"My life as it is has value": narrating schizophrenia in later years

Abstract

I used thematic narrative analysis, informed by the developmental life course perspective, to formulate a line of semistructured questioning for interviews with 6 older adults who experienced ongoing symptoms of schizophrenia. From the 31 resulting interviews and 38 observation points, I developed life history narratives that yielded findings across four shared core themes. In this article I present my findings on the theme of narrative insight into schizophrenia in later years. Whereas only 2 of the participants had clinical insight into their mental illness, all had developed personal stories about their lives with schizophrenia. I discuss the significance of the shared narrative profile and the importance of using narrative insight to develop more effective clinical practices and to focus future research with older adults with schizophrenia.

Keywords: aging; life history; marginalized populations; mental health and illness; narrative inquiry; older people; qualitative analysis; schizophrenia; social work.