Making sense of narrative data Merja Sallinen PhD, PT, Senior Lecturer Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Finland merja.sallinen@samk.fi

“ A life story tells how the Me of yesterday became the Me of today, and will become the anticipated Me of tomorrow” (Atkinson 2001)

Purpose of the study to discuss and reflect on analysis methods that were used in a research project concerning fibromyalgia patients’ life stories.

Challenges Amount of data Versatile data Methodology 20 interviews 2-4 hours each > 500 pages of transcribed text Versatile data What can you actually say about individual life stories? Very different ways of telling Methodology Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue….

Raw data: 500 pages of transcribed text Work ability Fatigue Analysis of the narratives: what was told? Peer support Important life events Narrative analysis: how were the life stories told? Creating a core story of each narrative Identifying episodes re-organizing the episodes Emplotment > model stories Recognizing the turning points of the storylines Comparison of the contents and the structures of the told stories

Cumulating life Mundane life counternarrative

Conclusions The narrative approach is well applicable to fibromyalgia, where the patients strive to make sense of the fluctuating symptoms and of the disruption in the life course that is caused by the illness and its consequences. Listening to and understanding what, how and why the patients tell about their life, may be essential in improving patient – pt interaction

Thank you for your attention!