Do Men's and Women's Accounts of Surviving a Stroke Conform to Frank's Narrative Genres?

Citation

France E, Hunt K, Dow C & Wyke S (2013) Do Men's and Women's Accounts of Surviving a Stroke Conform to Frank's Narrative Genres?. Qualitative Health Research, 23 (12), pp. 1649-1659. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732313509895

Abstract
We compared the illness narratives of 9 male and 9 female United Kingdom stroke survivors using Frank's typologies of illness narratives. Most respondents presented a single dominant narrative genre ("quest memoir," "restitution," "chaos," or a new "despair" genre); none presented quest manifesto or automythology narratives of social action or self-reinvention. We found no gender differences apparent in which genres respondents presented. Stroke severity and the degree of anticipated or actual recovery largely influenced which genre predominated in individual accounts. Contrary to some sociological understandings of gender and health, gender appeared to be less influential on stroke survivors' illness accounts than aspects of the illness, such as its severity.

Keywords
gender; illness and disease, chronic; illness and disease, experiences; interviews, unstructured; qualitative analysis; research, qualitative; stroke

Journal
Qualitative Health Research: Volume 23, Issue 12

People

Dr Emma France

Associate Professor, Health Sciences Stirling

Professor Kate Hunt

Professor, Institute for Social Marketing