Valuing the person’s story: Use of life story books in a continuing care setting

Abstract

Abstract:There is an increasing focus on promoting person-centred systems across continuing care settings, emphasizing the need to enhance the quality of life of older adults. Life story books (LSB) can provide a holistic view of older adults, promote relationship-centred care and enhance person-centred care. The process of developing LSB involve collecting and recording aspects of a person's life both past and present. The purpose of this study was to engage residents in developing life story books in a nursing home setting and then to explore the narratives and documented life story books with residents and their families. A qualitative descriptive exploratory design was utilized for the study. Five residents and three family carers participated. Focus groups were tape recorded and thematically analyzed and a review of the LSB was conducted. The central themes from the data analysis related to the social construction of people's lives, social roles and religious values, relationships and loss, and sense of self.

Life‐story work in long‐term care facilities for older people: An integrative review

“…Of the thirteen papers (twelve studies), ten examined the experience of life‐story of people living with dementia (Buron, ; Egan et al., ; Eritz et al., ; Ervin, Cross, & Koschel, ; Heggestad & Slettebo, ; Kellett et al., ; McKeown et al., McKeown et al., ; Russell & Timmons, ; Subramaniam, Woods, & Whitaker, ), while the other three did not specify if the residents had a cognitive impairment (Bakken et al., ; Phenice & Griffore, ; Wills & Day, ). International representation was evident with the following: four from the UK, two each from Australia, Canada and Norway, and one each from New Zealand, Republic of Ireland and the USA.…”

Appreciating the ‘person’ in long‐term care

“…Recognising and supporting personhood is often found in the context of caring for the person with dementia (Touhy, 2004; Murray & Boyd, 2009). Practices that have been described as important for recognising personhood, for instance, life histories and memory boxes (Whitbread, 2008; Wills & Day, 2008), are often not integrated routinely by an organisation.…”

Perceptions of a life review programme among Chinese patients with advanced cancer

“…Furthermore, with the exception of Ando et al. (2007), the previous studies focused on the reviewing of a life in the programmes, despite the fact that documents can enhance the effectiveness of storytelling interventions (Wills & Day 2008, Wise et al. 2009).…”