Photo-elicitation Study Research Articles

Exploring self-care and self-development practices among refugee adolescents through photos: An art-based participatory qualitative study

Introduction Photovoice and photo-elicitation are art-based participatory methods aiming to enable community members to create powerful visual representations to highlight the community issues/manners. This paper attempted to investigate self-care/self-development (SC/SD) practices among refugee adolescents in Germany, as part of a needs assessment based on triangulation (including three qualitative datasets from in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and photographic data). Methods Sixteen male and female refugee adolescents (aged 14–19) from 4 countries participated in the study. Before research implementation, a briefing session was held to explain the details of the project. Participants were asked to take their photos within 6 weeks and send them to the research team along with the answers to 5 questions, following a modified version of PHOTO protocol. For the photo-elicitation study, the participants were invited to join a group discussion session. Results From the collected data including 41 photos and their related statements, four major themes of: “I adapt to the new situation”, “I start to learn again”, “I find new opportunities”, and “I love myself” emerged, illustrating how the refugee adolescents visualized their perspective and practices toward SC/SD. In the group discussion session, the participants mainly emphasized the importance of keeping the good aspects of the original culture in their SC/SD practices. Conclusions The results of this study improve the understanding about SC/SD practices among refugee adolescents and provide a support to the existing literatures for using art-based methods as an effective participatory tool to communicate with adolescents, especially in hard-to-reach populations. The findings also reveal the capacity of refugee adolescents to be involved in youth-based program planning, which can be a significant potential in health care services for this population.

‘I’ve just heard that there are people who feel like they need to exercise’: a photo-elicitation study of values and priorities influencing physical activity in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhood in Uppsala, Sweden

ObjectivePeople living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Sweden engage less in physical activity compared with the general population, contributing to an elevated risk of cardiometabolic diseases. To inform targeted and...

Doing and belonging: A photo-elicitation study on place attachment of older adults living in depopulated rural areas

ABSTRACT Background The relationship between doing and belonging is rooted in individuals’ engagement in meaningful occupations, which contributes to their sense of connectedness. The meaningfulness of occupation relates closely to the context in which it is performed. However, despite its importance, context is often overlooked and underexplored. Aim To explore how older adults living in depopulated rural areas depict positive and negative features of their neighbourhoods and how belonging was connected to doing and participation. Methods We utilised data from photo-elicited interviews with 7 men and 10 women, aged 68 to 88 years, from depopulated rural areas in southern Sweden. Data were analysed using Rowles’ place attachment framework with a thematic analysis. Results The participants expressed how belonging was connected to doing by depicting resources in the area, how community was created through interaction, the importance of past actions for present belonging, how they acted on pride and feelings of obligation, as well as how they experienced challenges for doing and belonging. Discussion Our study revealed a reciprocal relationship of doing and belonging. Specifically, doing strengthened participants’ belonging, while feelings of belonging resulted in loyalty and motivated supportive community actions. Importantly, participants’ actions were more driven by a collective interest in community welfare than personal gain. Conclusions This study contributes to occupational science by knowing how doing supports belonging and vice versa. Furthermore, our study showed that belonging can serve as a catalyst for older adults to engage in their community, which likely reduces the risk of social exclusion.

Unveiling heteronormativity: a visual exploration of LGBT+ teachers’ experience using photo elicitation

ABSTRACT At a time when UK schools are experiencing backlash for ensuring their LGBT+ colleagues and students are included, this article examines the ways in which schools create and uphold cisgender heterosexuality as the dominant narrative. The article presents the findings from four participants who took part in a photo elicitation study to represent their experiences as LGBT+ secondary school teachers in England. The photos and interviews reveal the myriad ways in which cisgender heteronormativity is produced in schools. The data also provides vital examples of how this dominant discourse is beginning to be challenged, and where small everyday acts can successfully disrupt the production of heteronormativity.

