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Related Experiment Videos

Transformative narratives: from victimic to agentic life plots

D E Polkinghorne1

  • 1Division of Counseling Psychology, School of Education, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90089-0031, USA.

The American Journal of Occupational Therapy : Official Publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association
|April 1, 1996
PubMed
Summary

Restoring a person's sense of agency is key to occupational functioning recovery. This involves moving from a victimic identity to an agentic one through a narrative process.

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Area of Science:

  • Occupational therapy
  • Psychology
  • Self-theory

Background:

  • Occupational engagement hinges on personal agency.
  • Impaired functioning can shift identity from agentic to victimic.
  • Recovery necessitates restoring the sense of agency.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the restoration of agency in clients' rehabilitation.
  • To understand the narrative process of identity change.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of clients' self-stories during rehabilitation.
  • Identification of phases in the transition from victimic to agentic identity.

Main Results:

  • Victimic identity is characterized by a loss of power in self-stories.

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  • Agentic identity is characterized by active agency in self-stories.
  • Clients' transition from victimic to agentic identity occurs in four phases: incompleteness, positioning, actualizing, and completion.

    • Conclusions:

    • Restoring a sense of agency is crucial for occupational functioning.
    • Narrative discourse is vital for expressing identity as a process.
    • The four-phase model (incompleteness, positioning, actualizing, completion) describes the shift in identity during recovery.