Background and Aims:<\/strong> Research suggests this context to have a profound bearing on those\u00a0touched by the condition, impacting significantly on their experience\u00a0and the narratives constructed thereof. However, no studies examining\u00a0the narratives of partners of individuals affected by CFS\/ME appear to\u00a0have been carried out to date. Based upon this gap in the literature,\u00a0this study sought to hear the narratives of partners of adults living\u00a0with CFS\/ME, giving particular consideration to the ways in which these\u00a0narratives were told to an outsider, and how the outsider may have\u00a0influenced the narrative.<\/p>\n Methodology:<\/strong> Analysis and Findings:<\/strong> The\u00a0findings are discussed in terms of their potential bearing for clinical\u00a0practice and future research endeavours. In addition, the strengths and\u00a0the limitations of the research are considered.<\/p>\n Narratives of partners of individuals affected by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome\/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis,<\/a> by\u00a0Rebecca Mary Ramsden. University of Herefordshire Doctor of Clinical Psychology thesis<\/em>,\u00a018 May 2016 [Full thesis<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Research abstract: Background and Aims: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome\/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS\/ME) remains a\u00a0poorly understood condition, shrouded in uncertainty and dispute. Research suggests this context to have a profound bearing on those\u00a0touched by the condition, impacting significantly on their experience\u00a0and the narratives … Continue reading
\nChronic Fatigue Syndrome\/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS\/ME) remains a\u00a0poorly understood condition, shrouded in uncertainty and dispute.<\/p>\n
\nThis study drew on a qualitative approach. A purposive sample of six\u00a0partners of adults affected by CFS\/ME (4 men and 2 women) was recruited.\u00a0Individual interviews were conducted that were audio-recorded and\u00a0transcribed. Narrative analysis was used to analyse the transcripts,\u00a0focusing principally on how participants narrated their accounts, as\u00a0well as on the content of narratives and the narrative and discursive\u00a0features that shaped the telling of the accounts.<\/p>\n
\nMultiple readings of the narratives identified two areas of collective\u00a0focus within participants’ accounts – ‘stories from then’ and ‘stories\u00a0from now’. Some similarities in how ‘stories from now’ were told were\u00a0seen to emerge down gender lines. Notably participants’ storytelling\u00a0could be seen to represent a form of response to wider narratives that\u00a0purvey around CFS\/ME, with participants’ being observed to construct\u00a0particular meanings around CFS\/ME, as well as particular ‘identities’ of\u00a0themselves, their partner, their relationship and ‘others’ who had\u00a0played a key role in their story of living with the condition.<\/p>\n