ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the study of individual lives through their life-writings can provide an insight into approaches and attitudes towards health and health-care practices that can ultimately lead to the development of new ideas and practices to improve the health and well-being of individuals. This chapter provides a brief historiographical overview of how life-writing materials have been used in various fields of research to access specific types of information. It focuses on three which are of particular use and interest to those engaged with the health humanities: illuminating “everyday” or “ordinary” factors that impact health; uncovering shared mentalities and attitudes towards health; and revealing various factors and influences that coalesce to form subjective experiences of health. This chapter then draws on the oral testimony of British nurse and political campaigner Avis Hutt to illustrate how life-writing can be used to inform ideas around health and health-care practices.
