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Arts & culture enrich research methods and practices.
Arts & culture enrich research methods and practices.
Conventional health research methods were not designed to respond to diverse cultures and forms of communication (see Ford & Airhihenbuwa, 2010; Brown & Strega, 2005; Napier et al., 2014). As a result, the data they generate may fail to adequately reflect lived experience—particularly for underrepresented populations. If interventions or practices are later developed from those data, they may inadvertently perpetuate health inequities.
By integrating the arts into research practices, researchers can:
become more culturally responsive;
increase participation and retention; and
improve dissemination of their findings.
For example, the creative nature of the photovoice method has increased interest, retention, and disclosure among health study participants for three decades. Drawing in part on photovoice successes, Golden (2020) has shown that arts-based methods in general may provide immediate benefits (ie., stress reduction, improved immune responses), while also increasing participant trust— which improves disclosure and data quality.
In addition, if researchers look to a population's existing art as a form of data, they can boost the community-researcher relationship while reducing requests for community members' time and labor (Golden, 2020).
Outcomes associated with enriching research methods and practices:
Outcomes associated with enriching research methods and practices:
Illuminate community needs and priorities
Delgado, M. (2017). Music, song, dance, and theatre: Broadway meets social justice youth community practice. Oxford University Press.
O’Donovan, J., Thompson, A., Onyilofor , C., Hand, T., Rosseau N, & O’Neil, E. (2019). The use of participatory visual methods with community health workers: a systematic scoping review
of the literature. Glob Public Health, 2019(5), 722-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2018.1536156
Wendel, M., Jackson, T., Ingram, C., Golden, T., Castle, B., Ali, N., & Combs, R. (2019). Yet we live, strive, and succeed: Using photovoice to understand community members’ experiences of justice, safety, hope, and racial equity. Collaborations: A Journal of Community-Based Research and Practice, 2(1) 9, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.33596/coll.23
Support & elevate community narratives
Wendel, M., Jackson, T., Ingram, C., Golden, T., Castle, B., Ali, N., & Combs, R. (2019). Yet we live, strive, and succeed: Using photovoice to understand community members’ experiences of justice, safety, hope, and racial equity. Collaborations: A Journal of Community-Based Research and Practice, 2(1) 9, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.33596/coll.23
DiFulvio, G. T., Gubrium, A. C., Fiddian-Green, A., Lowe, S. E., & Del Toro-Mejias, L. M. (2016). Digital storytelling as a narrative health promotion process: Evaluation of a pilot study. International quarterly of community health education, 36(3), 157-164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272684X16647359
Gómez, S., & Castañeda, H. (2019). “Recognize Our Humanity”: Immigrant youth voices on health care in Arizona’s restrictive political environment. Qualitative Health Research, 29(4), 498-509. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732318755580
Share findings in meaningful & engaging ways
Lapum, J. L., Liu, L., Church, K., Yau, T. M., Ruttonsha, P., Matthews David, A., & Retta, B. (2014). Arts-informed research dissemination in the health sciences. SAGE Open, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014524211
Kerr, J., Harris, L., Glass, E., Golden, T., & Crawford, T. (2020). "I Shall Live and Not Die”: Using monologues based on the experiences of older African Americans living with HIV to address HIV-related stigma among African Americans in Louisville, Kentucky. Journal of Family and Community Health. https://doi.org/10.1097/FCH.0000000000000268
Wang, C., Morrel-Samuels, S., Mutchison, P., Bell, L., & Pestronk, R. (2004). Flint photovoice- community building among youth, adults and policymakers. American Journal of Public Health, 94(6), 911. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.94.6.911
Enable dialogue within and across groups
Kassan, A., Goopy, S., Green, A., Arthur, N., Nutter, S., Russell-Mayhew, S., Vazquez, M. S., & Silversides, H. (2020). Becoming new together: making meaning with newcomers through an arts-based ethnographic research design. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 17(2), 294-311. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2018.1442769
Knight, H. (2014). Articulating injustice: an exploration of young people’s experiences of participation in a conflict transformation programme that utilises the arts as a form of dialogue. Compare, 44(1), 77-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2013.859881
Dupuis, S. L., Kontos, P., Mitchell, G., Jonas-Simpson, C., & Gray, J. (2016). Re-claiming citizenship through the arts. Dementia, 15(3), 358-380. https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301216637206
