O33 Qualitative story completion: an innovative method with exciting potential for health research

BackgroundStory completion asks the participant to produce a story, in response to an open, sometimes ambiguous, scenario. As a method for qualitative research, it is relatively unknown. Yet the method has deep roots, with origins in psychotherapy practice (projective techniques, such as Rorschach) and (quantitative) developmental psychology research (such as the doll play story completion test); in those domains, it offers a method to access information inaccessible through self-report. As a qualitative method, story completion has usually been used to research the meaning-worlds people occupy, exploring everyday sense-making in relation to topics such as infidelity1 and health and weight loss.2Aims/ObjectivesThis paper provides an overview and introduction to story completion as a qualitative technique for health research, including a brief signal of key design concerns. It demonstrates the exciting potential this method has for tapping collective sense-making, making git potentially very use for health researchers.Discussion/ConclusionsWe believe story completion has untapped, exciting potential for qualitative health research, offering something quite different to many of the more popular methods used (e.g. interviews, focus groups). Through highlighting conceptual and design considerations for story completion, this paper both introduces the method and sets the scene for the three empirical symposium papers that follow – each of which demonstrates the application of story completion within a different area of health (healthy eating; disability and physical activity; mental health in the workplace).ReferencesClarke V, Braun V, Wooles K. Thou shalt not covet another man? Exploring constructions of same-sex and different-sex infidelity using story completion. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2015;25:153–166.Tischner I. (in press). Tomorrow is the start of the rest of their life – so who cares about health? Exploring constructions of weight-loss motivations and health using story completion. Qualitative Research in Psychology.