Infused: Creative Writing in the West Virginia University Cancer Institute

Renée Nicholson, a writer, and palliative care physician at WVU’s School of Medicine believed a guided exercise in Expressive Writing with cancer patients in the WVU Cancer Institute would improve aspects of Quality of Life, help prepare patients for Advance Care Planning and facilitate their loved ones’ understanding of the patients’ wishes. They base this on (1) research indicating Expressive Writing can positively affect aspects of Quality of Life, (2) patients want to have Advance Care Planning discussions, but Advance Directives lack the narrative for context, and (3) research indicating that storytelling facilitates rapport between the patient and the health care provider in Appalachia. In the pilot year, Nicholson and MFA candidate Whit Arnold will facilitate Expressive Writing with 1 to 2 patients a week, allowing these patients to write or record their oral story at the WVU Cancer Institute Infusion Center, and provide an edited and professionally formatted version of their Expressive Writing to review with their loved ones. This paper will explore the funding opportunities the project received, over $90K of support, from organizations like WV CTSI, Benedum Foundation and others, the process of collecting, creating, editing and delivering stories to patients, and the other outcomes of this grant-funded program in its first year. It will also frame the project under the umbrella of narrative medicine, which uses narrative competence to recognize, absorb, metabolize, interpret, and be moved by the stories of illness