Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2021-2
People of immigrant and refugee background sharing experiences of mental health recovery: reflections and recommendations on using digital storytelling
Ten individuals of immigrant or refugee background, who had experienced mental health or emotional issues, participated in an immersive workshop to create digital stories as part of a national multicultural mental health initiative. Known collectively as ‘Finding our way’, the stories combine the power of first-person narrative with digital technologies. Three years on, six workshop participants and two coordinators reflect on the project’s effects, and offer recommendations for conducting and evaluating similar projects in the future. Individuals experienced the project as personally empowering. The stories have been used to facilitate community and service-based conversations about diversity, mental health and recovery.
AlexandraD (2008) Digital storytelling as transformative practice: Critical analysis and creative expression in the representation of migration in Ireland. Journal of Media Practice9(2): 101–112.
4.
AldridgeJ (2017) ‘With us and about us’: Participatory methods in research with ‘vulnerable’ or marginalized groups. In: LiamputtongP (ed.) Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences. Singapore: Springer, 1–16.
5.
BakerAProcterNFergusonM (2016) Engaging with culturally and linguistically diverse communities to reduce the impact of depression and anxiety: A narrative review. Health and Social Care in the Community24(4): 386–398.
6.
BanselP, et al. (2016) Young Newly Arrived Migrants and Refugees in Australia: Using Digital Storytelling Practices to Capture Settlement Experiences and Social Cohesion. Abbotsford Vic: Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne. Available at: www.youngandwellcrc.org.au (accessed 27 May 2017).
7.
BargmannSRobinsonB (2012) Manual 2: Feedback-Informed Clinical Work: The Basics. Chicago, IL: International Center for Clinical Excellence.
8.
BhugraDJonesP (2001) Migration and mental illness. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment7: 216–223.
9.
ChenJ (2017) Intersectionality Matters: A Guide to Engaging Immigrant and Refugee Communities in Australia. Melbourne: Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health.
ColucciEBhuiK (eds) (2015) Editorial, Special issue: Arts, media and cultural mental health. World Cultural Psychiatry Research Review10(3/4): 113–114.
12.
ColucciE, et al. (2014) The utilisation of mental health services among children and young people from a refugee background: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health7(1): 86–108.
13.
ColucciE, et al. (2015) Barriers and facilitators to the utilization of mental health services among young people of refugee backgrounds. Transcultural Psychiatry52(6): 766–790.
14.
CorriganP (2016) Lessons learned from unintended consequences about erasing the stigma of mental illness. World Psychiatry15(1): 67–73.
15.
Cunsolo WilloxAHarperSEdgeV (2012) ‘My word’: Storytelling and Digital Media Lab and Rigolet Inuit Community Government Storytelling in a digital age: Digital storytelling as an emerging narrative method for preserving and promoting indigenous oral wisdom. Qualitative Research13(2): 127–147.
16.
De VecchiN, et al. (2016) How digital storytelling is used in mental health: A scoping review. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing25: 183–193.
17.
DelVecchio GoodM-JHannahS (2015) ‘Shattering culture’: Perspectives on cultural competence and evidence-based practice in mental health services. Transcultural Psychiatry52(2): 198–221.
18.
Department of Social Services (DoSS) (2017) Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA): The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants – Findings from the First Three Waves. Canberra: Department of Social Services.
19.
DioceraDColucciEMinasH (under submission) Undertaking mental health and suicide prevention research with people from immigrant and refugee backgrounds.
20.
DrakeRWhitelyR (2014) Recovery and service mental illness: Description and analysis. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry59(5): 236–242.
21.
DylanD (2011) Intergenerational digital storytelling: A sustainable community initiative with inner city residents. Visual Communication10(4): 527–540.
22.
GubriumA (2009) Digital storytelling: An emergent method for health promotion research and practice. Health Promotion Practice10(2): 186–191.
23.
GubriumAHillAFlickerS (2014) A situated practice of ethics for participatory visual and digital methods in public health research and practice: A focus on digital storytelling. American Journal of Public Health104(9): 1606–1164.
