The Role of Participatory Action Research and Photovoice in Global Mental Health Research and Promotion

The prevalence of mental disorders globally demands the attention of researchers, policymakers, and service providers. While the need for effective service delivery and related interventions grows alongside the prevalence, governments consistently fall short in their response to mental illness intervention. Advances in mental health promotion and related social and structural determinants of well-being highlight the importance of factors situated in lived environments and interpersonal relationships in responding to mental illness and health. An understanding of social determinants and systemic and structural factors as they pertain to lived experiences across diverse contexts and cultures remains limited due to both a lack of research in this area, and important research constraints. The authors of this chapter respond to this situation by reviewing the role of photovoice, a Participatory Action Research (PAR) method, as a viable research tool well positioned to support knowledge advancement that is well aligned with the lived realities of people across diverse communities and contexts, fostering more relevant and impactful responses to the promotion of mental health. This chapter reviews some of the challenges in global mental health promotion and related research. It then outlines PAR, as the broader framework within which photovoice is situated. This is followed by a discussion of photovoice, focusing on its theoretical underpinnings and its implementation. These three sections are then drawn on to discuss how photovoice and PAR more broadly are able to respond to the highlighted challenges to mental health promotion research.