Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Individual recorded interviews were used to collect life histories
using occupational storytelling where stories were told in the
women’s own words, resulting in breadth and detail that greatly
individualised accounts. Story-telling and story-making allow
therapists to consider clients phenomenologically in terms of their
lived, embodied experience and what it means for them from a
contexted, biopsychosocial perspective.
Stories contextualise illness experiences by showing them as part of
a whole occupational life story, permitting understanding of
occupational histories (Molineux & Rickard, 2003)
PARTICIPANTS
�Women living with breast cancer
�Ten recruited and interviewed to date
�Diagnosed between Sept 2003 and October 2006
�Five on hormonal therapy
�Three receiving bone care
�One on Herceptin
�Two with recurrence/metastases
�All resident in greater Dublin Area
�Age Range 45 – 69 years with a mean of 50.5 years
�None were referred to Occupational Therapy
DATA COLLECTION
Initial Interviews
�Recorded one-to-one
�Occupational histories from childhood to present date
�Reflexive participation of researcher
�Co-construction of occupational narrative
Reflexivity
This is an increasingly important concept in Occupational Therapy
research and practice
“In research terms, this can be translated as thoughtful, self-aware
analysis of the intersubjective dynamics between researcher and
researched.”
(Finaly & Gough, 2003, p ix)
This is of particular concern in the current study as the researcher is
herself a woman living with breast cancer.
ANALYSIS
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