Can autoethnography enhance research in health psychology?

Abstract

While autoethnography can offer unique insights into subjective experiences, some researchers view it as lacking generalizability and scientific rigor. This essay argues that autoethnography is an epistemologically defensible method from a theoretical standpoint. Ontologically, it is valuable and capable of enriching health psychological research by providing accounts of palliative and curative treatments and illness experiences for patients, carers, and practitioners that may not be fully accessible by other means.