In a recent episode of a thought-provoking podcast, the profound impact of digital storytelling in healthcare was explored through a captivating conversation with Pip Hardy and Tony Sumner, co-founders of Patient Voices UK, and Laura Mazzoli Smith from the University of Durham. As industry pioneers, they delved into the evolution of digital narratives and their increasing significance in medicine, touching on the transformative power this art form has on healthcare education and patient experiences.
The discussion began by charting the origins of digital storytelling in healthcare, highlighting the initial technological challenges faced in creating compelling narratives. The pioneers emphasized the ethical principles that have guided their work, such as ensuring free accessibility of stories, upholding the choice of storytellers to remain unanonymized, and maintaining the integrity of their narratives. The episode also addressed the struggle with terminology in the field of digital storytelling and the importance of language in the impact of storytelling on health and wellness.
Further into the conversation, the focus shifted to the techniques used in crafting digital stories and the journey from the early days of cobbling technology together to the current use of sophisticated editing software. The speakers shared the importance of building a resource bank of learning objects and the challenges they encountered in demonstrating the tangible impact of these stories within healthcare settings. A significant highlight was the discussion on the use of trigger warnings before presenting sensitive content and the ongoing efforts to measure the impact of digital storytelling to secure funding.
A poignant moment in the podcast was the reflection on the milestones achieved over the past two decades, such as the prestigious British Medical Journal Award won in 2010, which provided external validation for their work. The episode previewed the digital storytelling festival planned for 2024 in Zakynthos, encouraging community participation and story submissions. The narrative of a parent of a child with depression, developed during a six-week online workshop, was showcased as an example of the adaptability and therapeutic potential of digital storytelling during challenging times.
The conversation then welcomed Dr. Laura Mazzoli Smith, who shared her involvement with digital storytelling in medical humanities at Durham University. She provided insights into the Narrative Practices Lab’s formation and its mission to bridge theory and practice in making medical humanities more impactful in healthcare. The significance of narrative in health contexts was emphasized, discussing the challenges and opportunities in creating stories that can influence attitudes and behaviors within healthcare systems.
In the final chapter of the podcast, the guests engaged in a discussion about the upcoming launch of the Narrative Practices Lab and the importance of fostering dialogue around narrative practices. They shared anecdotes of the profound effects that narrative practices have had, such as influencing the Royal College of Nursing to overhaul their curriculum and inspiring a doctor to change her approach to patient consultations. The episode also highlighted the training of new storytelling facilitators in East Africa and a documentary capturing the influence of digital storytelling in African communities.
This podcast episode was a celebration of the remarkable power of storytelling to change lives and strengthen the fabric of healthcare communities. It illuminated the healing threads of digital narratives in modern medicine and the revolutionary role they play in patient care. The episode underscored the importance of building communities through digital narratives and the therapeutic power of storytelling in transforming patient experiences.
Patient Voices UK
A childhood love of stories drew Pip into a degree in English Literature that led into education, educational publishing, writing, editing and the development of open, distance and e-learning materials, with a sideline in psychodynamic counselling. For many years she wrote and edited management, business and healthcare education programmes until her epiphany in relation to digital storytelling and its potential for transforming health and social care. She was awarded a distinction for her MSc dissertation looking at digital storytelling as a means of transforming healthcare education and service delivery. Pip is now investigating the role and impact of digital storytelling in healthcare for her PhD.
She is an honorary research fellow at the University of Salford’s Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Collaborative Research, a Fellow of the RSA, and a visiting teaching fellow in Manchester Metropolitan University’s Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care. She served for seven years on the voluntary board of directors of Cintra, a not-for-profit public sector interpreting agency and is currently on the board of the Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE).
Tony’s story began, not in the sunny brightness of the California of Pip’s childhood, but in the leafy green lanes of rural Hampshire (old, not New!). Degrees in Physics and Astronomy led him into the aerospace industries of the Falklands crisis and the computer industries of the Silicon Fen.
As the millennium changed and our two protagonists met, he was likewise drawn into the development of open, distance and e-learning materials before digital storytelling became part of his own story, and set the scene for the sequel. Tony brings a quarter of a century’s experience in software engineering and development, quality assurance and training as well as the logical eye of a scientist to bear on our work.
Tony is a Fellow of the RSA and is embarking on a PhD to consider the opportunities for using new technologies, such as digital storytelling, to promote reflection and develop insight.
Durham University Digital Storytelling
Drawing on her multi-disciplinary background (anthropology, literary studies, sociology) Laura’s work primarily focuses on educational identities and progression across the life course, with an anti-reductionist stance to educational questions which foregrounds inclusion, health and wellbeing. She is concerned with foster inginterdiscipinary dialogue and intergrated theorising across domains and approaches, important in linking social, philosophical and policy concerns. Laura’s work therefore bridges education and health, in particular public health and she is a member of Fuse, one of the UK Public Health Research Centres of Excellence. Laura has a particular methodological interest in narrative and auto/biographical approaches and narrative pedagogy. She is co-lead of the Narrative Practices Lab, within the Discovery Researh Platform for Medical Humanities. Laura created the NCL+ Advanced Award in Digital Storytelling at Newcastle University and she contributes to Digital Storytelling Durham.
About Leading Through Stories
Everyone has a story to tell—and what we do with that story can create lasting impact. Every episode, Leading Through Stories, helps unravel the how and why of digital storytelling with host Kristy Wolfe.
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