TEIXEIRA, Diana Neves; SILVA, Sara Ramos    HENRIQUES, Margarida Rangel. Crianças em acolhimento residencial: Conteúdo temático das suas narrativas de vida. []. , 36, 1, pp.1-14. ISSN 0870-8231.  https://doi.org/10.14417/ap.1245.

The narrative is a semantic unit in the form of history that allows the human being to give meaning to their experience. Research in the area has not been conclusive in respect to the ability of children who experienced maltreatment to integrate these experiences into their life narratives. Some researchers argue that maltreatment has an effect in the children’s memory, hindering the recall and reference of these experiences; others argue that traumatic experiences may be better remembered and narrated than quotidian experiences. This study aimed to map emergent themes in the life narratives of children with a past marked by early adversity, exploring if the theme of maltreatment is brought up in these narratives and/or even becomes the dominant theme. In this study participants were 16 children living in residential care, aged between 7 and 12 years old. The Life Narrative Interview with Children was used to collect life stories. The thematic analysis of life narratives allowed us to identify that children included an average of 15 themes in their life narratives, being that half of the children reported episodes of physical and/or psychological maltreatment. The thematic diversity found in children’s life narratives suggests the adaptive capacity of having available the multiplicity of experiences, without being overwhelmed by a rigid and monothematic narrative. In addition, the ability of many children to report maltreatment events, sets us aside from the hypothesis of forgetting or the inability to narrate and encourages the promotion of adaptive open, unconstrained, conversational spaces.

: Autobiographical narratives; Life narratives; Children; Residential care; Thematic content.

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