Using crystallization to understand loneliness in later life: integrating social science and creative narratives in sensitive qualitative research

Abstract

This article draws on crystallization, a qualitative framework developed by Laurel Richardson and Laura Ellingson, to show the potential of using sociological narratives and creative writing to better analyze and represent the lived experiences of loneliness among older people living in Australian care homes. Crystallization uses a multi-genre approach to study and present social phenomena. At its core is a concern for the ethics of representation, which is critical when engaging with vulnerable populations. We use two case studies from research on loneliness to illustrate an application of crystallization through different narrative types. To supplement our sociological narratives, we invited author Josephine Wilson to write creative narratives based on the case studies. Josephine was awarded the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2017 for Extinctions, a novel exploring themes such as later life and loneliness. By contrasting the two approaches—sociological and creative narratives—we discuss the implications of crystallization for qualitative research.

“Live Gerontology”: Understanding and Representing Aging, Loneliness, and Long-Term Care Through Science and Art

“…Whilst much gerontological research on senses focuses on sensory loss and impairment in later life ( Lin, 2020 ), wider approaches to the sensorial are scattered across environmental and geographical gerontologies (how older people experience the physical world), sociocultural gerontology, and body and emotion studies ( Andrews et al, 2013 ; Katz & Marshall, 2018 ; Kontos & Martin, 2013 ; Neves et al, 2023 ; Sandberg, 2018 ). Alongside this literature, the multidisciplinary field of sensory studies has been critiquing the contemporary psychological and biomedical dominance over the senses to ensure: (1) integration of critical sociocultural dimensions in how senses are examined, and (2) incorporation of sensory approaches to studying sociocultural worlds ( Howes, 2018 , 2022 ).…”

“…Aging involved lived experiences of ageism, stigma, frailty, and yearning for their past self, but also of resistance via, for example, humor. Secondly, we drew on these themes/subthemes to develop sociological narratives describing participants and their contexts ( Neves et al, 2023 ). We then expanded the understanding of these data through collaborations with author Josephine Wilson and illustrator Amanda Brooks.…”

“…In the next section, we highlight excerpts from Josephine’s stories: a fictional narrative about Gurney and a creative nonfiction account of our interview with Patricia (full stories in Neves et al, 2023 ), each complemented by Amanda’s illustrations. In Gurney’s fictional narrative, Josephine emphasizes his personality, aviation interest, and views about how he is perceived by those around him.…”

Loneliness in Later Life as Existential Inequality

“…Diaries were also thematically analysed, following the procedures outlined for the first study. The first study's findings (Neves et al, 2019(Neves et al, , 2023d) deductively informed the coding of the second, while upholding an inductive approach to identify new elements in the data. This further assisted with cross-case synthesis of the projects.…”

Stop-motion storytelling: Exploring methods for animating the worlds of rare genetic disease

“…Methodological creativity and plurality is increasingly recognised as enabling more nuanced perspectives, different modalities of knowledge, engagement with affective, multisensory and more participatory approaches (DeLyser and Sui, 2014; Kara, 2015; Lupton and Watson, 2021). Qualitative research is increasingly challenged to evoke, not just explain (Andrews, 2018; Thorpe and Rinehart, 2010; Todres and Galvin, 2008) and experiment with finding new ways to use narratives collected in research (Barbosa Neves et al, 2021; Parr and Stevenson, 2014). These trends and provocations, along with support and encouragement from people with lived experience of rare genetic conditions who have directly informed and guided our research, have led us to engage with arts-based-research methods.…”