Embodied storytelling and meaning-making at the end of life: VoicingHan avatar life-review for palliative care in cancer patients

Abstract

This article presents VoicingHan project as a new form of life-review mediated by digital avatars promoting the reconstruction of self and identity through performativity. Whereas traditional life-review uses interview as primary means of the therapeutic process, VoicingHan is mediated by virtual bodies with self-guided participation in one's own life stories through embodied storytelling performance. VoicingHan enrolled 12-patients receiving outpatient palliative care at VCU Massey cancer center. The storytelling performances were recorded via avatar video format and distributed to participants for review and/or sharing. The present study considered the avatar videos as qualitative data emerging from these individually constructed life review narratives. In this article, the benefits of VoicngHan life-review were demonstrated by analyzing the avatar video narratives, based on theoretical and developmental frameworks. Through the lens of Social Constructivism, this qualitative study deepens our understanding of human-avatar interactions to engage life review process, within the liminal space of life-threatening illnesses.

Keywords: Life review; avatar; digital media; drama therapy; embodiment; end of life care; mixed reality; qualitative data analysis; social constructivism; virtual reality.