A Reflective Lens: Applying Critical Systems Thinking and Visual Methods to Ecohealth Research

Critical systems methodology has been advocated as an effective and ethical way to engage with the uncertainty and conflicting values common to ecohealth problems. We use two contrasting case studies, coral reef management in the Philippines and national park management in Australia, to illustrate t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:EcoHealth 2010-12, Vol.7 (4), p.414-424
Main Authors: Cleland, Deborah, Wyborn, Carina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Ecology
Australia
Case studies
Conservation of Natural Resources - methods
Coral Reefs
Critical thinking
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Education
Environmental Health
Environmental impact
Ethics
Health Promotion
Health Services Research - methods
Heuristic
Humans
Learning
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Microbiology
National parks
Original Contribution
Philippines
Photography - instrumentation
Photography - methods
Public Health
Public Health - education
Systems Theory
Uncertainty
Vision, Ocular
Water and Health
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Summary:Critical systems methodology has been advocated as an effective and ethical way to engage with the uncertainty and conflicting values common to ecohealth problems. We use two contrasting case studies, coral reef management in the Philippines and national park management in Australia, to illustrate the value of critical systems approaches in exploring how people respond to environmental threats to their physical and spiritual well-being. In both cases, we used visual methods—participatory modeling and rich picturing, respectively. The critical systems methodology, with its emphasis on reflection, guided an appraisal of the research process. A discussion of these two case studies suggests that visual methods can be usefully applied within a critical systems framework to offer new insights into ecohealth issues across a diverse range of socio-political contexts. With this article, we hope to open up a conversation with other practitioners to expand the use of visual methods in integrated research.
ISSN:1612-9202
1612-9210
DOI:10.1007/s10393-010-0362-6