۱- Narrative inquiry and autobiography

۲- Purpose and research questions

۳- Methods and methodology

۴- Results and discussion

۵- Conclusions

References

Abstract

Purpose
There is contentious understanding of the role of sport in adult recreational drug and alcohol addiction recovery. This study explored athlete autobiographies as cultural sites of analysis in relation to the role that one sport (i.e., ultrarunning) plays in addiction recovery capital pathways.
Design
Working at the intersection of an autobiographical approach grounded in relativist narrative inquiry, a social constructionist narrative thematic analysis was conducted of two autobiographies–Catra Corbett and Carlie Engle—about addiction recovery through ultrarunning (i.e., distances of 43 km or more). The narratives used to construct life transformation and recovery capital in relation to ultrarunning were centralized in the analysis using Frank’s (2013) work on illness narratives and the body.
Results
Two narrative themes threaded athletes’ addiction recovery journeys: chaos narrative and quest narrative. Two sub-themes related to fluid identity transformation intertwined with ultrarunning were identified within these narratives: 1. ‘addict-runner’ (chaos) and 2. ‘addict runner to ultra-runner’ (quest). Nuanced meanings of suffering were connected to identity transformation and running and two forms of addiction recovery capital: human (e.g., psychological adjustment, life perspective) and social (e.g., family connection, community).
Conclusions
The research findings provide insight into the role of sport in psychosocial aspects of addiction recovery using an autobiographical approach grounded in narrative theory. This study also extends work in sport psychology focusing on autobiographies as research and pedagogical resources to learn more about athlete mental health.

Narrative inquiry and autobiography

Given the contentious role of sport in the alcohol and drug addiction recovery process, one way to expand this understanding is to use narrative inquiry. Narrative inquiry is a theoretical approach making inroads in sport psychology to learn about athlete identities by focusing on stories (Douglas & Carless, 2015; Smith & Sparkes, 2009). Stories are prioritized as sites of analysis within narrative inquiry because people use them to make sense of who they are (i.e., self-identities) and in so doing, draw on particular narratives made socially and culturally available (McGannon & Smith, 2015; Smith & Sparkes, 2009In this sense narratives– and the stories told within them– are resources and ‘actors’ because they have the capacity to do things; narratives shape identities, behaviour, experiences and emotions through telling and witnessing of stories (Frank, 2013; Smith & Sparkes, 2009). The present study was grounded in a relativist ontology and social constructionist epistemology, with narratives viewed as constructing self-identity and experiences, in contrast to self-identity being conceptualized within the mind of the individual in post-positivism (McGannon & Smith, 2015; Smith & Sparkes, 2009). From a relativist ontology, the focus “shifts from selves and identities as individualistic, real, and interior-based, to them being constructions derived from narratives and performed in relationships” (Smith & Sparkes, 2009, p. 5).