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Constructing Personal and Couple Narratives in Late‐stage Cancer: Can a Typology Illuminate the Caring Partner Perspective?

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy

Published online on

Abstract

There is a large body of work focusing on the well‐being and relationships of couples facing late‐stage cancer. The systemic study underpinning this paper explored a less researched topic: How do people caring for a partner with terminal cancer construct their experience and relationships through personal and couple narratives? This UK‐based study drew upon dialogical approaches to narrative analysis to focus on six caring partners and their care relationships. Following individual case analysis, two methods of cross‐narrative analysis were developed, and an analysis of narrative themes and a typology of archetypal narratives were drawn from the data. This paper focuses on the typology. The clinical implications of the study are considered, focusing on the contribution of a typology to this and future studies.