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Storyworks biography psychology

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Does life story work improve psychosocial well-being for older adults in the community? A quasi-experimental study

  • Research article
  • Open access
  • Published:

BMC Geriatricsvolume 18, Article number: 119 (2018) Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Previous studies have demonstrated that life story work has positive effects when used on older adults. This study aimed to examine the effect of life story work on the general mental well-being, self-esteem, and life satisfaction of older adults by comparing two groups – one with and one without depressive symptoms.

Methods

A quasi-experimental design was adopted in this study. One hundred and twenty-three adults aged 60 or above were recruited from community centers through convenience sampling. They were allocated into two groups based on their level of depressive symptomatology as measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). The intervention was to produce a written life story with pictures and memorabilia in four to six semi-structured sessions facilitated

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Chapter 11 Storytelling, Culture, and Indigenous Methodology

1 Introduction

I am very proud to be Indigenous. You know, when I was growing up, I was not very proud, because I thought being First Nations, you had no culture and no language. And I grew up with that because my parents were descendants of Residential Schools, so I struggled with that. So, I was a woman who lived off the land. I had to learn to hunt and fish and grow food for my family .… I learned at a very young age what it took to live off the land ….

(YCP07)

In Canada, Indigenous peoples have valued storytelling for centuries, as a way of conveying history and knowledge through their families and communities. The young woman, quoted above, shared her thoughts on culture and living off the land – which was common to the narratives that we heard in our research with communities. Storytelling was, and is, foundational to a way of life and has occurred over many generations as a way of sharing.

In this chapter, I describe a project working with Indigenous youth and young adults, whereby

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Jane Bailey Bain is an author and coach. She was born in the USA and grew up in Geneva. She studied Psychology at Oxford University and Anthropology at the London School of Economics. Jane has lived and travelled extensively around the world. She trained as a consultant at IBM and worked as an advisor on development projects in Africa and Asia. During this time she became interested in stories and how people use them in everyday life. Jane runs workshops and courses on Writing, Story Structure and Presentation Skills. Jane's books include: 'SoulWorks: Living your soul story' 'LifeWorks: Using myth and archetype to develop your life story' 'StoryWorks: A practical handbook for writers, leaders and speakers' http://janebaileybain.com/ Facebook.com/LifeWorks1 Twitter @janebaileybain 'SoulWorks' looks at the narrative thread which runs through your life story. There are lots of practical exercises to help you work out your personal path in life. This helps you to live the life you want ... and be who you want to be. 'StoryWorks' i

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