Is Film as a Research Tool the Future of Public Health? A Review of Study Designs, Opportunities, and Challenges

Among public health researchers, there is growing interest in film methods due to their ability to highlight subtleties in practices, capture emotions, engage hard-to-reach populations, and advocate for social change. Still, little is known about strengths and challenges associated with using film m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Qualitative health research 2020-01, Vol.30 (2), p.250-257
Main Authors: Baumann, Sara E., Merante, Monica, Folb, Barbara L., Burke, Jessica G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
Challenges
Emotions
Health technology assessment
Humans
Mass Media
Medical research
Motion Pictures
Public Health
Public Health Practice
Qualitative research
Research Design
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Summary:Among public health researchers, there is growing interest in film methods due to their ability to highlight subtleties in practices, capture emotions, engage hard-to-reach populations, and advocate for social change. Still, little is known about strengths and challenges associated with using film methods in public health. This review synthesizes peer-reviewed, public health research studies that apply film methods, and describes opportunities and challenges. Of the 3,431 identified articles, 20 met the inclusion criteria. Fifteen different film methods were found that offer numerous methodological strengths, including the ability to provide rich descriptions, capture emic perspectives, increase comfort in participation, empower participants, and be used for advocacy. Future studies may explore engaging participants throughout the entire research process and using visuals created in the study to communicate findings. Keeping in mind their challenges, film methods are long overdue in public health and provide unique opportunities to capture sensory data.
ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/1049732319871251