Exploring Resilience after Trauma with Photovoice: A Participatory Photography Research Project
Sue Lockyer, MA | September 19 | 10:15-11:15 AM
Topic: Art, Research | Knowledge Level: Beginner, Intermediate | Location: TBD
A crucial aspect of healing from trauma is the capacity to cope with, reintegrate and bounce back from severely painful and disruptive life experiences. Resilience is what enables a person to overcome and flourish after experiencing extreme emotional and/or physical pain. This pilot study takes a communicative approach, which acknowledges that resilience is an unfolding process that is constituted and sustained through discourse, to examine resilience in the lives of four survivors of human trafficking. Photovoice, a participatory photography research methodology, was employed to promote and make available participants’ insights on ways they experience resilience after experiences of adversity. In this study, participants are positioned as co-researchers who contribute to research design, data collection, and initial analysis. Analysis revealed two major themes of how participants understand resilience in their lives. The first reflects the importance of valuing and positively orienting to relationships with others and with one’s self. The second theme describes how participants take healthy, future oriented, positive, yet realistic approaches to coping with difficult situations past and present. Results also suggest that participants experienced enhanced self-awareness of the role of resilience in their lives by participating in a Photovoice research project. Understanding how participants communicatively construct resilience offers valuable insights into their lived experience which can directly inform ongoing efforts to improve services for all people who have experienced trauma.
Presentation Objectives:
· Describe how participants (survivors of human trafficking) understand and construct resilience in their lives
· Discuss the advantages and challenges of the Photovoice research methodology