Inside OCD: Perspectives on the Value of Storytelling with Individuals with OCD and Family Members.

The Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida (UF) partnered with the UF Center for OCD, Anxiety, and Related Disorders to develop a storytelling program for individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and their families. Over ten weeks, participants shared stories regarding their experiences with OCD and engaged in theater and storytelling exercises. In collaboration with each other and the facilitators, participants workshopped and transformed their stories into a cohesive theatrical performance.

From Colored to Black: a narrative medicine approach to theatre and community reconciliation.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to analyze the research concepts underlying the construction of a theatrical health intervention on Black well-being, narrative medicine and what we reference as intentional locative healing.

Study Design: Descriptive postintervention evaluation.

Methods: This short communication article provides specific examples on how to practically implement elements of narrative medicine into an artistic health intervention and in postproduction assessments.

Even Mists Have Silver Linings: Promoting LGBTQ+ Acceptance and Solidarity through Community-Based Theatre in India.

Objectives: This project aimed to assess the effectiveness of a community-based theatre intervention to improve attitudes towards and increase knowledge about LGBTQ+ communities among audiences in Mumbai, India.

Study Design: This study was a program evaluation using pre- and post-show surveys that incorporated an adapted version of The Riddle Scale: Attitudes Towards Difference and questions assessing self-reported knowledge about LGBTQ+-related issues to assess changes in attitudes and knowledge after viewing the theatre intervention.

Methods: An original 90-min devised play was created by a company of Indian, American, and Canadian theatre artists using Participatory Action Research methods and was designed to bring audiences to a deeper understanding of LGBTQ+ identity.

Theatre Connect: Key Strategies for Facilitating LGBTQQ Youth Theatre Programs.

Youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQQ) often experience heterosexism, homophobia, prejudice, and bullying in addition to the typical demands of adolescent development. Applied theatre programs have been shown to empower youth, improve mental health and well-being, and create positive identity and interpersonal relationships and, as such, have the potential to strengthen a range of protective factors for LGBTQQ youth. However, when programs engage participants in personal narratives, practitioners must be prepared to deftly navigate between the two domains of theatre in health and drama therapy.

The Influence of Patient Identification and Narrative Transportation on Intentions to Participate in Cancer Research.

Cancer decision-making interventions commonly utilize narratives as a persuasive strategy to increase identification with the message source, promote involvement with the topic, and elicit greater willingness to adopt recommended behaviors. However, there is little empirical research examining the mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of this strategy in the context of cancer research participation. Data for the current manuscript were collected as part of a larger study conducted with cancer patients (N = 413) from the USA, UK, and the Republic of Ireland.

Physician career development: toward building a model.

Virtually no managed care organization provides a comprehensive and integrated program for physician career development. That's the principal finding of a survey we carried out in Spring 1994 in which we interviewed several individuals who have proven instrumental in the creation of career development programs at their managed care organizations. We started our research with the hypothesis that career development programs for physicians--frequently the most highly paid category of employees and the ones often most directly involved in the delivery of health care--should parallel the mission of the organization.