Rewriting the Story of Mid- and Late-Life Family Caregiving: Applying a Narrative Identity Framework

Abstract

Family caregivers of older people with health needs often provide long-term, intensive support. Caregivers are, in turn, shaped by these caregiving experiences. According to the narrative identity framework, self-narratives from lived experiences influence self-beliefs and behaviors. We assert that family caregiving experiences, filtered through individuals’ memory systems as self-narratives, provide substantial scaffolding for navigating novel challenges in late life. Self-narratives from caregiving can guide positive self-beliefs and behaviors, leading to constructive health-focused outcomes, but they also have the potential to guide negative self-beliefs or behaviors, causing adverse consequences for navigating late life health. We advocate for incorporating the narrative identity framework into existing caregiving stress models and for new programs of research that examine central mechanisms by which caregiving self-narratives guide self-beliefs and behavioral outcomes. To provide a foundation for this research, we outline three domains in which caregiving self-narratives may substantially influence health-related outcomes. This article concludes with recommendations for supporting family caregivers moving forward, highlighting narrative therapy interventions as innovative options for reducing negative consequences of maladaptive caregiving self-narratives.

Narrating Final Memories From Spousal Loss: The Role of Place and Quality of Death

“…Using a life story approach to investigate the impact of end-of-life factors on narration of memories from the dying days acknowledges that loss reactions develop over time 20,21 and poises researchers to consider links between loss experiences, grief, and health behaviors for the bereaved. 3,22 Specifically, final memories , one’s memories of very last moments or experiences with the deceased, are considered likely to be central to bereavement adjustment processes. 23 Final memories may be imbued with affect, in other words, emotional tone overlayed when constructing a narrative from a lived experience.…”

“…2 Memories from the dying days of a deceased close other influence bereavement adjustment and functioning across late life. 3-5 In older adulthood, individuals are commonly cared for by spouses, 6 who provide support for activities of daily living, decision-making, and existential and emotional needs, and thus have the capacity to develop salient narratives of the dying days. The current study identifies end-of-life care factors (i.e., place of death, quality of death) that are associated with positive and negative affective sequences in older adults’ memories of the final time spent with their spouse.…”