At IFNC13 in Pamplona, Spain, Dr. Martha Driessnack, Associate Professor of Nursing at the Oregon Health & Science University, offered a fascinating keynote titled “Who are you from?”: The importance of a family stories. During her presentation, she provided a compelling argument based on research, including genomic evidence, to support the positive influence family stories have on resilience and well being in children and older adults.
Many of us recognize the power of family narratives, both for our patients and research participants, as well as ourselves. Oftentimes, these narratives have inspired our careers and trajectories. I’ve written about my family narratives and how these influence my work on my own blog. Other IFNA members have shared such narratives as well, such as this one from Janice M. Bell.
In the interest of building relationships and fostering community among IFNA members, you are invited to share your own family story with an emphasis on how it has influenced you as a family nurse and informed your family nursing scholarship and practice.
Your short personal family story will be posted on the IFNA blog as a regular feature. Below are some guidelines for writing and submitting your own narratives:
- Narratives should be no more than 500 words.
- Keep in mind that these are stories, so make them engaging. Don’t think of this as a journal article. Engage the reader.
- Because these are personal stories of your family, be sure to have consent for publication from anyone mentioned in the narrative.
- Submit your narratives here. Once your narrative is received and ready for posting, I’ll contact you via email for a photo to add to the post.
Joel G. Anderson, PhD, CHTP, is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee College of Nursing and a member of the IFNA Communications Committee. His research focuses on support of family caregivers and persons with dementia. He uses social media as one way of examining the family caregiving experience. You can follow him on Twitter at @JoelAndersonPhD or read his blog.
Janice M. Bell, RN, PhD, is an Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Calgary, co-chair of the IFNA Communications Committee, and Founding Editor of the Journal of Family Nursing. She co-developed the Illness Beliefs Model and focuses her scholarship on illness suffering, family healing, therapeutic conversations with families, family interventions in health care, and family intervention research. You can follow her on Twitter at @janicembell or read her blog.
