HEAL 2023: Arts-Based Methods – Changing conversations in healthcare through poetry and photography
In the 2023 projects funded through Clinical Excellence Queensland’s HEAL (Healthcare Excellence AcceLerator) in partnership with the QUT Design Lab, Professor Evonne Miller mentored interested Queensland clinicians and consumers to apply arts-based methods of poetry and photography to a topic of interest. As well as images taken by a professional photographer (Sam Regi), the approach used here is photovoice – a collaborative documentary photography method.
In photovoice, participants take photographs to document and communicate their experience of a specific health issue, resulting in a public exhibition that engages and educates. Health photovoice projects have explored the hospital mealtime experience, health behaviours, the rehab experience, transitioning from paediatric to adult care, chronic illness, dementia, delivering care during COVID, how to improve consumer-clinician communication, and more!
Evonne mentored six Hospital and Health Service teams to deploy arts-based methods in different contexts:
- Metro North documented the first 100 days of Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD);
- the Child and Youth Mental Health Service at Metro South focussed on what fosters staff wellbeing;
- a team at the Princess Alexandra Hospital explored the experience of National Bowel Cancer Screening for people with a disability;
- the emergency department (ED) experience at Gold Coast Hospital;
- the experience of families who have a child diagnosed with a brain tumour, in partnership the Children’s Brain Cancer Centre and funded by the Children’s Hospital Foundation, at Children’s Health Queensland’, and
- supporting Children with Burn Injuries and their Families in Townsville.
Main project contacts: Evonne Miller e.miller@qut.edu.au &
Sam Regi navinsam.regi@hdr.qut.edu.au
