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Stories like Tara's: advocating the value of public health through narrative and reflection.

ABSTRACT: As public health professionals, our duty as advocates extends beyond public policy development into advocating for why public health matters. This duty is an imperative given the documented challenges currently faced by our public health system. Storytelling is a deliberate means by which we can exercise our professional agency and present the diverse contributions that public and population health professionals are making to the health of communities and families. Storytelling may serve a critical role in professional reflection to enable transformative change within this challenging public health landscape. We highlight the value of storytelling by presenting the lived experience of a frontline service provider reflecting on her work with Tara-a resilient, young woman facing multiple challenges throughout her life that impacted her health and that of her family. Tara's story represents but one of countless examples from across the country that public health professionals can use to advance work on addressing health inequities. Professionals should be encouraged to build their competency in reflective practice and storytelling and to continue to use stories like Tara's in the unification of their practice and in their advocacy efforts for why public health matters to Canadians.

SUBMITTER: Marsters M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6964401 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Stories like Tara's: advocating the value of public health through narrative and reflection.

Marsters Meaghan M Sim S Meaghan SM

Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique 20190425 3

As public health professionals, our duty as advocates extends beyond public policy development into advocating for why public health matters. This duty is an imperative given the documented challenges currently faced by our public health system. Storytelling is a deliberate means by which we can exercise our professional agency and present the diverse contributions that public and population health professionals are making to the health of communities and families. Storytelling may serve a criti ...[more]

PMID: 31025297

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Project description:IntroductionInvolving service users in health service design and delivery is considered important to improve the quality of healthcare because it ensures that the delivery of healthcare is adapted to the needs of the users. Co-production is a process used to involve service users, but multiple papers have highlighted the need for the mechanisms and values guiding co-production to be more clearly stated. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the mechanisms and values that guided the co-production approach of the Stories for Change project, which used Public Narrative as part of the co-design process to create change in National Health Service maternity services.MethodsThis study was conducted using a rapid feedback evaluation approach. Semistructured interviews (n = 16) were the main source of data, six of which were maternity service users, with observations (5 h) and documentary analysis also carried out in parallel. RREAL sheets were used for data analysis to organize data based on key topics of interest.ResultsThis study identified three broad mechanisms and values underpinning the co-production approach: creating an open and safe space to share ideas, learning how to tell stories using Public Narrative and having service providers who play a key role in strengthening the health system listen to stories compelling them to action. This study identified the main areas for improvement of the Stories for Change project related to recruitment, the inclusion of participants, the co-design process, the Skills Session and the Learning Event.ConclusionOur study provided a deeper understanding of the co-production approach that addresses the need to uncover the mechanism and values underlying co-production and co-design approaches. This study expands on the literature pertaining to the influence of storytelling in creating meaningful change in health care. We propose a co-design methodology that uses Public Narrative as a model for service user engagement to help inform future healthcare development processes.Patient or public contributionThe experiences and perceptions of maternity service users and health professionals informed this evaluation. The project organizers were involved in the manuscript preparation stage by providing feedback, and service users wrote a commentary on the project from the lived experience perspective.

Dataset Information

Stories like Tara's: advocating the value of public health through narrative and reflection.

Publications

Stories like Tara's: advocating the value of public health through narrative and reflection.

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