‘Lads are daft though, aren’t they?’ Exploring men’s narratives of mitigating food insecurity and navigating food aid

Research on food insecurity and food aid has focused overwhelmingly on the experiences of women, particularly mothers, with little focus to date on exploring single men’s experiences. This article will explore the experiences of single men across two independent studies of food insecurity and food aid, based on an ethnographic study undertaken with predominantly male clients of food aid schemes in north-east England and a photo-elicitation study undertaken with single men experiencing food insecurity in Scotland. The article will explore how austerity measures heightened men’s levels of food insecurity and need for food aid, and how men’s perceptions of gender roles and stigma influenced where and when they asked for support. The article argues that adverse life events, such as homelessness, contribute to heightened levels of food insecurity. In addition, the social role of food aid will be explored, with participants using sites of food aid not just for physical nourishment but also as a space to connect. Finally, the article will explore the participants’ insights into high male attendance at sites of food aid, often blaming other men’s lack of basic budgeting and cookery skills so as to justify their own deservingness. The article seeks to contribute to addressing a gap in the literature in relation to men’s experiences of food insecurity, and concludes with recommendations on how to support men at risk of using food aid and experiencing food insecurity.

The centrality of food in Norwegian adolescents' life; a photo elicitation study among Norwegian youth.

The purpose of the study was to explore how adolescents from a high school in Viken county define and interact with food systems in their immediate environments to understand if and how health and sustainability affect their food choices. A qualitative case study design and a participatory approach were employed. Data were collected through photo elicitation combined with group interviews. Pictures were analyzed in collaboration with participants, and the group interview through systematic text condensation. Results indicate that adolescents perceive food systems as being a substantial part of their everyday life, that they care about their health and that of the planet, and they wish to take sustainability and health into consideration when making food choices. Their food choices are affected by aspects such as family, friends, marketing, price, time, availability and accessibility. They perceive that their agency to influence their own diet and food systems is limited. Adolescents hold unique and important knowledge of their food-related behaviors and value their autonomy to make food choices. Future research and policies aiming to help adolescents make healthy and sustainable food choices should therefore actively include adolescents.

Aging Population in China: A Public Policy Perspective

In China, with the unprecedented trend of the aging population, the elderlys life satisfaction and subjective well-being tend to be ignored as studies reveal that more than 81.3% of the Chinese population aged over 60 was at risk of multimorbidity. To make appropriate interventions, this paper investigates the efficacy of existing applications of gerontechnology and intergenerational programs with research that utilized photovoice or photo-elicitation methods that evaluate the age-friendliness of communities and cities. The results revealed that gerontechnology, intergenerational programs, and photovoice or photo-elicitation studies were gaining popularity worldwide; however, China was still in its infancy. Hence, further cooperation between government organizations, healthcare agencies, educational institutions, and other related industries should be the direction for China to focus on.

A Photo-Elicitation Study of Infrastructure Related Vulnerabilities, Fears, and Gender-based Violence Experienced by Women in a Mining Community: A Case Study of Patchway Mine, Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe

A Photo-Elicitation Study of Infrastructure Related Vulnerabilities, Fears, and Gender-based Violence Experienced by Women in a Mining Community: A Case Study of Patchway Mine, Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe

Picturing a Home: A New Perspective on Home-Making Through Photo-Elicitation

ABSTRACT The photo-elicitation method can provide rich insights into home-making – the process whereby residents use, modify and personalize domestic space. However, previous studies have prioritized the words of participants, gathered in follow-up interviews, over photographs themselves. This paper presents an alternative methodological approach. Specifically, we approach photographs as primary sources, with a focus on their composition. First, we demonstrate how formal elements of photographs can be identified, and their meanings analysed. We show that domestic photographs speak to people’s relationships with their homes, and identify empirical insights into scale, light and absences. Second, we combine data from follow-up interviews with formal analysis of images to confirm these insights, and generate additional findings – e.g., regarding the negotiation of domestic architecture and the meanings of possessions. We conclude that photo-elicitation studies of home-making benefit from both visual and narrative insights into participants’ homes, and that both types of data merit serious analysis.

