Researchers describe how audiences experienced a research-based drama called I’m Still Here ; a production about persons and families living with dementia. The research drama was created to help diminish the unnecessary suffering that accompanies the misunderstanding and judgment of persons living with dementia. This article describes the immediate experience of seeing, hearing, and feeling research findings that have been transformed through drama. We explored how participants described the experience of engaging with the drama—what words they used, what was felt, and what lingered after the performance was over. Seven patterns or processes, called patterns of synergy are described: seeing anew; connecting with reverberating truths; placing and relating self; sensing embodied impact, discerning meaningful learning; expanding understanding of perspective; and affirming personal knowing. Each pattern of synergy is considered in light of participant quotes and extant literature. Findings support the promise of the arts in health-related research and education.
Barber, K. (Ed.). (1998). The Canadian Oxford dictionary. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University.
2.
Barone, T. ( 2008). How arts-based research can change minds. In M. Cahnmann-Taylor & R. Siegesmund (Eds.). Arts-based research in education. Foundations for practice (pp. 28-49). New York, NY: Routledge.
Bluebond-Langer, M. ( 1980). The private worlds of dying children. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
5.
Boon, R.M., & Plastow, J. ( 2004). Theatre and empowerment: Community drama on the world stage. UKCambridge University Press.
6.
Clifford, S., Herrmann, A., & Davidson, A. ( 1999). Making a leap: Theatre of empowerment. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
7.
Colantonio, A., Kontos, P.C., Gilbert, J.E., Rossiter, K., Gray, J., & Keightley, M.L. (2008). After the crash: Research-based theater for knowledge transfer. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 28, 180-185.
8.
Cole, A., & Knowles, J.G. ( 2008). Arts-informed research. In J.G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.)., Handbook of the ARTS in qualitative research (pp. 55-70). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
9.
Cole, A., & McIntyre, M. ( 2003). Research as aesthetic contemplation: The role of the audience in research interpretation. Educational Insights , 9, 1-10. Retrieved from http://ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication/insights/v09n01/pdfs/cole.pdf
10.
Davis, B. ( 2008). Complexity and education: Vital simultaneities. In M. Mason (Ed.). Complexity theory and the philosophy of education (pp. 46-61). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
11.
Davis, B., & Summara, D. ( 2006). Complexity and education. Inquiries into learning, teaching, and research. New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
12.
Davis, B., Sumara, D., & Luce-Kapler, R. (2008). Engaging minds: Changing teaching in complex times. New York, NY: Routledge.
13.
Denzin, N.K. ( 1997). Interpretive ethnotgraphy: Towards a critical cultural politics. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE .
14.
Denzin, N.K. ( 2003). Performance ethnography: Critical pedagogy and the politics of culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
15.
Dupuis, S.L., Gillies, J., Carson, J., Whyte, C., Genoe, R., Loiselle, L., & Sadler, L. ( 2011). Moving beyond ‘patient’ and ‘client’ approaches: Mobilising authentic partnerships in dementia care. Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice. http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wpcontent/uploads/2009/06/dupuis_gillies_carson_et_al-hid-8.pdf
16.
Eakin, J., & Endicott, M. ( 2006). Knowledge translation through research-based theatre . Healthcare Policy, 2, 54-59.
17.
Eisner, E.W. ( 2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
18.
Eisner, E. ( 2008). Art and knowledge. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.). Handbook of the ARTS in qualitative research (pp. 3-12). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
19.
Ellis, C. ( 1993). There are survivors. Sociological Quarterly , 34, 711-730.
20.
Finley, S. ( 2008). Arts-based inquiry: Performing revolutionary pedagogy . In N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 681-694). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
21.
Freire, P. ( 1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Seabury.
22.
Freire, P. ( 1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York, NY: Continuum.
23.
Gablik, S. ( 2002). The re-enchantment of art. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson.
24.
Gergen, M.M., & Gergen, K.J. ( 2000). Qualitative inquiry: Tensions and transformations. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln(Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 1025-1046). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
25.
Giroux, H. ( 2000). Impure acts: The practical politics of cultural studies . New York, NY: Routledge.
26.
Gray, R.E. ( 2004). Performing for whom? Spotlight on the audience. In A. Cole, L. Neilsen, J. Knowles, & T. Luciana (Eds.). Provoked by art: Theorizing arts-informed research. (pp.238-250). Halifax, NS: Backalong.
27.
Gray, R., Fitch, M., Labrecque, M., & Greenberg, M. ( 2003). Reactions of health professionals to a research-based theatre production. Journal of Cancer Care, 18, 223-229.
28.
Gray, R., Ivonoffski, V., & Sinding, C. ( 2002). Making a mess and spreading it around: Articulation of an approach to research-based theatre. In A. Bochner & C. Ellis (Eds.), Ethnographically speaking (pp. 57-75). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
29.
Greene, J.C. ( 1990). Three views on the nature and role of knowledge in social knowledge. In E. G. Guba (Ed.), The paradigm dialogue (pp. 227-245). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
30.
