When did you first feel sick? What were your symptoms? Did you get a diagnosis and, if so, how did your diagnosis make you feel? Were you treated for your condition? Who treated you and what were the treatments?

Narrative Essay Interview

Find someone who has been sick or still is sick and who is willing to talk about their illness experience. It is preferred that you do not interview someone close to you whose illness experience you lived through.

Explain to your interviewee that this is an assignment for the humanities course called “I Feel Your Pain: Illness and Empathy in the Arts” at Excelsior University.

Ask for an hour of the interviewee’s time for the assignment.

Clarify that the real name of the person you interview will not be used in the assignment.

Give yourself an hour to go through these questions in person.

Take notes to record each response.

Use the following interview questions:

When did you first feel sick? What were your symptoms?
Did you get a diagnosis and, if so, how did your diagnosis make you feel?
Were you treated for your condition?
Who treated you and what were the treatments?
Were the treatments outpatient or did you need to be hospitalized?
Are you cured and feeling better or is this a chronic condition that will need ongoing treatment?
Have you ever felt that the treatments were/are worse than the condition?
Do you know what caused your condition?
Are there lifestyle changes that you needed to make or need to make to feel better?
What have been the major impacts of this illness on your life?
Has your illness affected your relationships with others? If yes, how so?
Has your condition affected your ability to work? Go to school?
How do you feel you were treated by the practitioners involved in your care?
Do you feel that your concerns were addressed?
Have you learned anything about yourself that you might not have learned if you hadn’t been sick?
Would you say that being ill has made you more empathic toward others?
At any point did you think you were going to die, and if so, can you express how you felt?
Final wrap-up questions: Did your caregivers treat you with compassion and empathy? Who stands out to you as the kindest member of your medical care team, and why?

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