is HS2's generic Written Scheme of Investigation, the Historic Environment Research and Delivery Strategy (HERDS). One of the central principles of HERDS is to derive public benefit from the historic environment works, by meeting community engagement objectives and building a legacy of knowledge and skills. This article was delivered as a paper at the European Association of Archaeologists' (EAA) conference in 2023, themed 'Weaving narratives', in an HS2 session entitled 'Different stories for different people'. It discusses some of the principles of audience and narrative development that can be transferred to other archaeological projects from the discoveries in the Midlands (HS2 Area North). Three steps are highlighted. Firstly, engage with and listen to stakeholders and community representatives early in the project lifespan, using professional expertise. Secondly, assimilate key themes and local issues, create partnerships, and identify heritage champions to support the design of activities. Thirdly, work together to deliver a range of events and activities tailored to a variety of audiences using bespoke platforms and styles. Adopting this approach, and having clearer mechanisms for measuring and evaluating the benefit of the outcomes, demonstrates worth and benefits the sector. For project legacy, the goal is to use the stories to transfer skills, information, good practice and ownership.

Inferential language use in the oral narratives of adolescents with and without developmental language disorder

ABSTRACT Inferential language is an essential aspect of narrative storytelling. It offers not only details about events such as cause and effect and character cognition (e.g. intentions, actions, and reactions) but other evaluative and descriptive language. Previous studies have shown that children with developmental language disorder (DLD, previously also termed as Specific Language Impairment, SLI) exhibit weakness in narrative development, and such weakness is suggested to be unlikely to be resolved over time. However, studies that have focused on the inferential language use in narratives of adolescents with DLD are almost non-existent, and it is unclear whether inferential language use by adolescents with DLD would remain problematic or achieve close-to-normal performance. To address this issue, we compared the use of inferential language in the oral narratives 19 adolescents with DLD (Mean age = 14.3; SD = 0.64) and 19 adolescents with typical language development (TLD; Mean age = 14.0; SD = 0.50). Each transcribed narrative was coded for inferences across character actions/attempts, internal states, causality, character dialogue and other inferences. Results indicated that the two groups performed similarly in all measures except for assigning possessive expressions. Our results suggest that adolescents with DLD may approximate their typical language development (TLD) peers in terms of the inferential language use in oral narratives.

Visuality of M. Elizarov’s Novels “Librarian” and “Cartoons” as a Means of Transforming Socialist Realist Canon

This article examines the role of the visual aspect of the text in the recontextualization of elements from the socialist realist canon. The study focuses on Mikhail Elizarov’s novels “Librarian” and “Cartoons.” It is established that, firstly, Elizarov consciously constructs his works according to the principles of literary cinematicity, with visuality serving as a prominent component. Secondly, visuality facilitates the integration of elements from the Soviet project into the narrative, expressed through spaces and objects. Furthermore, it allows for their recontextualization by embedding them within new contexts. Thirdly, the reactivation of spaces and objects is aided by the figure of the protagonist, who is presented through the technique of traveling. Fourthly, the narrative development of the novels bears similarities to socialist realist plots concerning re-education. Additionally, through the image of the protagonist, the relevance of the opposition between “eye” and “gaze” is emphasized, which in turn contributes to the actualization of ideas related to control and behavior modeling. The gaze of the Other, experienced by the characters, draws them into narrative structures akin to those found in socialist realism, compelling them to adopt specific roles — the role of a character burdened with socialist realist motives. Finally, it is noted that the protagonist’s distinctive position enhances reader identification and alters the very status of the Book.

Beyond Monolingual Norms: Analyzing the Complexity of Greek-Turkish Bilingual Children’s Written Narratives

