Chapter published in:
The Language of Crisis: Metaphors, frames and discourses
Edited by Mimi Huang and Lise-Lotte Holmgreen
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 87] 2020
► pp. 255–280

Narrative modulation in the storytelling of breast cancer survivors’ transitional experiences

This chapter aims to investigate breast cancer survivors’ diverse experiences and complex needs during the critical transitional periods between diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. The chapter proposes and develops an original concept of “narrative modulation” in storytelling, which is employed to analyse breast cancer survivors’ written narratives. The study finds that narrative modulators that function by image schemas, metaphors, frames, as well as psychosocial coping and adjustment strategies are instrumental in configuring and navigating breast cancer survivors’ journeys from health crisis to survivorship. The model of narrative modulation offers an original and useful analytical approach for researchers and healthcare practitioners to gain a nuanced and contextualised understanding of patients’ continual adaptations during cancer survivorship within their own socio-cultural and personal environments.
Keywords: narrative modulation, storytelling, transitional experience, metaphor, social cognition
Published online: 16 July 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.87.09hua
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