Narrative Approaches in Gerontology.

Catalog description

Semester course; 2 lecture hours (delivered online or hybrid). 2 credits. The course introduces theoretical and applied premises that underlie narrative gerontology, narrative care and narrative medicine as byways of understanding aging through the experiences of older people. Narrative approaches have become essential, practical tools for providers working in many health care settings, including long-term care. These approaches focus on story at the individual, community and institutional levels. The course will explore narrative as a mechanism for understanding experiences of adversity, discrimination, health, healing, wellness and growth. To hone skills of attention, representation and affiliation, students will practice a narrative medicine approach by engaging with poetry, prose and film that explore care and caring, social connection, health and racial equity, and housing. Students will conduct an oral housing history interview with an older person using oral history methods, the principles of narrative gerontology and the lens of the social determinants of health.