This research explores the written narratives of Greek-Turkish bilingual and Greek monolingual children, focusing on their retelling abilities. We analyze both the macrostructure and microstructure of their narratives, utilizing the story-grammar model for the macrostructure analysis and examining lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, spelling accuracy, connectives, and word stressing for the microstructure assessment. We also examine correlations with contextual factors, including home and schooling input. Thirty-six children, comprising an equal number of bilinguals and monolinguals, participate in a picture narrative task (retelling mode). Our findings indicate that while bilingual children exhibit proficiency in constructing the story-grammar comparable to their monolingual counterparts, notable differences emerge in the microstructure of their narratives. Specifically, bilingual children produce shorter narratives. They also demonstrate lower lexical and noun diversity, syntactic complexity, and spelling accuracy (in inflectional suffixes) compared to monolingual children. These observed differences in the microstructure imply a potential trade-off between establishing the core story schema and elaborating on narrative details in bilingual narratives. Additionally, our study identifies early literacy practices (i.e., print exposure in preschool years) and current literacy practices (literacy habits outside the school setting) as predicting differently aspects of the microstructure in each group, further enhancing our understanding of how bilingualism influences narrative development. This underscores the importance of examining both the macrostructure, microstructure, and contextual factors for a comprehensive understanding of narrative development in bilingual and monolingual children.

From childhood to adolescence: the growth of narrative macrostructure in heritage bilingual English speakers

ABSTRACT Narratives are crucial for investigating children’s spontaneous language, offering insights into linguistic changes from early childhood to adolescence. Despite the known improvement in narrative skills with age, research focusing on bilingual children older than 8 is sparse. This study explores narrative macrostructure, episodic complexity, and internal state terms expressing feelings and thoughts among bilingual children in preschool, primary, and secondary school, focusing on English as a heritage language. Narratives were elicited from fifty-nine English-Hebrew bilinguals aged 5–14, divided into three age-groups, using Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (Gagarina, N., D. Klop, S. Kunnari, K. Tantele, T. Välimaa, I. Balcˇiūnienė, U. Bohnacker, and J. Walters. 2014. “MAIN: Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives.” ZAS Papers in Linguistics 56:1–156), with language exposure data collected from parent questionnaires. Analyses of story grammar elements and episodic complexity revealed significant age-related differences in narrative macrostructure, with older children demonstrating more complex and coherent narratives. The length of exposure to the societal language did not significantly predict narrative outcomes, suggesting that narrative quality is not solely dependent on societal language exposure duration. This study provides valuable baseline data for typical narrative development in bilinguals and could aid in identifying Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in bilingual populations.

Clinical and Legal Considerations When Optimizing Trauma Narratives in Immigration Law Evaluations.

Asylum seekers in the United States face complex legal processes that require the construction of coherent and credible narratives to establish eligibility for legal status or immigration relief. In this article, we review clinical and legal considerations involved in optimizing trauma narratives in forensic psychiatric evaluations for immigration courts. We highlight significant challenges faced by asylum seekers, including the emotional impact of trauma and cultural factors affecting their ability to disclose their experiences, including the roles of symptoms and cultural and situational elements in disclosure and narrative development. We emphasize the importance of creating a therapeutic and empathetic environment to facilitate disclosure and partnering with interpreters across multiple culturally sensitive evaluations. We address the roles of common traumatic stressors in narrative development, including cultural challenges related to histories of torture, abduction, sexual violence, and human trafficking prevalent among asylum seekers, providing insights and guidance on each. Further, we address specific potential challenges to the forensic psychiatric evaluator during the narrative development process, such as transference, countertransference, malingering, and vicarious traumatization. We aim to provide guidance on the development of trauma narratives of asylees developed for both therapeutic and medico-legal effectiveness.

Back to the Past: A Systematic Review of Immersive Narrative in Cultural Heritage Conservation

ABSTRACTImmersive narrative creates a vivid experiential environment that allows users to be participants rather than mere observers, holding immense potential in the field of cultural heritage. However, current research primarily focuses on technological applications and integration, lacking in‐depth exploration of the fusion between technology and content as well as limited user engagement. Following a systematic review methodology, this study conducted searches and two rounds of screening in 7 major databases, resulting in the inclusion of 176 studies on immersive narrative in cultural heritage conservation. The study summarizes and extracts the current state, development trajectory, trends, research methods, and key elements in this field, innovatively categorizing them into 6 core levels of research patterns while proposing corresponding optimization strategies. Additionally, this study identifies research gaps and suggests future directions, aiming to facilitate the enhancement of immersive narrative development and deepen user engagement in the cultural heritage field.

