Images of Recovery: A PhotoVoice Study on Visual Narratives of Personal Recovery in Persons with Serious Mental Illness
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Images of Recovery: A PhotoVoice Study on Visual Narratives of Personal Recovery in Persons with Serious Mental Illness Tom Vansteenkiste1,2 · Manuel Morrens3,4 · Gerben J. Westerhof2 Received: 9 March 2020 / Accepted: 5 November 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Personal recovery has become a guiding paradigm in mental health services. Most research on recovery is based on the exploration of personal stories of service users through verbal methods. As not everyone with psychiatric problems is able to verbally formulate a recovery narrative, the current study assesses personal recovery through PhotoVoice, with emphasis on visualisation, small stories and participation. Two ten-week groups were conducted with 18 participants living with severe mental illnesses. They participated in both the collection and analysis of visual narratives. Across the images produced by participants, four main recovery themes were found : People, Places, Activities and Finding Meaning. Compared to other frameworks, the emphasis participants put on the theme Places adds value to the understanding of recovery processes. Furthermore, participants showed that recovery is about dealing with vulnerabilities as well as aspiring a meaningful life. This study demonstrates that exploring visual narratives is powerful within recovery oriented mental health. Keywords Recovery · Mental health · Photovoice · Visual narratives · Participation
Introduction Mental health services have long been guided by a medical model that strives for clinical recovery, i.e. the alleviation and remission of symptoms of mental illness (Bohlmeijer & Westerhof, 2019; Maddux, 2009; Slade, 2010). During the last decades, a broader focus on personal recovery has become a guiding paradigm within mental health care worldwide (Drake & Whitley, 2014; Shepherd, Boardman, & Slade, 2008; Slade, 2009a; Wilken, 2010). Indeed, recoveryoriented care has even become the leading vision within the transformation of psychiatric services towards a more community-based organization for the treatment of people living with serious mental illnesses (Slade et al., 2014; Pieters * Tom Vansteenkiste [email protected] 1
Zorggroep Multiversum, Mortsel, Antwerp, Belgium
2
Department of Psychology, Health & Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
3
Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute (CAPRI), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
4
University of Antwerp Department of Psychiatry, Campus Duffel, Duffel, Belgium
et al., 2017). International literature on recovery reveals a range of different theoretical frameworks based on personal perceptions by persons living with serious mental illness (Leamy et al., 2011; Whitley & Drake, 2010; Wilken, 2010). These qualitative studies typically make use of interviews and focus groups to study the personal stories of service users. However, not all persons with psychiatri
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