Table 1 Questions that were used to discuss and analyse respondents’ narratives. Questions were based on the four required ‘readings’, which are needed to operationalise a narrated subject, also referred to as ‘the Listening guide’ (Doucet and Mauthner 2008)

1. Discussing the narrative

a. What is going on in the life of this respondent?

b. What appear to be important words, themes, events, contradictions, persons in their lives or chronologies?

c. What would you code differently?

2. Discussing people in the narrative

d. How does the respondent speak about herself/himself?

e. How does the respondent speak about other people? Which identity does she/he give them?

3. Discussing relations in the narrative

f. Which relations are part of the narrative?

g. How does the respondent speak about these relations?

4. Discussing structures and processes in the narrative

What is indicated about:

h. … different life stages and events that happened in these life stages?

i. ... health decline?

j. ... social network change?