Narrative Retelling Abilities of Kindergarteners Considering Early Literacy and Language Skills

Objectives: This study investigated the narrative retelling abilities of 5-year-old children at risk of narrative development, early literacy, and language skills focusing on story grammar, linguistic cohesive devices, and semantic-grammatical index.Methods: Narrative Retelling production using KONA was conducted on a total of fifty kindergarten children, 10 typically developing children (TD), 10 at risk of developmental dyslexia (DD), 10 at risk of narrative discourse (ND), 10 at risk of narrative discourse and early literacy (ND·DD), and 10 at risk of early literacy and language as well as narrative discourse to compare the production of story grammars, linguistic cohesive markers, and use of linguistic indicators total number of words (NTW), number of grammatical morphemes, mean length of T-units in morpheme (MLT-m), grammatical morpheme error rate (GME) between groups.Results: ND, ND·DD and ND·DD·SLI groups showed lower performance in producing story grammars, linguistic cohesive markers, NTW, and number of grammatical morphemes compared to the TD and DD groups. There were no significant differences between groups in the number of inappropriate uses of linguistic cohesive devices, MLT-m, and grammatical morpheme error rate.Conclusion: The ND·DD·SLI group with poor semantics and grammar showed significantly lower narrative retelling ability. This suggests that early intervention may be beneficial for children at risk for difficulties in language and narrative development. The ND group with good semantics and grammar was identified with their low narrative retelling abilities. In addition to typical development in semantics and grammar, there were children at risk of narratives with low abilities in early literacy. In addition to language skills, we need to screen and identity narrative abilities considering early literacy skills during the kindergarten period.

BEDAWANG NALA: ARTISTIC INSPIRATION FOR A FICTION FILM TO STRENGTHEN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AWARENESS

This research explores the philosophical and symbolic value of Bedawang Nala in Balinese architectural art and the development of its narrative in fiction films based on Hindu mythology. Bedawang Nala, depicted as a giant fire-haired turtle with dragons Anantabhoga and Basuki, reflects cosmic balance and natural harmony in Tri Hita Karana. This qualitative research uses an interdisciplinary perspective involving the views of cultural studies and the creativity of film art creation. Data was obtained through in-depth interviews to explore the meaning and connection of the Bedawang Nala concept with environmental themes, audiovisual observations of traditional Balinese architecture, and literature studies on Bedawang Nala and ecological issues. Data were analyzed using interview transcript interpretation techniques to identify main themes related to the philosophical and symbolic values of Bedawang Nala, audiovisual analysis, and literature synthesis that connects findings from interviews and observations with current discussions about ecological education. The findings show that the Bedawang Nala mythology is not just an aesthetic ornament but has an educational value relevant to contemporary environmental issues. The development of this mythology-based film narrative can be an effective academic and cultural reflection tool, strengthening ecological awareness in society. This research suggests making and evaluating films based on Bedawang Nala and exploring other local mythologies to increase the educational impact and environmental awareness through film media.

Through our eyes: Understanding how autistic children co-author a sense of self and relate to the world. An interpretative, observational thematic analysis

Identity development is often viewed as co-constructed within social contexts. Much research focuses on older childhood, despite early childhood being considered critical in the formation of ‘self’. Creative methodologies (i.e., those that might utilise creative mediums and the senses such as audio-visual stimuli or play), drawing upon attachment, narrative and systemic theory, and interpretative, observational thematic analysis were utilised to explore child meaning-making in the context of autism. Participant understanding of self often related to a sense of ‘difference’ and desire for belonging and acceptance. Development of creative, sensitive, applied methods has advanced methodological approaches for working with vulnerable populations. This study demonstrates that experiences of parental perspectives and interactions are connected to children contextualising their experiences of self, other, and the world around them in some capacity. As such, it is important to provide parents with the tools, knowledge, and understanding to aid the development of positive narratives to provide the best support for their children

Narrative reconstruction in deaf and hearing children: A comparative study in the context of Arabic diglossia

This study explores the narrative skills of deaf and hearing children within the context of Arabic diglossia, a linguistic environment characterised by significant differences between spoken dialects and formal written language. Using Stein and Glenn's (1979) and Bruner's (1991) frameworks, the research analyses the narrative constructions of 13 hearing and 13 deaf children in Kuwait. The findings reveal that hearing children, benefiting from consistent exposure to spoken and formal Arabic, produced more coherent and detailed narratives compared to deaf children. Hearing participants also demonstrated greater vocabulary diversity. Age-related improvements in narrative skills were more pronounced among hearing children, while the impact of sign language exposure on narrative abilities was significant among deaf children. The study underscores the critical role of early language exposure and educational support in fostering narrative development, particularly in a diglossic context. These findings highlight the need for specialised educational strategies to support the unique narrative development needs of deaf children.

