In this episode, Monica, Jessica, and Danica reflect on the process of collaborating on the production of this podcast. Our conversation took a number of interesting and unexpected turns, but we return to the iterative and reflexive character of critical narrative research and we explore various ideas, including: the process, labour, and rewards involved in doing and supervising qualitative research; reframing progress and failure in academic labour; the precarity and privilege of being a graduate student in contemporary institutional settings ; the dissertation as a gift; and cultivating relations of care in teaching and mentorship.

In this episode, Danica and Monica come full circle as they pick up on a nurse’s story Monica shared in Episode 1 and discuss how this nurse was able to repair her caregiver identity. Monica highlights how critical narrative methodology can provide deep insight into the complexities of nursing and the importance of storytelling in processing difficult experiences.

Content Warnings

(08:56 – 11:02): Story shared of child dying

(13:30 – 16:37): Story shared of nurse’s grief and experience at a children’s cancer camp

References

(03:10): Arthur Frank

Frank, A. (2013). The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics (2nd Edition ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

In this episode, Monica and Danica explore the concept of ‘narrative repair’ and how it relates to nursing. Monica shares nurses’ stories of how they engaged in ‘narrative repair’ with patients and their families to create meaningful memories and keepsakes (e.g., hand mold) as testimony to the child’s life after they died. Monica shares her experiences of vicarious trauma when bearing witness to the nurses’ stories, and Danica joins her in reflecting on strategies for navigating such experiences and conducting trauma-informed qualitative research.

Content Warnings

(18:18 – 19:26): Story of caregiving told with both humour and sadness about doing legacy building activity with patient in anticipation of their death from cancer

(22:42 – 26:00): Story shared of caregiving that involved providing a good death for a patient and their family

(30:53 – 32:02): Story shared of child dying

References

(03:11): Arthur Frank’s conceptualization of ‘narrative repair’

Frank, A. (2013). The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics (2nd Edition ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.