Through the Eyes of a Young Carer: A Photo Elicitation Study of Protective Resilience.

Caregiving is recognised as a source of stress with potential for negative health impacts as well as positive outcomes and development of resilience. For young carers, children, and adolescents providing care for close family members, adaptation through resilience is crucial, yet work using a resilience approach is limited. This study explored protective factors and pathways to resilience in a sample of young carers, through application of the socioecological model in caring relationships. An in-depth qualitative approach was used, with in-person interviews facilitated by auto-driven photo elicitation. Deductive thematic analysis was applied, framed by three levels (individual, community, and society) of the socioecological model of resilience. Twelve participants (nine girls and three boys) aged 5-18years, each providing care to a family member, were recruited using opportunity and volunteer sampling via carers' centres in the southwest of England. Ten key themes were identified, four at the individual level: pre-empting challenges and planning, cognitive strategies, emotional strategies, and seeking solitude; three at the community level: family support, friendships, and pets and inanimate objects; and three at the society level: professional support, access to caregiver activities and community, and being outdoors. The location of themes at each level indicated relevance of the socioecological model to identification of protective factors in a young carer population. These findings have important applications for guidance to charities and organisations supporting young carers. Identification of factors that promote resilience offers support for the development of well-informed interventions, which harness these protective factors to develop resilience and improve health for young carers.

From program to classroom: a photo elicitation study to understand educators’ experiences implementing garden-based learning following professional development

Garden-based learning, a key component of Farm to School (FTS), continues to grow in popularity as a tool for engaging students in hands-on learning. Recent literature calls for professional development to help educators overcome barriers—including a lack of horticulture skills, curricular connections, and time—that often hinder program success and sustainability. This study sought to understand the role of professional development and its ability to support resilient FTS programs in the classroom. Following participation in a multiday FTS professional development program, seven educators participated in an 11-month photo elicitation study to capture their experience implementing FTS in their classrooms. We find that educators drew on FTS professional development to expand their self-efficacy by successfully implementing what they learned, observing effective models, being affirmed by colleagues and others, and growing their overall confidence to engage in the work. Results also identified persistent barriers that professional development alone cannot reduce.

Space, surveillance, and stress: a Lefebvrian analysis of heteronormative spatial production in schools, using a photo elicitation method with LGBT+ teachers

ABSTRACT This article examines how schools are produced as spaces for heterosexual, cisgender citizens. Lefebvre’s spatial triad is employed to analyse how conceived, perceived and lived spaces interact to produce a space that is often experienced as one of surveillance for LGBT+ people. This surveillance can lead to the internalisation of negative social attitudes and experiences of minority stress. The article details the experiences of four LGBT+ teachers who took part in a photo elicitation study, which involved taking photographs of spaces in their school that represented where they felt most and least safe. These accounts bring to life the small and subtle ways in which schools are produced and experienced as heteronormative environments. The article concludes that more needs to be done by school leaders to ensure the inclusion and safety of their LGBT+ staff and students, and that an equity model that listens to the lived experience of LGBT+ people is central to achieving this.

The Art and Politics of Participant-Driven Photo-Elicitation With Muslim Immigrant Older Women

Photo elicitation is a powerful data collection tool that involves using photographs within an interview encounter to articulate, expand on and uncover experiences of the social world. Between 2020 and 2022, 41 Muslim immigrant older women between the ages of 54 and 85 were recruited via community liaisons in an Urban Canadian setting to participate in a qualitative descriptive photo elicitation study on social connectedness. We explore methodological and ethical considerations of using photo elicitation in narrative interviews with Muslim older women with a focus on: (1) selection and access to photographs, (2) informed consent, (3) shared meaning-making, (4) politics of a photograph, and (5) digital opportunities within a pandemic. The discussion highlights the ways gender, age and religion intersect to influence decision-making during research activities.

Parenting With and Beyond Cancer: A Photo-Elicitation Study.

