Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) using Digital Stories to Explore People's Experience of Using a Public Living Room

Abstract

For decades, community psychologists have evidenced the positive impact of community belonging on people's health. However, we have seen a vast reduction in funding for community initiatives. I partnered with a community arts hub that offers a public living room in a highly deprived area. Utilising a community-based participatory action research design (CBPAR), we used digital storytelling to explore the impact of the public living room (PLR) on people's lives. We used reflexive thematic analysis to interpret the nine stories. Co-analysing the data showed that offering a ‘welcoming environment’ (i.e., a ‘non-judgemental’, “safe space” which had ‘boundaries’ and accessible “free food”) fostered a ‘chance to belong to a community’ (i.e., enabling participants to “give back to the community”, build ‘trust within the relationship’ and ‘connections’, helping them to discover that they were ‘not alone’ and ‘people care about [them]’); thus helping them to “change their [my] life” (i.e., from a “circle of shit” to giving them “purpose” and “opportunities” which improved their “mental health” and ‘self-worth’). Recommendations are offered regarding ways of promoting a warm environment, creating relationships with the community and opportunities to develop connections.

Date of Award	9 Sept 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Plymouth
Supervisor	Lealah Hewitt-Johns (Director of Studies (First Supervisor)), Steve Minton (Director of Studies (First Supervisor)), Pete Keohane (Director of Studies (First Supervisor)) & Eric Hewes (Other Supervisor)