24.
GubriumA, et al. (2016) Measuring down: Evaluating digital storytelling as a process for narrative health promotion. Qualitative Health Research26(13): 1787–1801.
25.
GuilleminMDrewS (2010) Questions of process in participant-generated visual methodologies. Visual Studies25(2): 175–188.
26.
HallSMcKinstryCHyettN (2016) Youth perceptions of positive mental health. British Journal of Occupational Therapy79(8): 475–483.
27.
HeronJReasonP (1997) A participatory inquiry paradigm. Qualitative Inquiry3(3): 274–294.
28.
HullGKatzM-L (2006) Crafting an agentive self: Case studies of digital storytelling. Research in the Teaching of English41(1): 43–81.
29.
IdaD (2007) Cultural competency and recovery within diverse populations. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal31(1): 49–53.
30.
JacobsonNFarahD (2012) Recovery through the lens of cultural diversity. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal35(4): 333–335.
La MarreARiceC (2016) Embodying critical and corporeal methodology: Digital storytelling with young women in eating disorder recovery. Qualitative Social Research17(2). DOI: 10.17169/fqs-17.2.2474.
33.
LambertJ (2010) Digital Story Telling Cookbook. Berkeley, CA: Digital Diner Press.
34.
LemelsonRTuckerA (2017) Visual psychological anthropology: Implications for teaching and the future. In:Afflictions: Steps toward a Visual Psychological Anthropology. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 273–286.
35.
LenetteCCoxLBroughM (2015) Digital storytelling as a social work tool: Learning from ethnographic research with women from refugee backgrounds. British Journal of Social Work45(3): 988–1005.
36.
LewinT (2011) Digital storytelling. Participatory Learning and Action63: 54–62. Available at: www.pubs.iied.org/14606IIED.html (accessed 27 May 2017).
37.
LiebenbergLDidkowskyNUngarM (2012) Analysing image-based data using grounded theory: The Negotiating Resilience Project. Visual Studies27(1): 59–74.
38.
McCabeADavisA (2012) Community development as mental health promotion: principles, practice and outcomes. Community Devel-opment47(4): 506–521.
39.
MinasH, et al. (2013) Mental health research and evaluation in multicultural Australia: Developing a culture of inclusion. International Journal of Mental Health Systems7(23). DOI: 10.1186/1752–4458–7–23.
40.
Movie-ment (2018) Available at: www.movie-ment.org (accessed 16 August 2018).
41.
National Mental Health Commission (NMHC) (2014) Report of the National Review of Mental Health Programmes, Vol. 3: What People Told Us – Analysis of Submissions to the Review 30 November 2014. Sydney: NMHC.
42.
ParrH (2007) Collaborative film-making as process, method and text in mental health research. Cultural Geographies14: 114–138.
Victorian Transcultural Mental Health (VTMH) (2017) Finding Our Way (audio-visual). Available at: www.vtmh.org.au (accessed 27 May 2017).
52.
VivienneSBurgessJ (2013) The remediation of the personal photograph and the politics of self-representation in digital storytelling. Journal of Material Culture18(3): 279–298.
53.
WereG (2013) Imagining digital lives. Journal of Material Culture18(3): 213–222.
54.
WexlerLEglintonKGubriumA (2014) Using digital stories to understand the lives of Alaskan Native young people. Youth and Society46(4): 468–504.
55.
WhitleyRKirmayerLGroleauD (2006) Understanding immigrants’ reluctance to use mental health services: A qualitative study from Montreal. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry51(4): 205–209.
56.
WigginsN (2012) Popular education for health promotion and community empowerment: A review of the literature. Health Promotion International27(3): 356–371.
57.
WilsonS (2018) Haunting and the knowing and showing of qualitative research. Sociological Review: 1–17. DOI: 10.1177/0038026118769843.
58.
ZieblandSMcPhersonA (2006) Making sense of qualitative data analysis: An introduction with illustrations from DIPEx (personal experiences of health and illness). Medical Education40(5): 405–414.