The purpose of this study was to understand the occupational performance of parents with cancer and to understand if photo-elicitation would provide new insights into these experiences. In a semi-structured photo-elicitation interview, 36 participants living with and beyond cancer who had children under 18 years old shared and discussed photographs related to their parenting experiences. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Two main themes were identified. Parents shared how they (a) managed daily responsibilities and (b) maintained connection with their family. Across all types, stages and phases of the cancer continuum parents shared experiences related to maintaining child and family responsibilities and maintaining connection with their children. Photo-elicitation was an efficient and effective method to gather rich data from parents living with cancer. The results emphasize the clinical utility of using photo-elicitation to understand the occupational performance of parents throughout the cancer continuum of care.

Resilience and identities: the role of past, present and future in the lives of forced migrants

ABSTRACT Resilience has often been used to understand how forced migrants cope in the face of adversities. It is generally described as a process embedded into the wider social environment, which entails the ability of individuals to respond to ongoing change. While much literature focuses on resilience-enhancing factors, advancing a more subjective understanding of resilience has been neglected. We build on ideas by Krause and Schmidt [2020. ‘Refugees as Actors? Critical Reflections on Global Refugee Policies on Self-Reliance and Resilience.’ Journal of Refugee Studies 33 (1): 22–41. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fez059] on the importance of different temporalities for individual agency by examining the role played by individual memories of the past, experiences in the present, and ambitions for the future in resilience processes. Using data from a photo-elicitation study with forced migrants in the North-East of England, we focus on three individual accounts of resilience. Our research highlights how individuals proactively make strategic choices and assume responsibility for their well-being – even if that depends on changing underlying structural issues. We show that, despite a hostile immigration environment, as found in the UK, individuals are able to act and adapt to their environment, although this is limited to a degree. We demonstrate how time matters in personal resilience processes – both as a tactic for resilience for some and a disruptor of resilience for others.

Promoting activity and mobility in long-term care environments: A photo-elicitation study with older adults and nurses.

The aim of this research study is to collaboratively generate insights in the current institutional long-term care environment for activity and mobility of older adults, and of solutions that could be used to increase the activity and improve the mobility of the older adults. This research constitutes a qualitative study with a critical approach. Data were collected using photo-elicitation in four long-term care units in Finland during the spring of 2022. Older adults participated in individual data collection sessions which combined photographing and discussion. Staff members individually took photographs and later participated in a group discussion based on the photographs. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse all data together. Ten older adults and 12 staff members participated in the research study. Four themes were identified: (1) facilities should be designed and equipped for their users, (2) moving in the institutional environment, (3) passivity as a norm, and (4) nurses should act differently and have the resources to do so. To increase the activity and improve the mobility of older adults, improvements are needed in terms of the design of facilities, opportunities for freedom of movement, outdoor activity, daily life activities, exercise, nurses' role in activating older adults and resources. Increased attention to the support of activity and mobility could benefit older adults in institutional long-term care. Physical activity promotion should be incorporated as an integral part of nursing practice. Directors of units were consulted when planning the study. Older adults and nurses contributed to the data collection and interpretation of data. (ADDRESSING): What problem did the study address? ○Older adults have recurrently been reported as living inactive lives in institutional long-term care. ○There is evidence of the relationship between the environment and the activity and mobility of older adults, but there seems to be a research-practice gap in terms of implementing activity- and mobility-promoting environments. ○Older adults and staff members are important in developing practice and change-oriented knowledge that can be used to increase the activity and improve the mobility of older adults in institutional long-term care. What were the main findings? ○Various environmental improvements are recommended to increase the activity and improve the mobility of older adults in institutional long-term care settings. ○Improvements for the design of facilities, opportunities for freedom of movement, outdoor activity, daily life activities, exercise, nurses' role in activating older adults and resources for activity support would benefit older adults' activity and mobility. Where and on whom will the research have an impact? ○Increasing the activity of older adults requires better activity promotion and mobility support by nurses in institutional care. Sufficient education and resources should be organized for activity promotion, in addition to a care and organizational culture that values activity. ○Environmental aspects to promote activity and mobility need to be considered already at the planning, building and renovating phases of facilities. ○Policymakers and care organizers should consider evidence of the harms and benefits of different institutional living environments when making decisions on organizing care. The study is reported using the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ).

