Using Life Story Techniques with Diverse Communities: Lessons Learned from a Focus Group Study

Providing high quality, cost-effective dementia care remains a major health challenge. Life story work, used in residential care settings, helps engage persons living with dementia (PWD) at a low cost with minimal staff burden. LifeBio, one such intervention, is designed to elicit life history data and care preference information through comprehensive life story interviews. LifeBio Memory, an adaptation of LifeBio, utilizes novel speech-to-text technology to process life story data more efficiently. Seven focus groups were conducted to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of LifeBio Memory. Three types of focus groups were held (n=35) and audio recorded: 1) One group of early-stage PWDs (n=5); 2) Two groups of current and former users of original LifeBio (n = 12); and 3) Four groups of residential care staff and directors (n=18). Sessions were transcribed and thematic analyses were conducted. Findings indicated high levels of acceptability and feasibility of LifeBio Memory. Further, a secondary theme emerged signaling the need to prioritize the emotional safety of PWDs participating in life story work. This poster will discuss: 1) the life story interview process, 2) identifying PWDs who would most benefit from a life story program, 3) involving family and staff care partners to identify sensitive topics, 4) interview question design, selection and order, and 5) expanding life story work across diverse communities. Discussion will highlight the importance of protecting the emotional well-being of marginalized communities by identifying potential underlying traumas that could impact the safe delivery of otherwise effective life story interventions.

Becoming a Thai National Female Leader on a Successful Path: A Case Study of Major General Lady Asanee Saovapap

This study aimed to examine women's life history and work on a successful Thai national leader. Method: An autobiographical research was designed. The data was derived from the self-history and related people; in all, 29 key informants were divided into 5 groups for individual interviews, using a different set of questions during 2019-2020. The empirical data's trustworthiness was thoroughly checked for reliability, and content analysis was used combined with life story work. Result: She was born before World War II. When her family broke up, she ran away to study in a nursing school during the ensuing political turbulence. Good morals, love of learning, and Buddhist religious faith were integrated into perseverance for work. She was promoted from nurse sergeant to major female general. By overcoming the glass ceiling glass of feminist obstacles, she held several important positions in local, national, and international organizations, rendering benefits and justice for underprivileged groups and royal project missions. Her inspiration stemming from the Buddhist essence guided her in promoting love, faith, and hope in praxis to benefit Thai society: Nation, Religion, and Royalty. Her authentic, ethical leadership identity through a successful path is recommended for promising ways to promote society's ethical leadership development.

Understanding extended narrative sensemaking: How police officers accomplish story work

Extended narrative sensemaking consists of (a) agents generating actionable stories when faced with unexpected situations to which they need to respond in real time, and (b) emplotting actions that were undertaken and events that occurred during their response, in order to make deeper sense of them afterwards. When sensemakers revisit critical incidents in which there were involved, they join (a) and (b) through story work. In this article, through the study of stories told by police officers in relation to unexpected, impactful incidents, we show how story work is accomplished. We argue that sensemakers simultaneously enact situations, emplot events, and renew identity. Specifically, we demonstrate that police officers strive to accomplish three different things: first, show how, as engaged responders, they were involved in the ongoing enactment of an actionable story (situated agency); secondly, seek to deeper understand, after the event, what happened to them through emplotting their experiences (complexified sense); and thirdly, update their narrative identity by weaving their experience of the handling of the unexpected situation with the rest of their life story (identity renewal). Our account extends current understanding of ongoing narrative sensemaking by showing how agents construct agency, meaning, and identity at once, and how all three are part of an extended, ongoing sensemaking process.

Evaluating Nursing Home Resident and Staff Experiences With a Life Story Program

Life story programs hold promise for improving person-centered care and relationships between nursing home residents and staff. A pilot life story intervention study in 16 nursing homes provided residents with complimentary biographical life story books and summaries, and staff with action plans to enhance care planning. Trained volunteers and program staff collected life stories, and researchers interviewed 170 residents at three points in time. Overall, residents had positive experiences with the program, but were less willing to share their books with others afterwards. They also experienced a decrease in depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-8 [PHQ-8]) over time. Surveys of 92 staff demonstrated increases over time in perceived importance of knowing residents’ life stories. Administrator/admissions staff found it conditionally feasible to incorporate the program into admission processes. Practice implications of life story work include opportunities to help staff learn more about residents they care for, improve person-centered care, and honor resident preferences in care planning.

