The Relations between Cultural Life Scripts, Individual Life Stories, and Psychological Distress

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Anne ◽  
Steve M. J. Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Trauma Symptoms ◽  
Individual Life ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Positive Individual ◽  
Life Scripts

Cultural Life Scripts (CLS) are shared knowledge about personal events expected to be experienced by individuals within a society, and used as a framework for life story narration. Differences in CLS for individuals with depression and trauma, and their relations to anxiety, stress, and well-being, have not been investigated. Malaysian participants (N = 120) described and rated seven significant events most likely to be experienced by a prototypical infant from their culture, and seven significant events they had experienced or expected to experience in their own life. Participants then answered questionnaires about depression and trauma symptoms and about anxiety, stress, and well-being. The subclinical depression group listed less typical CLS events, whereas the subclinical PTSD group listed less positive individual life story events. The findings indicate that, although individuals with depression and trauma possess knowledge of the CLS, there may be small differences in the cognitive processing of CLS and individual life story events.

Relations Between Cultural Life Scripts, Individual Life Stories, and Psychological Distress

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412091349
Author(s):  
Michele Anne ◽  
Steve M. J. Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Trauma Symptoms ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Individual Life ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Positive Individual ◽  
Life Scripts

Cultural life scripts are shared knowledge about personal events expected to be experienced by individuals within a society and used as a framework for life story narration. Differences in cultural life scripts for individuals with depression and trauma, and their relations to anxiety, stress, and well-being, have not been investigated. Malaysian participants ( N =  120) described and rated seven significant events most likely to be experienced by a prototypical infant from their culture, and seven significant events they had experienced or expected to experience in their own life. Participants then answered questionnaires about depression and trauma symptoms and about anxiety, stress, and well-being. The subclinical depression group listed less typical cultural life scripts events, whereas the subclinical post-traumatic stress disorder group listed less positive individual life story events. The findings indicate that, although individuals with depression and trauma possess knowledge of the cultural life scripts, there may be small differences in the cognitive processing of cultural life scripts and individual life story events.

scholarly journals Using the Life Story Book With Mentally Alert Residents of Nursing Homes

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 487-487
Author(s):  
Theresa Chrisman
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Wilks Lambda ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Hispanic White

Abstract Depression and lack of meaning in life (MIL) are common among residents of nursing homes (NHs) and contribute to a reduction in overall health and well-being. Life Story Book (LSB), a reminiscence intervention, is designed to provide a person with the opportunity to review their past and capture their life stories and photographs into a book. LSB has demonstrated positive outcomes for residents of NHs with dementia, yet little is known for residents without dementia. A switching replication design was used to examine the effects of LSB among 21 mentally alert residents from two NHs (NH-A and NH-B) in Houston, Texas. Participants in NH-A received three weeks of the LSB intervention, while NH-B received three weeks of care-as-usual; the intervention was then switched. The GDS-12R and the MIL questionnaire (MLQ) were used to measure depressive symptoms and MIL respectively. Participants from NH-A (n =11) and NH-B (n = 10) had a mean age of 75 years (SD =11.34); 81% female; 52% non-Hispanic white and 33% African American. Results from a one-way MANCOVA found no statistically significant difference on the GDS-12R and MLQ (F(3, 14) = 2.50, p = .102; Wilks’ Lambda = .652; η2 = .35). Further analyses comparing the pre-intervention and post-intervention scores for the entire sample (N =21) found a significant reduction in depressive symptoms (M = 2.67; SD = 2.52) and (M =1.67, SD = 2.29); (t (20) = 2.21, p = 0.039). The potential benefits of LSB for mentally alert residents of NHs warrants further research.

scholarly journals Intergenerational Messages as Sign of Wisdom of Active Polish and Czech Older Learners

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Fabiś ◽  
Arkadiusz Wąsiński ◽  
Oldřich Čepelka
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Meaning Of Life ◽  
Older Learners ◽  
Individual Life ◽  
Younger Generation ◽  
Ethical Reflections ◽  
Main Message

Abstract The goal of the paper is to identify the message in letters written by Polish and Czech seniors. The letters were subject to qualitative analysis. The method used was the analysis of the inspired texts—letters written by older people to the younger generation, which may become a didactic tool for the younger generations to learn from the biographies of seniors. The result of the analysis is a list of categories reflecting the main aspects dominating in the letters. These categories are: message addressed to a younger generation, important events and people in individual life story, reflection upon the meaning of life and concerns and challenges in the course of life. All the seniors express their affirmation of family, share ethical reflections on their relationships with other people and on passing. Thus, the main message of the letters is a call to cherish family relationships, nurture relations with other people and show respect to others.

Life Review in Pastoral Counseling: Background and Efficacy for Use with the Terminally III

2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. LeFavi ◽  
Marcia H. Wessels
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Pastoral Counseling ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Review ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Traumatic Death ◽  
Spiritual Assessment

Research continues to confirm that sharing one's life story through the process of life review enhances psychological well-being and increases life satisfaction. Although researchers have outlined techniques and activities that may be used in life review with older adults, little work has focused on the use of life review methods with terminally ill patients. Additionally, researchers have suggested that life review can take on the form of a spiritual assessment; and that such spiritually oriented life reviews may enhance a sense of meaning and foster reconciliation as one approaches dying. In this article, the authors provide a brief review of the research on and the practice of life review. Further, by merging concepts of life review with systematic theology, they offer a sample instrument—using the example of one faith framework—with which pastoral caregivers can better approach the spiritual needs of patients and facilitate a less traumatic death in the terminally ill.

scholarly journals Cultural life scripts structure recall from autobiographical memory

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorthe Berntsen ◽  
David C. Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Life Scripts

The workshop and working-class writing

2018 ◽  
pp. 94-110
Author(s):  
Tom Woodin
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Bearing Witness ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Individual Life ◽  
The Individual

The writing produced in workshops explored varied forms of expression including autobiography, short stories, dialect, drama, poetry and novels. Overall there were significant debates about the nature and meaning of working class writing and whether it had any distinctive features. Divisions between forms of writing were actively challenged and new forms of subjectivity and ways of representing experience were developed. However, there were also pressures to write within existing forms. New modes of expression could become tiring after a time when different approaches were required. Overall writing in the Fed was marked by the creative interpretation of experience and vernacular voice. It reveals tensions between bearing witness and creative interpretation and between representing a collective social experience and the individual life story.

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