Results of Research Study

90% of cancer patients had positive emotions after watching My Survival Stories and would recommend them to others.

The Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at the University Hospital Zurich and My Survival Story investigated together how cancer patients, their relatives and health professionals perceive such narratives.

We chose a participative approach, where citizens and researchers were equally involved. Synergies between team members were strengthened by an external process moderator, who opened the space for establishing a shared language and helped to stay focused. Thus, the expertise and creativity of each team member were able to flourish.

About 150 cancer patients, relatives and health professionals completed an online survey about the personal narratives. The results showed that the stories were perceived as easy to understand, with 90 percent of the participants indicating positive emotions afterwards. Eighty percent would recommend these kinds of stories to others.

From qualitative interviews, we identified four main characteristics of the stories that participants considered especially helpful:

1. Positive attitudes toward life

2. Encouraging cancer journeys

3. Individual coping strategies for everyday challenges

4. Openly shared vulnerabilities

After listening to the stories, the participants felt very motivated to share their own stories. That’s why we conducted a workshop with interested cancer survivors and their families. After some brief instructions about storytelling and the technical aspects of the recording process, the participants were able to record their stories using a smartphone.

Adopting this approach, a do-it-yourself platform might be feasible. Possibly, the stories would benefit from review and feedback to ensure that the main characteristics of My Survival Stories are preserved.

The interview and workshop participants of our study would welcome more narratives for My Survival Stories. They especially are looking for stories in different languages and additional stories from relatives and friends.