Who owns their story: Career construction with gifted and talented students

Gifted and talented youth in the US have been struggling for recognition and appropriate educational opportunities for decades. Periodically, we are reminded of their unique needs. Time and again, those needs seem to be disregarded, including their need for career related planning and programming. Narratives of gifted students can be negatively impacted, as a result of action or inaction by young people themselves or of others in their lives. Three distinct problem saturated plots can emerge requiring career counselors to provide specific intervention to ensure narrative development in congruence with the hopes, dreams and desires of youth. Career construction theory, with its emphasis on authorship and agency is most suitable for increasing agency of the youth stuck in these narratives. My Career Story a group or individual intervention, rooted in career construction theory, offers assistance to both students and counselors, as students work to develop their own preferred narratives.

Structural basis for mouse receptor recognition by bat SARS2-like coronaviruses

The animal origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains elusive, lacking a plausible evolutionary narrative that may account for its emergence. Its spike protein resembles certain segments of BANAL-236 and RaTG13, two bat coronaviruses considered possible progenitors of SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, its spike contains a furin motif, a common feature of rodent coronaviruses. To explore the possible involvement of rodents in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 spike, we examined the crystal structures of the spike receptor-binding domains (RBDs) of BANAL-236 and RaTG13 each complexed with mouse receptor ACE2. Both RBDs have residues at positions 493 and 498 that align well with two virus-binding hotspots on mouse ACE2. Our biochemical evidence supports that both BANAL-236 and RaTG13 spikes can use mouse ACE2 as their entry receptor. These findings point to a scenario in which these bat coronaviruses may have coinfected rodents, leading to a recombination of their spike genes and a subsequent acquisition of a furin motif in rodents, culminating in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.

Попавшие в „мышеловку”: анализ отношения местного населения к Чернобыльской Зоне Отчуждения в кино- и телепродукции (1990–2021 гг.)

The release of the television series Chernobyl (HBO, Sky Atlantic 2019) drew renewed attention to the tragedy, its locations, and the affected population, generating new productions in Russia, such as the film Chernobyl: Abyss (Danila Kozlovskij, 2021), explicitly made in response to the Western series, signalling a desire to re-appropriate the narrative of the disaster and its territories. Indeed, a recurrent characteristic of the film and television productions of the countries most affected by the 1986 nuclear disaster (Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia) has been the representation of the land and the inhabitants’ relationship with it (Lindbladh 2019). This is also a central theme in Svetlana Alexievich’s renowned 1997 work Voices from Chernobyl: Chronicle of the future, whose stories inspired some episodes of the Anglo-American series. This article analyzes the representation of the relationship between the inhabitants of the Chornobyl/Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and their homeland in film and television productions dedicated to the nuclear disaster, beginning with Eastern European films made in the early 1990s, moving on to the representation in the Western series, and culminating with an analysis of Kozlovskij’s Chernobyl: Abyss. Features considered include the development of romantic narratives within the contaminated zone, the visual representation of radiation, and the depiction of the local institutions’ response to the disaster.

Investigating the development of narratives in directors' reports: an analysis of Barilla over six decades

PurposeThis research explores how contextual elements and significant events influence the changing storylines within a company's directors' reports spanning a period of six decades. These elements and events encompass the internal dynamics of the family that owns the company, industry-specific advancements, political and socioeconomic climates, and explicit guidelines related to corporate reporting.Design/methodology/approachThis research employs a case study methodology to analyse the directors' reports of Barilla, a prominent Italian food manufacturer, within the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism. A systematic content analysis is conducted on sixty directors' reports published between 1961 and 2021. The study also identifies and examines significant contextual events within this six-decade period, which are linked to four key institutional factors.FindingsBased on the research findings, the directors' reports exhibited notable fluctuations throughout the studied timeframe in reaction to shifts in the institutional setting. Our investigation highlights that each institutional element experienced crucial pivotal moments, and given their interconnected nature, modifications in one factor impacted the others. It was noted that these pivotal moments resulted in alterations in the directors' reports' content across various thematic areas. Additionally, despite Barilla being a multinational company, it was found that national events within Italy had a more pronounced influence on the evolving narratives than global events.Originality/valuePrevious research on directors' reports or chairman's statements has primarily focused on the influence of macro-level institutional factors on the narratives. In contrast, our study considers both macro-level and micro-level institutions, specifically examining the internal events within a family business and how they shape the content of directors' reports. Our study is also distinctive in its analysis of specific critical junctures and their interactions with the investigated institutional factors. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, few existing studies span a timeframe of sixty years, particularly concerning an Italian company.

