A Storytelling Approach: Insights from the Shambaa

Overview

Journal J Med Humanit

Publisher Springer

Specialty Medical Ethics

Date 2018 Mar 20

PMID 29552699

Authors

Camillo Lamanna

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Narrative medicine explores the stories that patients tell; this paper, conversely, looks at some of the stories that patients are told. The paper starts by examining the 'story' told by the Shambaa people of Tanzania to explain the bubonic plague and contrasts this with the stories told by Ghanaian communities to explain lymphatic filariasis. By harnessing insights from memory studies, these stories' memorability is claimed to be due to their use mnemonic devices woven into stories. The paper suggests that stories can be unpatronising, informative, and appropriate vehicles for communicating medical information to all age groups across all cultures.

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