Recording now available: QUAHRC seminar: Alicia Stringfellow on the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method

Watch the seminar recording below

Seminar abstract

This seminar presents the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) (Wengraf 2001) as a useful methodology to facilitate and interpret patient and carer stories. It explains the in-depth biographical interpretive method of data collection and the BNIM method of data analysis. This approach is particularly significant for those who have experienced oppression and marginalisation and whose voices are seldom heard.

The presentation demonstrates the principles and practice of BNIM non-directive interviewing and the importance of a single question inducing narrative (SQUIN) and the type of data that can be elicited when the interviewer remains silent.

BNIM as a method of data analysis is also explored. This method provides a clear and rigorous structure that involves intensive analysis of stories from small cohorts of participants. It facilitates an understanding of lived experience through multi-level analysis of biography, lived life and the told story.

The seminar was chaired by Alan Simpson, with time for questions following Alicia's talk. Please note we have not uploaded the recording of the Q&A as attendees did not consent to making this public.

Speaker biography

Alicia Stringfellow began her career in 1997 working as a Staff Nurse and later as a Team Leader at Broadmoor Hospital Authority working in male high dependency and female intensive care settings. In 2001 she returned to South Wales, joining Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust as a Team Manager for a community rehabilitation team developing and delivering intensive community-based care to those who experience psychosis. After obtaining an MSc in Nursing in 2010 she was successful in gaining an Associate Lecturer position at Cardiff University contributing to the delivery of the undergraduate BN Programme. In conjunction with the Associate Lecturer role, she was the project lead within Cardiff and Vale University Health Board for the implementation of family intervention for psychosis within adult mental health services. In 2015 she became a full-time Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing in the School of Healthcare Sciences with a specific interest in schizophrenia and psychosis and the family experience of this.

Alicia's Doctorate in Advanced Healthcare Practice focused on the experience of mothers who live with and care for adult sons or daughters with schizophrenia. She is currently a Senior Lecturer and Professional Head for Mental Health and Children’s Nursing at Cardiff University.

She is an active member of the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses (ISPN), the Chair of ISPN's membership committee, and the Lead for the International region of ISPN.