1. Family Carers: The Power of Life Story Books Wills, T. & Day, M.R. “Your Memories Matter” Belfast, CARDI 17 th February 2010

2. Objectives Background Methodology Findings Conclusion

3. Life Story Book Biographical approaches used in health and social care setting that gives people time to tell their story and talk about their life experiences. (McKeown, Clarke & Repper, 2006).

4. Life Story Book Biographical approaches used in health and social care setting that gives people time to tell their story and talk about their life experiences. (McKeown, Clarke & Repper, 2006).

5. Aim of Study Aim: To gain insight into the use of life story books for family carers.

6. Methodology Research Design: Qualitative Exploratory study. Ethical Approval: Granted by Ethics Committee. Sample: Family Carers (N=9). Intervention: Attendance at 6 weekly workshops. Completed Life Story Books: (n=8) Data Collection: Focus Group. Data Analysis: Thematic content analysis as described by Burnard (1991).

7. THEMES Caring Value of Life Story Books Relationships & Connectivity Seeing and Understanding the Person

8. Benefits of Life Story Books

9. Conclusion Life story Books are important and underutilised in practice. Family carers have a key role to play in their development.

10. Acknowledgement We wish to thank family carers for participating in the project.

11. Contact Details Mary Rose Day 021-4901473 mrday@ucc.ie Teresa Wills 021-4901472 t.wills@ucc.ie