Using personal narrative to promote person-centered values in aging, dementia, and caregiving

Personal narrative is a powerful way to include people in their care and to understand their values that drive their needs. In this paper, we describe a program designed to teach oral history to clinicians and trainees in the field of aging, dementia and caregiving. The training uses empathic listening, open-ended interviewing, and the discovery of individual values and experience to breakdown stigma and preconceptions of what it means to age with cognitive impairment. Sharing these stories of aging, dementia, and caregiving becomes an important tool to break down stereotypes, promote person-centered care, and advocate for the unheard. The profound impact of the oral history process is felt by the narrator, the interviewer and the listener. Human beings are wired for stories, and oral history taps into that power to connect us and provide better care through better understanding

The Power of the Story: The Voice of Witness Teacher's Guide to Oral History

Voice of Witness is excited to offer the second edition of this resource to educators. The goals of this two-part guide are to provide educators with the tools and resources for teaching oral histories from the Voice of Witness book series in the classroom, and to provide step-by-step instructions for the creation of oral history projects with students. The “target audience” for the guide is primarily grades 9–12, with many lesson plans that are suitable for middle-school students. Our goal in creating this guide is to facilitate meaningful teaching and learning through the compelling lens of oral history. Since VOW’s inception in 2004, teachers in the United States and around the world have used the evocative narratives from our book series to explore contemporary issues in the classroom