The use of life stories in dementia care has been described as a way of seeing every person as an individual, looking beyond their dementia. Life stories have become synonymous with high-quality ...care, while in Sweden their mere existence in dementia care settings is taken to indicate quality in national comparisons. Such life stories are often standardised, generated by a family member answering predetermined questions in a template.
Using a constructionist approach, this study will (1) chart what versions of a person's life story the templates produce, and (2) establish the intended purpose of such life stories, as communicated by the templates. This study departs from the assumption that life story templates communicate something about the conceptions of people living with dementia. The thematic analysis used data comprising 30 blank templates, totalling about 1,700 questions.
The life story templates were found to generate two very different versions of the individual: (1) a person before symptoms of dementia or (2) a patient
dementia. We also found contradictions about what information should be included, whose life story it was, and the intended use.
Despite strong pressure on dementia care providers to collect life stories from residents, the life story templates they use are without clear direction, ideology, or purpose. The lack of direction is key given that life stories can be considered actants that shape assumptions about people with dementia and construct realities in dementia care settings. We highlight the need to develop ethical guidelines for life story template design, matched with guidelines for their intended use.
In this commentary, I provide an historical perspective on the methodological and conceptual issues that are raised by the papers in this volume, with a focus on the idea of narrative identity as it ...relates to autobiographical memory. Referring back to the emergence of the concept of narrative identity in the 1980s, I consider old and new ideas regarding the form and function of narrative identity and methodological challenges that arise in efforts to measure and code psychologically important features of life-narrative accounts.
To study and better understand people's working lives and organizational involvement in the context of their whole lives and in the context of the societal culture in which they have grown up and now ...live, it is helpful to bring together three key concepts of narrative, identity work and the social construction of reality. Such a move can be connected to the abandonment of widely used but limiting concepts, such as that of`managerial identity'. The essentially sociological nature of this move also provides an antidote to the equally limiting tendency towards the `narrative imperialism' which is associated with the idea of the `narrative self'. The value of the suggested theoretical framing and its linking of narrative, identity work and social construction is demonstrated by the close analysis of a large private autobiography of a former manager. This individual's identity work simultaneously uses discursively available narratives and creates new narratives (many small stories being embedded in one large life story), all within the framework of history, social structure and culture.
Research has shown that identity in adolescence takes the shape of a coherent life story that integrates the past with the present self and provides meaning and purpose in the person’s life. One ...stable feature of narrative identity identified in adults is emotional tone. Here, the development of emotional tone in life stories was investigated across childhood and adolescence. A total of 142 adolescents aged 10 to 14 years wrote about their past weekend, their past and future life stories and generated a cultural life script. Across age groups, adolescents told past life stories that were overall mixed (both positive and negative) or moderately positive in emotional tone, and future life stories that were positive or highly positive. In relation to life story development, we replicated findings on age‐related development of life story coherence in both past and future life stories in 10–14‐year‐olds. Lastly, the study highlights the link between life story coherence and cultural life script abilities. Cultural life script typicality was linked to life story coherence for both past and future life stories and across all age groups, and a majority of events mentioned in future life stories overlapped with cultural life script events.
The ability to narrate stories and a synchronic self-concept develop in the pre- and primary school years. Life story theory proposes that both developments extend to an even later developmental ...stage, that is, to adolescents' acquisition of a coherent life story. Cross-sectional evidence supports the emergence of a life story in adolescence, but is mixed in terms of later life span development. The present study examines longitudinally the development of global coherence in life narratives across almost the entire life span. Starting in 2003, a total of 172 participants narrated their lives over the course of 8 years (aged 16, 20, 24, 28, 44, and 69 when last tested) resulting in up to 4 life narratives per person. Three aspects of global life narrative coherence-temporal, causal-motivational, and thematic coherence-were measured with global ratings and predicted by their respective textual indicators. Children lacked most aspects of global coherence. Almost all indicators of temporal and causal-motivational coherence increased substantially across adolescence up to early adulthood, as did thematic coherence, which continued to develop throughout middle adulthood.
Life Story Development in Childhood Bohn, Annette; Berntsen, Dorthe
Developmental psychology,
07/2008, Letnik:
44, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The authors investigated the relationship between the acquisition of cultural life scripts and the degree of coherence in children's and adolescents' life stories. Three groups of Danish school ...children aged 9 to 15 years participated. In 3 sessions, they wrote down a recently experienced single autobiographical event, their life story, and their cultural life script. Single-event and life stories were scored for coherence; life scripts were scored for normativity compared to an adult norm. Single-event stories and life stories were longer and more coherent in the older participants. Younger participants wrote significantly more coherent single-event stories than life stories. When controlling for age, single-event story coherence and global life story coherence did not correlate significantly, suggesting different developmental pathways. Life script normativity increased steadily across childhood and adolescence. Further, a significant relationship between the normativity of life scripts and the coherence of life stories, but not the coherence of single-event stories, was found.
Aim
To systematically review the literature regarding the experience of older people, families and staff using life‐story work in residential care facilities for older people.
