ABSTRACT

This article focuses on how one staff member at a therapeutic residential institution negotiates his work identity, exploring how he narrates a violent incident, the formation of work identity, and how the adolescent figures within these processes. Mishler argues that when speaking, we perform identity. As social actors, we select and organise language, telling stories that fit the audience, our intentions, and the occasion. The article is framed both theoretically and methodologically through the assumption that narrative is a fundamental human way of giving meaning to our experiences. Identities are understood as being produced and performed within personal narratives. Thus, in an interview situation, narratives provide an interactive space for personal subjectivities to be expressed and enacted. Drawing on Mishler, we find three essential ‘turning points’ that shape Alex’s work identity: (1) the violent incident, (2) the adolescent’s return to the ward, and (3) Alex’s subsequent change of wards. We interpret Alex’s narrative as a ‘narrative of resistance’ that may have practical day-to-day implications for the field of institutional care and help expand the staff’s clinical toolbox. Further, Alex’s narrative is a vital example of stories of violence, which can be incorporated into policy documents on violence management.

摘要

本文重点关注治疗性住宿机构的一名工作人员如何协商其工作身份，探讨他如何叙述暴力事件、工作身份的形成以及青少年如何在这些过程中扮演角色。米什勒认为，在说话时，我们执行身份。作为社会演员，我们选择和组织语言，讲述适合观众、我们的意图和场合的故事。这篇文章在理论和方法上都是通过假设叙事是赋予我们经验意义的基本人类方式来构建的。身份被理解为是在个人叙事中产生和执行的。因此，在访谈情况下，叙事为个人主观性的表达和制定提供了一个互动空间。借鉴米什勒，我们发现了塑造亚历克斯工作身份的三个基本“转折点”：（1）暴力事件，（2）青少年重返病房，以及（3）亚历克斯随后更换病房。我们将亚历克斯的叙述解释为“抵抗的叙述”，它可能对机构护理领域具有实际的日常影响，并有助于扩大工作人员的临床工具箱。此外，亚历克斯的叙述是暴力故事的一个重要例子，可以纳入暴力管理的政策文件。