What is Ten Stories?

Have you ever noticed that elderly people often tell a finite number of stories over and over again? If you are providing care or support to an elderly loved one – a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a friend – maybe you recognize this idea, and feel like you are hearing the same stories over and over. Are you interested to know more about what these stories mean and why they are important?

Research

Qualitative research focuses on meaning and value, and it attempts to capture the richness and variety of different people’s life experiences

The Stories

The story about his first car. The story about her first job. The story about love and loss. When we listen to stories differently, we often discover an important message.

Ten Stories: 5à7 Research Talk

Listen to Dr. Mary Ann McColl explain what the Ten Stories are, and how to capture them for yourself.

About The Ten Stories

Have you ever noticed that elderly people often tell a finite set of stories over and over again? If you are providing care or support to an elderly loved one – a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a friend – maybe you recognize this idea. It is a commonly reported phenomenon, and it can be troubling for listeners. Many people assume that it is the first sign of memory loss, functional decline, or even dementia. The older person must be telling stories over and over because they don’t remember having told them before.

But our research suggests something different. Based on interviews with caregivers from across the country, here’s what we learned.

1. There really are just ten stories that people tell over and over again. While ten is not a magic number, it does seem to be about the right number to capture the essence of the stories aging parents told and re-told.

2. Stories appear to have been told for five reasons: to reinforce identity, to entertain, to inform or instruct, to reconcile conflict, and to keep memory alive.

3. Men and women tell different kinds of stories. Men tell fewer stories and emphasize stories told to entertain. Women’s stories were more often aimed at reconciling conflict or keeping memory alive.

4. Stories are customized for the receiver. Stories are told in the context of a relationship, and are specifically curated for the listener. They communicate important information that is customized for that relationship.

5. The stories are about values. They represent 20 themes found in our data. Those themes are messages intended to share the values that make up a good life.

6. The stories are typically set before the storyteller was 30 – at a time when many of the key decisions of their lives were made, and values were formed and established.