Life Story Interviewing Near the End of Life

This course is being delivered online.

This course provides an informal and practical introduction to oral history interviewing with people who may be living with a life-limiting illness. The training programme is accredited by National Life Stories at the British Library and the Oral History Society.

Oral history preserves voices, creates historical and family records, and can be cathartic for the teller. Recording memories near the end of someone’s life may also benefit the well-being of participants, friends and family.

The course covers the interview process, question techniques, sensitive and distressing interviewing, ethical and legal issues, equipment and archiving. There is also discussion of issues around working with oral history, life story and memory with people approaching end of life.

Please note that due to the introductory nature of the course, there is some cross-over with the ‘Introduction to Oral History’ course, however it differs in its focus on issues specific to end of life interviewing.

Places are limited so please apply early. No previous experience of oral history is required.

Course tutors

This course is led by two tutors, Michelle Winslow and another trainer from the accredited training group.

Michelle Winslow has worked on numerous oral history projects and specialises in palliative care and end-of-life. Since 2007 she has led an oral history project that offers people admitted to a Palliative Care Unit in Sheffield opportunities to create life history recordings for research and as personal and family records.

Course schedule

First day: 9.30am – 1.15pm

• 09:30 – 09:45 Welcome and introductions
• 09:45 – 10:45 What is oral history? Why offer oral history with people approaching the end of life? Benefits and challenges.
• 10:45 – 11:00 Break
• 11:00 – 12:15 Understanding memory. Interview practicalities. Arranging interviews, question approaches.
• 12:15 – 12:30 Break
• 12:30 – 13:15 Documentation: summarising and transcription. Copyright, ethics, archiving.

Second day: 9.30am – 1.15pm

• 09:30 – 09:45 Recap and discussion
• o9:45 – 10:45 Potential issues and challenges
• 10:45 – 11.00 Break
• 11:00 – 11:30 An introduction to choosing your recording equipment
• 11:30 – 12:15 Practice interview. Evaluation of practice interview.
• 12:15 – 12:30 Break
• 12:30 – 13:00 Potential issues and challenges revisited. Ethical scenarios.
• 13.00 – 13:15 Review of the day, Q&A and feedback.

Course prices

2026
Full attendance fee: £154.00
OHS member fee: £113.00

OHS membership starts at £39 per year for an individual. For more information and to sign up follow this link to the memberships page.

How to book

Please note:

• There will be no refunds for cancelled places.
• Due to high demand and in order to ensure that each course has attendees with a variety of interests and backgrounds, a maximum of two people from any one institution may attend each course.

The following OHS training dates are available:

Please contact the training coordinator if you would like to be notified of any future dates.