Remodeling the psychological concepts of 'relationship' and 'narrative' in the field of care

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24616028
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: ケア学
• Research Institution: Narabunka Women's College (2014-2015); Nara Bunka Women's College (2012-2013)
• Principal Investigator: Higashimura Tomoko 奈良学園大学奈良文化女子短期大学部, 幼児教育学科, 准教授 (30432587)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NISHIKAWA Masaru 大阪大学, コミュニケーションデザイン・センター, 特任教授 (10420423) ; ASAO Takeshi 奈良女子大学, 理系女性教育開発共同機構, 特任教授 (70184132)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ケア / 物語 / 障がい / 認知症 / 専門性 / 権力性 / 偶有性と必然性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Care, as well as qualitative psychology, has placed great emphasis on the concepts of ‘relationship’ and ‘narrative’ but there is need for greater examination of them. This project tried to remodel them based on findings in several fields of care: the education and care of people with handicaps, nursing care for people with cognitive impairment, and care relations in parenthood. Firstly, we found that, in the case of special needs education at school, teachers need to become professionals of individual children, not of their disorders. Secondly, an examination of young women’s assumptions regarding birth mothers suggests that there is a hidden process which turns an ‘accidental’ relationship into a ‘fated’ one. Lastly, we examined power structure in care narratives and found that professional discourse which labels people who are cared-for with professional terms have a negative impact on them. These findings open up new views on the concepts of relationship and narrative.

Free Research Field

ケア学