Evaluation of first-person storytelling on changing health-related attitudes, knowledge, behaviors, and outcomes: A scoping review

Abstract

Objectives: First-person storytelling (FPS) has the potential to engage patients in changing behavior differently than didactic education. We assessed the prevalence of FPS in health education interventions; whether published FPS research has shown improvements in attitudinal, knowledge, behavioral, or clinical outcomes; and whether randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including FPS have shown more effectiveness than non-FPS interventions. Methods: A scoping review of FPS studies published before October 2019 in five medical databases was conducted. Results: 22 out of 10,363 identified studies met eligibility criteria. FPS has been studied primarily in cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. Of the 12 RCTs, compared to controls, patients receiving FPS interventions improved attitudes (N=6 studies) and knowledge (N=1), improved health behaviors like quitting smoking (N=6), and improved clinical outcomes like lowering A1C levels (N=3). Of the 10 non-RCT studies, compared to baseline assessments, patients who received FPS interventions had improved knowledge (N=1), attitudes (N=3), clinical outcomes (N=4), and improved health behaviors (N=7). Conclusion: While rarely used, FPS interventions can improve patient health attitudes and outcomes. Future research should expand FPS to new health areas and determine best practices for developing FPS interventions. Practice Implications: FPS may be particularly effective with low income patients and racial/ethnic minorities.

What Anansi Did for Us: Storytelling’s Value in Equitably Exploring Public Health

“…Storytelling positively affected health-related outcomes by being therapeutic for the storyteller, eliminating barriers between physician and patient, and promoting health behavior change (DiFulvio et al, 2016 racial/ethnic minorities (Lipsey et al, 2020). The primary implication is that storytelling should be further utilized in public health and related fields like medical anthropology, with both fields recognizing the novelty it adds to research as a relatively new tool while acknowledging that more research is needed to fully demonstrate the benefits (Davidson & Falola, 2020;Kaplan-Myrth, 2007;Lipsey et al, 2020;Palacios et al, 2015). Finally, storytelling can provide new insight on current health issues, decrease researcher bias, and advance the quality of health care for patients and practitioners.…”

“…The range of participants included parents, adolescents, young adults, seniors, essential service workers, survivors of traumatic experiences, health care professionals, and health care professional students. Variables included low-health literacy, high school education, ethnic minority status, low-socioeconomic status, aging population status, and English not as a first language (Kleinman & Benson, 2006; Lipsey et al, 2020; Roche et al, 2005; Stargatt et al, 2019).…”

“…Literature showed that storytelling, when utilized as either an element of qualitative methodology or the primary research modality, allowed for more in-depth, rich data collection, and improved comprehension (Kaplan-Myrth, 2007; Kleinman & Benson, 2006; Lipsey et al, 2020; Stargatt et al, 2019). Storytelling interventions, compared with nonstorytelling interventions, effectively improved participants’ attitude, knowledge, behavior, or clinical outcomes.…”

A Digital Library for Increasing Awareness About Living Donor Kidney Transplants: Formative Study

“…Stories may also be well-suited for educating patient populations, including Native Americans or First Nations people who have cultures steeped in oral traditions [ 67 - 70 ]. Finally, the digital storytelling library methodology can be applied to health areas outside of living donation, as first-person storytelling has been shown to improve health outcomes for patients who belong to racial or ethnic minorities, have low health literacy, and are of lower socioeconomic status [ 71 ].…”

“Power of Storytelling”: A Content Analysis of Chronic Pain Narratives on YouTube

“…An online field experiment that explored the impact of shared illness narratives on the working lives of 166 people with chronic inflammatory bowel disease found that personal relevance enabled the reader to connect with the storyteller, increasing motivation and perceived ability to work [9]. These findings suggest that having platforms for people to communicate the experience of living with chronic pain may, in addition to providing a therapeutic intervention [8], may also improve public knowledge and awareness [10].…”