Bruneau, E. G., & Saxe, R. (2012). The power of being heard: The benefits of “perspective-giving” in the context of intergroup conflict. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(4), 855-866. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.02.017
Improve community-led research design(s)
Gómez, S., & Castañeda, H. (2019). “Recognize Our Humanity”: Immigrant youth voices on health care in Arizona’s restrictive political environment. Qualitative Health Research, 29(4), 498-509. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732318755580
Miller, J. (2017). One Poem At A Time. Smoketown Voice. http://www.smoketownvoice.com/one-poem-at-a-time
Mayfield-Johnson, S., & Butler, J. (2017). Moving from pictures to social action: An introduction to photovoice as a participatory action tool. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2017(154), 49-59. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20230
Kassan, A., Goopy, S., Green, A., Arthur, N., Nutter, S., Russell- Mayhew, S., Vazquez, M. S., & Silversides, H. (2020). Becoming new together: making meaning with newcomers through an arts-based ethnographic research design. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 17(2), 294-311. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2018.1442769
Increase racial and social equity
Miller, J. (2017). One Poem At A Time. Smoketown Voice. http://www.smoketownvoice.com/one-poem-at-a-time
Logie, C. H, Dias, L. V., Jenkinson, J., Newman, P. A., MacKenzie, R. K., Mothopeng, T., Madau., V., Ranotsi, A., Nhlengethwa, W., & Baral, S. D. (2018). Exploring the potential of participatory theatre to reduce stigma and promote health equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Swaziland and Lesotho. Health Education & Behavior, 46(1), 146-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198118760682
Muirhead, A., & De Leeuw, S. (2012). Emerging priorities: Art and wellness: the importance of art for Aboriginal peoples’ health and healing. Arts Health Network. https://artshealthnetwork.ca/ahnc/art_wellness_en_web.pdf
Increase interest and participation
MacDonald, J. A. M., Gagnon, A. J., Mitchell, C., Di Meglio, G., Rennick, J. E., & Cox, J. (2011). Include them and they will tell you: Learnings from a participatory process with youth. Qualitative Health Research, 21(8), 1127-1135. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732311405799
Golden, T. (2020). Reframing photovoice: Building on the method to develop more equitable and responsive research practices. Qualitative Health Research, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732320905564
Chung, B., Jones, L., Jones, A., Corbett, C. E., Booker, T., Wells, K. B., & Collins, B. (2009). Using community arts events to enhance collective efficacy and community engagement to address depression in an African American community. American Journal of Public Health, 99(2), 237-244.
https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.141408
Cuypers, K., Krokstad, S., Holmen, T. L., Knudtsen, M. S., Bygren, L. O., & Holmen, J. (2012). Patterns of receptive and creative cultural activities and their association with perceived health, anxiety, depression and satisfaction with life among adults: the HUNT study, Norway. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 66, 698-703. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2010.113571
Help manage complexities and ambiguities
Tsiris, G., Tasker, M., Lawson, V., Prince, G., Dives, T., Sands, M., & Ridley, A. (2011). Music and arts in health promotion and death education: The St Christopher’s Schools Project. Music and Arts in Action, 3(2), 95-119. Retrieved August 6, 2020, from http://bergh.fm/musicandartsinaction.net/index.php/maia/article/view/stchristophersschoolsproject
Shipe, R. (2019). Exploring arts based research and productive ambiguity. Transdisciplinary Inquiry, Practice, and Possibilities in Art Education. https://doi.org/10.26209/arted50-02
Shen, F., & Han, J. (2014). Effectiveness of entertainment education in communicating health information: a systematic review. Asian J Commun, 24(6), 605-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2014.927895
Recognition and application/integration of local cultural assets
Meit, M., Phillips, E., Rosenfeld, A., Bayne, A., Knudson, A., & Nadel, T. (2018). Leveraging culture and history to improve health and equity in rural communities. Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis. http://walshcenter.norc.org
Power, A., & Smyth, K. (2016). Heritage, health and place: The legacies of local community-based heritage conservation on social wellbeing. Health and Place, 39, 160-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2016.04.005
Stephens, T., Braithwaite, R. L., & Taylor, S. E. (1998). Model for using hip-hop music for small group HIV/AIDS prevention counseling with African American adolescents and young adults. Patient Educ Couns, 35(2),127-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0738-3991(98)00050-0
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Cris Sanhueza and the UF Center for Arts in Medicine Interdisciplinary Research Lab for their support in curating the articles within this online tool.
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