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It’s a kind of magic: Narratives of wellbeing in health and social care in England

Gaggiotti, Hugo; Jarvis, Carol; Kars-Unluoglu, Selen; von Bulow, Charlotte

Authors

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Hugo Gaggiotti Hugo.Gaggiotti@uwe.ac.uk
Professor in Human Resource Management

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Carol Jarvis Carol4.Jarvis@uwe.ac.uk
Professor in Knowledge Exchange, Public and Business Engagement and Innovation

Selen Kars-Unluoglu

Charlotte von Bulow



Abstract

As the Philosopher John Austin (1962) pointed out, saying and doing are indissociable, although not always expressed in the same way with the same understanding and intention. For Cieslik (2016), accounts of wellbeing are “rooted in social, caring relationships and traditional virtues of compassion, altruism and duty” (p. 432). Versions of this narrative also underpin discussions of wellbeing in the health and care sector in England. In this paper we present an ethnographic experience of working with two different health and care settings that aim to reduce health inequalities. We explore the differences in how narratives about wellbeing are interpreted and enacted. We suggest that where the intention behind ‘saying’ and ‘doing’ become dissociated, the narrative is disrupted and at odds with experience. By contrast, we experienced that where narratives are entwined with an ethic of care and empathic listening, a form of ‘magical thinking’ occurs.

Citation

Gaggiotti, H., Jarvis, C., Kars-Unluoglu, S., & von Bulow, C. (2022, September). It’s a kind of magic: Narratives of wellbeing in health and social care in England. Paper presented at Narratives of Wellbeing Symposium, HYbrid - LaTrobe University, Australia and online

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (unpublished)
Conference Name Narratives of Wellbeing Symposium
Conference Location HYbrid - LaTrobe University, Australia and online
Start Date Sep 1, 2022
End Date Sep 2, 2022
Deposit Date Oct 28, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Keywords narratives of wellbeing, practices of compassion, magical thinking
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10017639