Using composite narratives in oral presentations: a novel method to humanise and disseminate qualitative research

Composite narratives are derived from a synthesis of research findings and present key themes in a storied format. The story incorporates the researcher’s critical reflections and data interpretation. This method uses individual voices to illustrate themes and experiences while protecting the anonymity of participants. The aim of this paper is to provide a worked example of a composite narrative and explore its utility for presenting qualitative findings at interdisciplinary health research conferences. Conference presentations are crucial to a researcher’s professional development and research dissemination. The short time allotted to such presentations can make it difficult to share the context and richness of qualitative data adequately. A storied approach may offer a more relatable format that effectively engages not only researchers but consumers, practitioners, and policymakers. The composite narrative method provides an engrossing, context-rich, and anonymous method for privileging participant voices including those from marginalised groups. The composite narrative presented in this paper draws from a qualitative descriptive study of chronically ill older people’s social connections. This paper seeks to contribute to the discourse by providing a worked example of the process undertaken to create the conference presentation and outlining key considerations in the formation of a composite narrative, the process of development and the benefits and risks of this approach. We propose that this method humanises research findings and emotionally resonates with interdisciplinary audiences. While composite narratives have been used in manuscript presentation, the application of this method to oral presentation of qualitative findings has not been widely discussed in the health research literature. As such, this paper provides a valuable contribution to the field. Bringing qualitative data to life through a storied approach, particularly in time-limited conference presentations, may increase research impact and dissemination.