Understanding people with dementia’s experiences through involvement with photography and storytelling

Photography and storytelling methods were used to support the voices of people living with dementia who attend an adult school (VUK) in Denmark as students. The study aimed to understand the students’ lived experiences and involve the students in the research process. The use of photographs and creative activities, such as storytelling, are being used as ways to collaboratively engage participants in research and with people living with dementia this can be a way to support discussions and memory and enhance the understanding of people’s experiences.

In this study, students with dementia took photographs of their school and home situations. The images taken by the students were used as prompts to support their narrative experiences of being students and sharing home life stories. Four weekly sessions were run with two groups of five participants. Video recordings of each session were made, which were then transcribed and thematically analysed.

The use of photography and storytelling in this study encouraged active involvement in the research process. Students decided what they wanted to photograph and what images they wanted to talk about, with some asking to take further images to fully capture the school experience. The creative approach supported the students’ discussions about being a student at VUK and of living with dementia, furthering intra-group dialogues and understanding of shared experiences. Students talked about the use of photographs as an enjoyable process and one which helped them to share their stories. This approach can also be a way of involving a person with dementia in the research process and give voice to their experience.