This case study addresses the importance of “life review” with regard to the crucial and demanding emotional work of older adults in palliative care who are experiencing the existential pain of grief and loneliness near the end of life. Drawing upon the reflexive field notes of one Spiritual Health Practitioner this case study describes the spiritual needs and care for an older deafened and emotionally-inhibited man in a long-term palliative care unit who described himself by saying “all I am is stories.” By illuminating the concept of “embodied listening” in response to stories told by a patient with significant hearing loss this case study differentiates the uses of voice and of body in therapeutic relationships.
AtkinsonR. (1998). The life story interview (Sage University Papers Series on Qualitative Research Methods 44). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
2.
BavelasJ.CoatesL. & JohnsonT. (2000). Listeners as co-narrators. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 941–952.
3.
BrownP.AlaszewskiA.SwiftT. & NordinA. (2011). Actions speak louder than words: The embodiment of trust by healthcare professionals in gynae-oncology. Sociology of Health and Illness, 33(2), 280–295.
FrankA. W. (1995). The wounded storyteller: Body, illness and ethics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
6.
FrankA. W. (2004). The renewal of generosity: Illness, medicine and how to live. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
7.
GoughB. (Ed.). (2013). Men's health: Masculinities and other influences on male health behaviours [Special issue]. Journal of Health Psychology, 32(1), 1–119.
8.
KalizkusV. & MatthiessenP. (2009). Narrative-based medicine: Potential, pitfalls, and practice. The Permanente Journal, 13(1), 80–85.
9.
KiddR. (2012). Foundational listening and responding skills. In RobertsS. (Ed.), Professional spiritual and pastoral care: A practical clergy and chaplain's handbook (pp. 92–105). Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing.
10.
KontosP. & NaglieG. (2009). Tacit knowledge of caring and embodied selfhood. Sociology of Health and Illness, 31(5), 688–704.
11.
MarcelG. (2011). A Gabriel Marcel reader. SweetmanB. (Ed.). South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press.
12.
MowatH.BunnissS.SnowdenA. & WrightL. (2013). Listening as health care. Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy, 16, 35–41.
13.
MundleR. & SmithB. (2013). Hospital chaplains and embodied listening: Engaging with stories and the body in healthcare environments. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 21(2), 95–108.
14.
NolanS. (2012). Spiritual care at the end of life: The chaplain as a hopeful presence. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
15.
PennP. (2007). Listening voices. In AndersonH. & GehartD. (Eds.), Collaborative therapy: Relationships and conversations that make a difference (pp. 99–107). New York, NY and London, UK: Routledge.
16.
PuchalskiC. (Ed). (2006). A time for listening and caring: Spirituality and the care of the chronically ill and dying. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
17.
RandallW.PriorS. & SkarbornM. (2006). How listeners shape what tellers tell: Patterns of interaction in lifestory interviews and their impact on reminiscence by elderly interviewees. Journal of Aging Studies, 20, 381–396.
18.
ReynoldsT. (2008). Vulnerable communion: A theology of disability and hospitality. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos.
19.
SarbinT. (2001). Embodiment and the narrative structure of emotional life. Narrative Inquiry, 11(1), 217–225.
20.
ShillingC. (2005). The body in culture, technology and society. London, UK: Sage.
21.
SidtisD. & KreimanJ. (2012). In the beginning was the familiar voice: Personally familiar voices in the evolutionary and contemporary biology of communication. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 46(2), 146–159.
22.
SundinK. & JanssonL. (2003). Understanding and being understood as a creative caring phenomenon in care of patients with stroke and aphasia. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 12(1), 107–116.
23.
WentlandtK.BurmanD.SwamiN.HalesS.RydallA.RodinG. (2011). Preparation for the end of life in patients with advanced cancer and association with communication with professional caregivers. Psychooncology, doi: 10.1002/pon.1995 [Epub ahead of print]
24.
WoodwardJ. (2008). Valuing age: Pastoral ministry with older people. New Library of Pastoral Care. London, UK: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