Comparative analysis of microstructures of narrative abilities in language-age-matched Tamil-speaking children with cochlear implants and typical hearing

In a unique exploration of narrative development among Tamil-speaking children, this study delves into the intricacies of linguistic expression, explicitly comparing the microstructure of narratives in two distinct groups: those with hearing differences (HD) and those with normal hearing. A total of 30 children were included in the study, with 15 children in each group, matched for language age between 3-5 years on standard language tests. The children were asked to retell a story they had listened to, and the obtained samples were transcribed verbatim and analyzed for various microstructural elements, including the mean length of utterances, total number of words, number of utterances, and number of different word types. The results revealed that children with hearing loss used fewer words and simpler sentences during retelling despite having the same language age as their peers. This highlights the importance of incorporating narrative assessment in standard language evaluations. Furthermore, the findings emphasise integrating narrative intervention into language intervention programs to enhance language productivity. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the narrative abilities of Tamil-speaking children with cochlear implants and underscores the significance of addressing narrative skills in language intervention approaches.

Foucault's Study of Power Theory -- A Textual Study Based on Discipline and Punishment

As the basic concept of political philosophy, power has the nature of absolutely dominating social operation. For a long time, political science and sociology have examined how it operates from a top-down perspective. With the development of grand narrative and the rise of structuralism, the theory of power also needs to be further updated to conform to the trend of postmodernism. Through his research on the development of prisons and other institutions, Foucault realized that the operation law of power was not inseparable from political governance as explained by traditional philosophy, but integrated into the lives of all people in an atomic way. In the modern era, the art of domination incorporates this microphysics and develops it into a technology that, unlike the oppressive domination of antiquity, interferes with People's Daily lives in a way that is controlled by the body. The key to this technology is discipline, which operates in institutions that alienate time and space, and also separate man's utility from his capacity to develop, making him part of the social machine. Foucault's micro-power theory may seem very different from the theory of right and Marxism, but it is used in the context of a contractual society, and its purpose is economic, without disconnection. Through micro-power, we can have a clearer understanding of modern state governance under capitalism.

Lineage Thinking in Evolutionary Biology: How to Improve the Teaching of Tree Thinking

AbstractIn 1988, Robert O’Hara coined the now ubiquitous phrase “tree thinking” to highlight the importance of cladistics for proper evolutionary reasoning. This accessible phrase has been taken up widely in the professional, popular, and educational literatures, and it has played an important role in helping spread phylogenetic thinking far beyond the disciplinary borders of systematics. However, the undeniable benefits of the spread of tree thinking have become marred by being widely linked to several misconceptions that were present in O’Hara’s original writings. O’Hara incorrectly considered clades to be the central subjects of evolutionary narratives. By failing to appreciate that clades contain independently evolving lineages, O’Hara has promoted the misleading view that evolution is irreducibly branched. In this paper, I show how an exclusive focus on the branching realm of taxa has created a cladistic blindfold that has caused a form of lineage blindness that has spread widely through the literature dedicated to the teaching of tree thinking. Its symptoms include the rejection of phenomena and concepts that are fundamental to the realm of evolving lineages, including linear evolutionary imagery and narratives, the concepts of anagenetic evolution and missing links, our evolutionary descent from monkeys and apes, and the promotion of the nonsensical concept of collateral ancestors. To avoid simplistic tree thinking, it is crucial to recognize that the realms of taxa and lineages have distinctive features that require different kinds of thinking. I close by suggesting that teaching can be improved by linking tree thinking explicitly to lineage thinking.