CARING IN THE COMMUNITY: A NARRATIVE MEDICINE PERSPECTIVE
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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7969-8242
Susana Magalhães
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3440-4244
Abstract
Narrative Medicine is a unique approach to healthcare that promotes person?centred perspective and practice. Drawing on the theoretical foundations of Narrative Medicine, this essay reflects on the role of narrative competence as a relational, ethical and methodological resource within community-centred healthcare. Narrative Medicine foregrounds attention to stories, meanings and lived experience, enabling healthcare professionals to recognise suffering, vulnerability and the biographical dimensions of illness as central to care. By valuing narrative practices, this approach supports forms of care grounded in dignity, compassion and respect, particularly relevant in community contexts marked by frailty, chronic conditions and social suffering. Using a reflective and argumentative lens rather than an empirical design, this essay explores how narrative tools and methodologies may be mobilised across education, clinical practice and qualitative research. Attention is given to the ways narrative practices foster empathy, strengthen communication and support ethical engagement, enabling professionals to move beyond task-oriented care towards more personalised, coordinated and empowering responses. Particular emphasis is placed on community-centred care, where understanding the person within their social and relational context is essential. This essay argues that narrative competence allows healthcare professionals to integrate patients’ and caregivers’ biographies into care processes, contributing to more humane and coherent networks of care. By positioning narrative as both a clinical and epistemological practice, this work highlights its potential to enrich qualitative inquiry and to inform training, research and practice frameworks aligned with the values of community-centred healthcare. Ultimately, this essay advocates for Narrative Medicine as a means of cultivating reflective practitioners capable of engaging with communities not merely as recipients of care, but as partners in meaning-making and care development.
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