The practice of qualitative inquiry in illness narrative scholarship

Abstract

It has been more than 30 years since Arthur Kleinman first published The Illness Narratives; Suffering, Healing & the Human Condition.1 In his preface, Kleinman referred to the case of a young burn victim: She taught me a grand lesson in patient care: that it is possible to talk with patients, even those who are most distressed, about the actual experience of illness, and the witnessing and helping to order that experience can be of therapeutic value. (p. xii) [...]

Keywords

• Qualitative inquiry
• illness narrative scholarship
• patient and healthcare provider
• storytelling