Abstract
As public health professionals, our duty as advocates extends beyond public policy development into advocating for why public health matters. This duty is an imperative given the documented challenges currently faced by our public health system. Storytelling is a deliberate means by which we can exercise our professional agency and present the diverse contributions that public and population health professionals are making to the health of communities and families. Storytelling may serve a critical role in professional reflection to enable transformative change within this challenging public health landscape. We highlight the value of storytelling by presenting the lived experience of a frontline service provider reflecting on her work with Tara—a resilient, young woman facing multiple challenges throughout her life that impacted her health and that of her family. Tara’s story represents but one of countless examples from across the country that public health professionals can use to advance work on addressing health inequities. Professionals should be encouraged to build their competency in reflective practice and storytelling and to continue to use stories like Tara’s in the unification of their practice and in their advocacy efforts for why public health matters to Canadians.
Résumé
En tant que professionnels de la santé publique, nous avons non seulement le devoir de promulguer l’élaboration de politiques pour la santé, mais de défendre l’importance de la santé publique. Ce devoir est impérieux à la lumière des problèmes bien documentés auxquels notre système de santé publique est actuellement confronté. La mise en récit est un moyen délibéré d’exercer notre agencéité professionnelle et de présenter les différentes contributions des professionnels de la santé publique et des populations à la santé des communautés et des familles. Elle peut jouer un rôle névralgique dans la réflexion professionnelle qui vise à opérer des changements transformateurs dans l’environnement difficile de la santé publique. Pour illustrer l’utilité de la mise en récit, nous présentons les réflexions d’une intervenante de première ligne sur son travail auprès de Tara, une jeune femme résiliente confrontée au cours de sa vie à de nombreux problèmes qui ont miné sa santé et celle de sa famille. L’histoire de Tara n’est qu’un des innombrables exemples, recueillis partout au pays, dont les professionnels de la santé publique peuvent se servir pour faire avancer la lutte contre les inégalités en santé. Il faut encourager les professionnels à renforcer leurs compétences de pratique réflexive et de mise en récit et à continuer d’utiliser les histoires comme celle de Tara dans le but d’unifier la pratique et de défendre l’importance de la santé publique pour la population canadienne.
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Marsters, M., Sim, S.M. Stories like Tara’s: advocating the value of public health through narrative and reflection. Can J Public Health 110, 314–316 (2019). https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-019-00199-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-019-00199-z