Abstract
Current occupational science research into occupations predominantly draws from interviews, which has the drawbacks that experiences and meanings are communicated through the filters of individuals ' recollection and beliefs as well as impacted by persons ' abilities to recall and express their experiences. Furthermore, it can be argued that occupational research should reflect the doing of occupations. Accordingly, innovative perspectives are needed in order to study occupations as these happen and to develop knowledge that explains the complexities of why and how occupations evolve as these do in daily life and therapeutic situations. The aim of this paper is to introduce Narrative-in-Action, developed by Alsaker and Josephsson, as a perspective for under- standing how occupations occur in people's daily life and therapeutic situations.
After introducing some theoretical and practical rationales for Narrative-in-Action, we will use two examples from our researches to illustrate the kind of understandings using Narrative-in-Action can generate. The first example shows the meaning of actions of a person with advanced dementia who is no longer able to explain that herself. The second example shows how meanings of occupation are not beholden to individuals and how meanings can be uncovered that the person did not narrate nor seemed to have perceived. Both examples also illustrate the complexities and multiple dimensions of occupations.
The relevance for occupational science and occupation-centered practice is that Narrative-in-Action opens new avenues for understanding how persons ' occupations can be supported to enhance the quality of their daily lives, health and well-being.