Drama therapy in late life: Taking life-story work one step further

Integrating life-story work with drama therapy creates new opportunities for the psychological development of older adults. In this conceptual article we suggest five qualities of dramatic reality by which this integration can promote psychological development in old age: its ability (1) to evoke a story, (2) to bring together the personal and the collective, (3) to help in processing unfinished business, (4) to create an integrative view of the self and (5) to open the way to imagining the future. We illustrate each of the five qualities using vignettes from our previous research in the field and show how exploring the life stories of older adults through dramatic reality provides opportunities for active self-exploration in the ‘here and now’ of the group process in a way that goes beyond verbal life-story work.

Life story work for children and young people with care experience: A scoping review

This scoping review was undertaken to provide an overview of peer-reviewed empirical evidence concerning the undertaking of Life Story Work (LSW) with children and young people with care experience (CYPCE). Our search identified 1,336 potentially relevant publications. Of these, 24 empirical studies met our inclusion criteria and examined a wide range of practices in different countries. Using a thematic approach, key findings and characteristics related to current conceptualizations of LSW are explored and knowledge gaps identified. Our review shows that predominantly small-scale qualitative studies have been undertaken. These studies typically reported participants’ experiences and perspectives on pre-existing LSW practices (17 articles), or evaluations of innovative practices (7 articles). However, both lacked efficacy data. We identified numerous LSW practices that were consistently identified as providing “high-quality” experiences: young person-led approaches; consistent support to access and process personal information, including chronological facts, reasons for care entry and beyond; the use of artifacts; and assistance/training for carers supporting LSW. The included studies also identified practices that undermined LSW: rushed, incomplete accounts, using insensitive language that failed to include different voices from a young person’s past. The discussion appraises the findings through a critical lens and concludes that LSW is a clear priority for all and represents an intervention that has potential to help the unaddressed mental health needs of CYPCE. Unfortunately, without better evidence on how this intervention works best, for whom, over what period, and at what cost, practice cannot move forward. This paper challenges all stakeholders to realize this potential.

Why Arts Matter to People and Families Living With Dementia: Interprofessional Health Humanities Collaboration

This presentation will share examples of arts-based and creative interventions serving people and their families living with dementia representing evidence-based and promising practices in the United States. Such interventions offer effective non-pharmacological approaches to dementia care including use of the visual arts (e.g., drawings, paintings, sculpture) and performing arts (e.g., music, theatre); literature and writing including reminiscence, biographical approaches, and life story work; photography and Photovoice; and dance and movement as intervention modalities. Current evidence will be presented that demonstrates the effectiveness of arts-based interventions as a form of psycho-social and self-care to alleviate the effects of dementia and enhance the quality of life. Recommendations for future research will be discussed. Strategies will be proposed to develop interprofessional health humanities networks between universities, healthcare systems, libraries, museums, and the arts community to collaborate on the creation of arts-based programs in communities currently without the benefit of such programs.

Developing Life Stories for Nursing Home Residents and Examining the Impact on Residents and Staff

A life story program was implemented in 16 nursing homes (NHs) in Ohio with partners including a company specializing in life story work and a gerontological institute. The aim was to evaluate the impact of the life story program on residents and staff. NH sites were selected from an urban/suburban and a rural county using sampling procedures ensuring variation in auspice, quality star ratings and bed size. A longitudinal design was used to conduct in-person interviews with residents at baseline (prior to the life story interview), immediately after the interview, and approximately a month after most life story books were delivered to a NH. Resident eligibility criteria included being age 60 or older, Medicaid-eligible, long-stay and having no to moderate cognitive impairment. Residents’ (n=238) average age was 77 years, 66% were female, and 52% had resided in the NH for 1-5 years. Cognitive scores declined over time, but depressive symptomatology improved significantly. Residents had very high levels of satisfaction with care, enjoyed telling their life stories and would recommend the program; these findings did not change. A pre-post study design was used with staff (n=198), who included nurse aides, nurses, administrators, social workers and activity staff. Their average age was 44 years. Although staff job satisfaction did not change significantly, the vast majority enjoyed learning about residents’ life stories and used them in care planning. The findings demonstrate that life story work may be useful in promoting person-centered care, although further testing is needed with a more generalizable sample.

Life story and the arts: A didactic crossroad

The following notes from the field introduces an original approach to working with narrative, storytelling and artistic expression in the framework of the creative and expressive arts therapies. Using an interview methodology developed by Amia Lieblich, a team of creative and expressive arts therapists teaching at The Academic College of Society and the Arts in Netanya, Israel, shares their theoretical observations and practical perspectives about moving from verbal to non-verbal expression of personal and collective stories. These insights emerged during an introductory course that the authors taught to creative and expressive arts therapists. We posit that life story work, both in regard to oneself and to others, from single episode memory or the documentation of the entire life course, may be of tremendous worth in the training of creative and expressive art therapists.