Tell Me Your Story: A Case Report on the Use of Occupational Storytelling in the Treatment of a Subject with an Upper Extremity Burn Injury and Complex Psychosocial Issues

Abstract

Abstract Recovering from a burn can leave a burn survivor struggling to cope with the physical and psychological trauma of their injury. Finding new ways to encourage positive coping strategies and strengthen their sense of self-efficacy and occupational identity can help to encourage the burn survivor to actively participate in their recovery and thereby increase their resiliency after injury. Occupational storytelling is a treatment strategy that utilizes the client’s occupational history and experiences to form their life story. Utilizing this technique with the Kawa Model as the practice model and guide uses the image of life as a river to facilitate the formation of the survivor’s story. The survivor is able to form a narrative of their life story by using their past, present, and future occupational identities as a means cope and problem solve after their injury. This case report will illustrate how the subject “Ray,” a pseudonym, used occupational storytelling to create a narrative of his past strengths to aid in recovering from his burn injury. Through his story, Ray was able to connect to a new occupational identity as a burn survivor rather than victim.