New publication from the BaSAlt project

Have you ever heard of Photovoice? It’s a research method that lets participants express their perspectives through photography. Our team wanted to see if Photovoice could be useful for promoting physical activity in nursing homes, which can be challenging settings for research. These homes are kind of like “total institutions,” where residents have limited autonomy and are subject to strict rules. We found that Photovoice can help researchers and residents build trust and overcome fear. But using this method also requires careful ethical considerations, and we need to be aware of technical issues that might arise. By using Photovoice, we can get a better understanding of what’s important to residents and what factors might be promoting or hindering physical activity. We also provide some recommendations for how to make Photovoice a more routine part of nursing home research, including how to contextualize photographs and how to adapt for COVID-19 challenges. We also discuss how we can protect residents’ privacy and safety when using Photovoice in these settings. Overall, our research shows that Photovoice can be a valuable tool for understanding physical activity in nursing homes. It helps us see things that other research methods might miss and gives us a better understanding of different perspectives on physical activity.