Public defence in Applied Philosophy and Organisational Research, M.Sc. (Tech) Riikka Talsi

Title of the doctoral thesis: Interview Methodologies for Addressing Autobiographical Ruptures and (Re)Constructing Life Narratives: A Longitudinal Study Among Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Spouses

Doctoral student: Riikka Talsi
Opponent: Prof. Jaakko Seikkula, University of Agder, Norway
Custos: Prof. (emer) Esa Saarinen, Aalto University School of Science, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management

“Here, the whole of life intertwines with the stories now on these clips, so this in a way sheds light on how you have lived and where you are now, and how to get forward . . . I am now much more mature and able to face the life ahead again; I won’t worry about this cancer anymore.” (Patient)

In her dissertation, Riikka Talsi developed new narrative methods to support the implementation of patient-centered holistic cancer care. The dissertation created two new interview methodologies to work through an autobiographical rupture experience and to support the (re)construction of life narratives with 10 prostate cancer patients, five with their spouses, in a series of interviews conducted over a timespan of several months. In the Momentary Key Metaphor methodology, the interviewee is asked to describe the illness experience using metaphors and to reflect on their personal meaning; the metaphors are then returned to the interviewee for retrospective review in the last interview. In the Clip Approach methodology, the interviewee’s narration is reflected back through visual artifacts, “the Clips,” that allow the interviewee to re-enter their cancer experience and life and to re-construct their narratives concerning them. In her dissertation, Riikka Talsi proposes a series of interviews as a patient-centered guidance and counseling intervention for cancer care and outlines several different options for the use of the methodologies in practical client and patient work, and research. The methodologies offer encouraging potential for low-threshold psychosocial support interventions in a range of application areas and may also provide new tools for existing contexts, such as psychotherapies and medical appointments in a longer treatment relationship.

Key words: life narrative; illness experience; narrative identity; prostate cancer; patient-centered; patient; spouse; couple; interview; methodology; visual; artifact; metaphor; meaning; self-reflection; dialogic; polyphonic; low-threshold; qualitative; hermeneutic; longitudinal

Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/

Contact information:

Doctoral theses in the School of Science: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/52