University of Twente Student Theses
"I never thought that I could do this again!" : How people with chronic illnesses construct their past and future : a narrative study on the ASCS model
Mergehenn, S.J. (2023) "I never thought that I could do this again!" : How people with chronic illnesses construct their past and future : a narrative study on the ASCS model.
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| Abstract: | Chronic illnesses (CI) have a substantial impact on the lives of affected individuals. They alternate the living conditions of people with CI as well as the perspective on their past and future. Narratives about the past illness experience and wishes for the future can help to provide a sense of continuity to the life story of people with CI. Studying and contrasting such narratives can provide valuable insights. A narrative model by Lieblich et al. (2008) could be a good fit for CI narratives. However, it has never been applied to such data. Method. As part of a larger research project, a mixed inductive-deductive thematic analysis of the narratives of a subsample of 30 participants was performed. The main constructs of the ASCS model were applied to written illness narratives and Letters from the Future from people with chronic illnesses. In multiple phases, past and future narratives were analysed separately and contrasted with each other within each participant. Results. A total of eight themes and 16 subthemes were created. The ASCS model was found to be very applicable to the data regarding the relevance of the four main constructs, but not regarding its internal structure. Agency was found to be a central concept with relationship to all other constructs of the model. The comparison approach proved useful, the combination of past and future narratives painted a clear picture of the subjective experience of the participants. Conclusion. Despite some methodological limitations, the current study was successful in applying the ASCS model while exploring and contrasting past and future narratives of people with chronic illnesses. It has important implications for future research. A possible adaption of the ASCS model specifically for chronic illness narratives could prove useful. Contrasting past and future narratives could be beneficial and insightful as well. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/95632 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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