To Be Welcome

Abstract

In this article, I tell the story of an interview encounter I had in a previous study with a hospice patient. Even though I had prepared for our interaction, Meredith corrected me for all my false steps. I offer my account of the tense beginning of our interview and Meredith’s lectures, which transitioned into an invitational moment and a marked change in our interaction. While I cannot know what was inside Meredith’s mind that day, I read this experience as a lesson in research methods. As such I advocate for restructuring the way we, as health communication researchers, gather patient-centered data. I contend that we must not only allow, but encourage and facilitate patients’ narratives through narrative interviewing. The findings from the current ethnography are offered for use as rationale in future narrative interview studies.