Scaffolding patient agency: conceptualising readers’ cognitive work in the comic gutter

Abstract

A life-limiting illness can erode an individual’s positive sense of self. Storytelling can help counteract this, through scaffolding patients’ agency and supporting them in acting to change something which matters to them. This article explains how visual stories – comics – are used within the PATCHATT intervention to support the redevelopment of a person’s agential self. Through the provision of a conceptual map, this article explores the gutter as a liminal space, arguing for the importance of the deep reader engagement which takes place there. It uses Bob’s comic, a story used within PATCHATT, to explore how reflexivity and imagination work together within the liminal space of the gutter to stimulate and enhance palliative care patients’ agential change leadership. It concludes by considering the implications of the argument put forward for palliative care practice.