Teaching Gerontology Using the Self-Discovery Tapestry

Looking Back, Looking Forward

“…Like Meltzer (2002), who found that younger adults she interviewed enjoyed completing the tapestry, participants in our study gained insights into their own lives. However, although the tool was invaluable in ascertaining the key life transitions and adaptations to change across the participants' life span, these older participants did not celebrate the instrument in the way that we, as researchers had anticipated or hoped.…”

“…In this article, we critically reflect "ex post facto" on the use of a "visual" life review tool, the Self-Discovery Tapestry 1 (SDT; Meltzer, 2007;Meltzer, Abbott, & Spradling, 2002) used in a study conducted in 2003. We selected this life review tool after considering the potential need for an explicit structure to support participants to focus attention on specific topics and as a means to facilitate conversation about critical life events, transitions, relationships, work, and creative occupations.…”

“…The SDT, a life-review instrument developed by Meltzer (2001;Meltzer et al, 2002) not specifically designed to be used with older people, was selected after careful consideration of the value and appropriateness of the tool to support older people recall and record the many and varied experiences associated with a long life. One researcher (LH) had experience of the SDT with undergraduate occupational therapy students, who assessed their own occupational lives and used the tool in student research projects with people of varying ages.…”

“…Figure 1 is an example of the tapestry of one participant-"Mary"-taken from our longitudinal study. Meltzer (2002) describes the SDT as "an event-matrix with the column on the left divided into four sections or domains" containing 24 "common life experiences" (p. 50). The domains documented by Meltzer, but not identified as such on the instrument, are interpersonal relationships (family, work, religious), occupations (education, employment, individual learning, and interests), personal meaning (personal and family health problems and financial hardship), and disposition (turmoil/confusion as well as being creative, happy or unhappy).…”

Occupational Profile

“…Teaching and other academic activities and my own textile interests have continued to engage me, as does the duality of the disciplines of shared values within gerontology and occupational science. In addition, I have published several articles in gerontological and occupational science journals (Meltzer, 2001;Meltzer, Abbott, & Spradling, 2002).…”