The Use of Storytelling in Health Care: A Systematic Review

Caring can often be physically and psychologically demanding for family caregivers. To minimize the risks to their health and to prevent premature institutionalization or inadequate care for people with dementia, it is imperative that adequate support is made available to family caregivers. Self-help formats are still rarely used by family caregivers of people with dementia. The aim of the ‘Diversity-On’ study is to create an online self-help platform that encourages participation and takes into account the diversity of participants.

This self-help platform uses storytelling as a method and is specifically tailored to family caregivers of Turkish migrants with dementia. This group of participants serves as an illustrative example of the heterogeneous and diverse population that requires individualized and diversity-sensitive support, also taking into account intersectionality with other diversity characteristics. The online self-help platform will provide a forum for family caregivers with similar characteristics or who find themselves in a similar care situation, and enable them to exchange information in order to increase their self-efficacy. In doing so, the aim is to alleviate the burden associated with the care situation and to strengthen their autonomy within their specific life contexts, ultimately improving their self-management skills.

We illustrate how a mixed methods design was used to develop and evaluate an intervention that addresses the identified needs of family caregivers. The study design comprises the allocation and implementation of the intervention, the development of stories as well as both a process (N = 20) and outcome evaluation (quantitative: N = 130, qualitative: N = 20). A co-design approach was employed to develop the storytelling intervention: The online self-help service was developed in a participatory manner in collaboration with members of a family council. The storytelling method was used to develop care-related, open-ended stories to be used to facilitate communication in the support groups. The project emphasizes an intersectional perspective to identify and address increased inequalities and barriers when multiple diversity characteristics are present simultaneously.

At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the role of culturally sensitive storytelling as an intervention to support the emotional well-being and caregiving skills of family members.

2. Identify key strategies for implementing diversity-sensitive approaches that address cultural values, language needs, and migration-related experiences in dementia care for migrant families.

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Competencies that will be covered include: 

4.5.4 Translate findings into practice and interventions. 

5.1 Identify a current or emerging health issue requiring policy, systems, or environmental

4.5 Use findings.

Sponsored by the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. This program is designated for Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES®) and/or Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES®) to receive up to 1.0 total Category I contact education contact hours.

SOPHE is a provider of Certified in Public Health (CPH) Renewal Credits. A total of 1.0 CPH Renewal credits are provided on behalf of the National Board of Public Health Examiners.