Background
Life‐story ...work has been promoted as an approach to enhance care provided and involves collecting memories and moments that are important to the person assisting them to regain their sense of self.
Design
An integrative review utilising the PRISMA reporting guidelines where seven databases, Scopus, EMBASE, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsychInfo, PsychARTICLES, and Cochrane, were searched within the timeframe; 1 January 2006 to 14 March 2016. Data were reviewed using Whittemore and Knalf's (Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2005, 52:546) methodological approach for integrative reviews. Analysis was conducted utilising Braun and Clarke's (Qualitative Research in Psychology, 2006, 3:77) six phases to identify, analyse and record themes within the data.
Results
Thirteen articles were reviewed, and the review found that life‐story work has been introduced using a range of different approaches, with no common approach. Thematic analysis identified two: maintaining identity and building and maintaining relationships.
Conclusion
The review extends the current evidence on the experience of using life‐story work in long‐term aged care facilities for older people. Life‐story work has the potential to enhance person‐centred care in long‐term care. However, improving the process of implementation of life‐story work will require education, time and resources and a commitment from service providers and managers.
Relevance to clinical practice
Staff who undertake life‐story work with residents need to be equipped with the skills to recognise and manage the challenges and issues that may potentially arise. Further research into the successful implementation of life‐story work and how it can be resourced is required.
Understanding and processing life experiences are essential in the treatment of personality disorders to promote personal recovery and psychological wellbeing. In this qualitative case report, ...drafted in co-creation between the client, clinical psychologist, and art therapist, individual treatment consisted of two psychotherapeutic interventions, "An Empowering Story" and life-story-focused art therapy, in 12 parallel sessions for 24 weeks. Hilda, 68 years of age, had been diagnosed with an unspecified personality disorder and various traits of borderline personality disorder. She experienced emotional exhaustion following long-term mental health problems rooted in a traumatic early childhood. This affected her ability to manage her emotions and social relations, resulting in the sense that her life had no meaning. Hilda was invited to reconstruct her life experiences, divided into the past, turning point, and present/future, in a written and a painted life story. This allowed for the integration of traumatic as well as positive memories, enhanced self-compassion, and meaning making. She developed self-reflection and integration of internal conflicts leading to a better emotional balance and self-understanding. Art therapy emphasizes bottom-up regulatory processes, while narrative psychology supports top-down regulatory processes. The combined approach effectively integrated bottom-up, experiential, sensory experiences with top-down, cognitive emotion-regulation processes. The results suggest that psychotherapeutic interventions involving a multi-pronged, complementary, and thus more holistic approach can support personal recovery in personality disorders.
Abstract
Objectives
Older adults have repeatedly been referred to as more physically vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, however, is not only about becoming physically ill. It has ...many psychosocial aspects: people are exposed to myriad life challenges. The life story approach does not ignore physical status but also emphasizes psychosocial strengths. It highlights that older people are likely to have developed resilience through experiencing life challenges and living across history.
Method
We used the narrative method to review research on three strengths: tendency toward life reflection, adaptive use of personal memory, and temporal focus encouraging generativity.
Results
For each, we (a) present evidence that this strength manifests in the second half of life, and (b) identify how it may specifically be applied in dealing with the challenges of the pandemic. In considering their life stories, the picture that emerges is one of older adults as having the potential to show considerable psychosocial strength despite the adversities of the pandemic.
Discussion
We conclude that during this period of sweeping change in the lives of individuals of all ages, our older citizens may act as valuable societal anchors.
•Group interventions based on life story work with adolescents in care are feasible.•Confidentiality and voluntariness are important aspects of the framework.•Mechanisms include normalization, mutual ...support, and exchange of experiences.•Effects include enhanced self-esteem, self-efficacy, openness, and relationships.
Adolescents in out-of-home care are a high-risk population due to their accumulation of adverse childhood experiences. Furthermore, out-of-home placement itself is a critical life event. Life story work (LSW) is a method for coping with critical life events. However, the need for a high amount of resources makes its implementation in care settings difficult. To improve the accessibility of LSW in residential care, the ANKOMMEN (English “Arriving”) intervention was developed as a manualized and cost-efficient group intervention. This study aims to explore the experiences of adolescents who took part in the intervention in order to examine how participation benefited them and what contributed to these beneficial effects. For this reason, we analyzed n = 48 individual interviews with adolescents after completing the intervention. The focused interview analysis method was used to transcribe and code the interviews. The qualitative analyses revealed that the framework of the intervention helped the participants to open up and to process parts of their history within the group. Moreover, the group setting was a major contributory factor to the positive effects of the intervention by encouraging the participants to exchange their experiences, through mutual peer support and the normalization of adverse thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, participation in the intervention increased self-esteem and self-efficacy in some participants. It contributed to the improvement of positive relationships, helped clarify placement associated events, thoughts and feelings, and improved the acceptance of the placement. Further research is needed to validate these findings and thus widen the range of application of LSW.
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