Narrative research: a review of methodology and relevance to clinical practice

Using qualitative narrative research to explore how people proceed through cancer diagnosis and treatment may help clinicians render better care and consequently enhance the probability of optimal health outcomes. Narrative research can be defined as collecting and analyzing the accounts people tell to describe experiences and offer interpretation. Often, oncology clinicians use narrative methods to investigate issues such as clinical outcomes, coping, and quality of life. Narrative research provides an option to explore personal experiences beyond the boundaries of a questionnaire, providing insight into decisions involving treatment, screening or various health practices, which can help guide how health care services are developed and provided. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the use of narrative research methods to a clinical audience who may not be as familiar with narrative technique. Definitions of narrative research, examples of published research using narrative methods in healthcare, validity and data analysis will be addressed. A review of current literature from sociology, anthropology, nursing and psychology demonstrates that narrative methods are an effective research option that can lead to enhanced patient care.