Greene, M. ( 1995). Releasing the imagination: Essays on education, the arts, and social change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
31.
Holldórsdóttir, S., & Hamrin, E. (1997, April). Caring and uncaring encounters within nursing and health care from the cancer patient’s perspective. Cancer Nursing, 20(2), 120-128.
32.
Ivonoffski, V., Mitchell, G.J., Kaukauer, R., & Jonas-Simpson, C. (2005). I’m still here: A research based drama on living with dementia. Toronto , Ontario, Canada: Author.
33.
Knowles, J. G., & Cole, A. L. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, exemplars, and issues . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
34.
Kontos, P.C., & Naglie, G. ( 2006). Expressions of personhood in Alzheimer’s: Moving from ethnographic text to performing ethnography. Qualitative Research, 6, 301-317.
35.
Kontos, P.C., & Poland, B.D. ( 2009). Mapping new theoretical and methodological terrain for knowledge translation: Contributions from critical realism and the arts. Implementation Science, 4, 1-10.
36.
Kushner, T., Burnham, L.F., & Paterson, D. ( 2001). How do you make social change?Theater , 31(3), 62-93. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the/summary/v031/31.3artists_State.html
37.
Langer, S. ( 1979). Philosophy in a new key. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
38.
Lankshear, C., & McLaren, P. ( 1993). Introduction. In C. Lankshear & P. McLaren (Eds.), Critical literacy, politics, praxis and the postmodern (pp. 1-56). Albany, NY: SUNY.
39.
Livingstone, S.M. ( 1993). The rise and fall of audience research An old story with a new ending. Journal of Communication, 43, 5-12.
40.
Macnaghten, P., & Myers, G. ( 2004). Focus groups. . In C. Seale, G. Gobo, J. F. Gubrium, & D. Silverman (Eds.). Qualitative research practice (pp. 65-79). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
41.
Mason, M. ( 2008). Complexity theory and the philosophy of education. In M. Mason (Ed.). Complexity theory and the philosophy of education (pp. 1-15). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
42.
McIntyre, M., & Cole, A. ( 2008). Love stories about caregiving and Alzheimer’s disease. A performative methodology. Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 213-225. Retrieved from: http://hpq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/13/2/213
43.
McNiff, S. ( 2008). Art-based research. In J. Knowles, & A. L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, exemplars, and issues. (pp. 29-40). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
44.
Mienczakowski, J.E. ( 1994). Reading and writing research: Ethnographic theatre. National Association for Drama in Education (Australia), 18, 45-54.
45.
Mienczakowski, J.E. ( 1995). The theatre of ethnography: The reconstruction of ethnography into theatre with emancipator potential. Qualitative Inquiry , 1, 360-375.
46.
Mills, C.W.: (1959). The sociological imagination. London, UK: Oxford University Press.
47.
Mitchell, G.J., Jonas-Simpson, C., & Ivonoffski, V. (2006). Research-based theatre: The making of I’m still here. Nursing Science Quarterly , 19, 198-206.
48.
Morgan, D.L. ( 1997). Focus groups as qualitative research (2nd. ed.). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
49.
Morrison, K. ( 2008). Educational philosophy and the challenge of complexity theory. In M. Mason (Ed.). Complexity theory and the philosophy of education (pp. 16-31). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
50.
Nisker, J., Martin, D.K., Bluhm, R., & Daar, A.S. ( 2006). Theatre as a public engagement tool for health-policy development. Health Policy, 78, 258-271.
51.
Norris, J.R. ( 1997). Meaning through form: Alternative modes of knowledge representation. In J. M. Morse (Ed.), Completing a qualitative project: Details and dialogue (pp. 87-115). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
52.
Olesen, V. ( 2001). "Do whatever you want": Audience(s) created, creating, recreating. Qualitative Inquiry, 7, 267-273.
53.
Parse, R.R. ( 2001). Qualitative inquiry: The path of sciencing. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Jones & Bartlett.
54.
Richardson, L. ( 2000). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 923-948). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
55.
Rossiter, K., Gray, J., Kontos, P., Keightly, M.Colantonio, A., & Gilbert, J. ( 2008). From page to stage: Dramaturgy and the art of disciplinary translation. Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 277-286.
56.
Saldaña, J., Finley, S., & Finley, M. ( 2005). Street rat. In J. Saldaña (Ed.), Ethnodrama: An anthology of reality theatre (pp. 139-179). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
57.
Saldaña, J. ( 2008). Ethnodrama and ethnotheatre. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.). Handbook of the ARTS in qualitative research, (pp. 195-207). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
58.
Spry, T. ( 1997). Skins: A daughter’s (re)construction of cancer: A performative autobiography. Text and Performance Quarterly , 17, 361-365.
59.
van Manen, M. ( 1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. London, ON: The University of Western Ontario.
60.
Weber, S. ( 2008). Visual images in research.. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.). Handbook of the ARTS in qualitative research (pp. 41-54). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
