Storytelling intervention for patients with cancer: part 1--development and implementation

To develop a nurse-led storytelling intervention for patients with cancer and implement the intervention using trained oncology nurses.

Descriptive pilot project using qualitative methods to assess implementation of an intervention tool kit, with investigators blinded to control and intervention group membership.

Local regional medical center in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

A convenience sample of 11 patients with various cancer diagnoses was used for tool kit generation. Intervention and control groups were then formed and used to study tool kit implementation.

Participant exit interviews and facilitator debriefing questionnaires assessed the ability of a nurse facilitator to use a group storytelling intervention tool kit. Data from control and intervention groups were analyzed and compared with qualitative procedures.

A nurse-led storytelling intervention.

Analysis of interviews and questionnaires revealed implementation of storytelling tool kit principles and differences between storytelling and control groups in three patterns: finding a soft place to fall, understanding the cancer experience, and figuring out how (if) to get through it.

Techniques contained in the tool kit were implemented and deemed clinically useful by oncology nurses.

Given the small testing groups, pilot project results must be interpreted with caution, but with additional research and instructional development, the tool kit could be useful to nurses in a variety of settings and locales.