Resilience practices among a broad spectrum of individuals with physical disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative photo elicitation study.

This community-based study explored resilience practices among people living with physical disabilities (i.e., stroke, spinal cord injury, and other physical disabilities) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this photo elicitation study, during 1:1 interviews, participants shared and described photos that reflected their pandemic-related experiences. Data were analyzed thematically to identify resilience-related practices. Our analysis revealed three themes: (1) reflecting on the importance of family, friends, and community (e.g., recalling past memories and strengthening existing connections); (2) engaging in social and recreational activities (e.g., experiencing the outdoors and gardening); and (3) reframing personal contexts and social environment (e.g., adjusting to new social norms and overcoming physical barriers to navigating safely during the pandemic). The resilience that participants identified encompassed not only individual strategies but also family and community supports. Resilience can be fostered through community initiatives that support more equitable responses to health emergencies for people with disabilities.

Fathers' experiences of child care and feeding: a photo-elicitation study in urban low resource setting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Fathers' experiences of child care and feeding: a photo-elicitation study in urban low resource setting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Throwback to pre-pandemic days: A photo-elicitation study on organizational nostalgia.

As an unprecedented outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted and dramatically changed several respects of life. In terms of working life, the transition to a remote working system has brought several changes and interrupted the continuity between past and present working life. In this case, this adversity has led people to past experiences and memories, and many people have used nostalgia as a crucial resource for alleviating the negative impact of the outbreak. In this context, as a form of nostalgia, the current study particularly investigated memories eliciting organizational nostalgia and antecedents and consequences of organizational nostalgia in the pandemic era. Photo-elicitation interview in general, and participant-driven photo-elicitation in particular, was used as a data collection method. A cross-sectional design was employed for this study. In total, 10 photo-elicitation interviews through 62 photos were carried out with participants in Turkey. The thematic analysis was used for coding and analyzing the interviews. The current study demonstrated that (1) participants feel nostalgic for managers, colleagues, events, job, and working environment-related memories; (2) lack of social connectedness, loneliness, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty triggers pandemic-induced nostalgia; and (3) pandemic-induced organizational nostalgia has an impact on the variety of emotions (regret, hope, pride, freedom, joy, peace, excitement, yearning, gratitude, sadness, and happiness) of employees in the pandemic era. This study contributes to overcoming the lack of studies investigating the nostalgic emotion of employees in the pandemic era and how this emotion might contribute to overcoming the effects of COVID-19.

"I Wish There had been Resources": A Photo-Elicitation Study of Rectal Cancer Survivorship Care Needs.

Rectal cancer survivors experience unique, prolonged posttherapy symptoms. Previous data indicate that providers are not skilled at identifying the most pertinent rectal cancer survivorship issues. Consequently, survivorship care is incomplete with the majority of rectal cancer survivors reporting at least one unmet posttherapy need. This photo-elicitation study combines participant-submitted photographs and minimally structured qualitative interviews to explore one's lived experiences. Twenty rectal cancer survivors from a single tertiary canter provided photographs representative of their life after rectal cancer therapy. The iterative steps informed by inductive thematic analysis were used to analyze the transcribed interviews. Rectal cancer survivors had several recommendations to improve their survivorship care, which fell into three major themes: (1) informational needs (e.g., more details about posttherapy side effects); (2) continued multidisciplinary follow up care (e.g., dietary support); and (3) suggestions for support services (e.g., subsidized bowel altering medications and ostomy supplies). Rectal cancer survivors desired more detailed and individualized information, access to longitudinal multidisciplinary follow-up care, and resources to ease the burdens of daily life. These needs may be met through the restructuring of rectal cancer survivorship care to include disease surveillance, symptom management, and support services. As screening and therapy continues to improve, providers must continue to screen and to provide services that address the physical and psychosocial needs of rectal cancer survivors.