Practising digital storytelling in climate–mental health research: Lessons from a multi-site transdisciplinary study in Africa
1
1. Independent researcher, Cape Town, South Africa
2
2. Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
3
3. Africa Health Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
4
4. Dept. of Global Health and Infection, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex and University of Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):A2634
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Extreme weather events (EWEs) are becoming more frequent and intense globally, wrecking homes, destroying livelihoods and exacerbating health challenges. Interventions to strengthen public health are more likely to be effective if informed by the experience of people most affected by the challenge. Digital storytelling (DST) is an established participatory visual research method that generates qualitative data to understand lived experience. Yet can it be applied effectively and ethically to include lived experience in public health research? This paper reflects on facilitating DST within a transdisciplinary project examining climate-related mental disorders in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
METHODS:
Digital stories are short multimedia narratives created in workshops by combining text, images, audio, and sometimes video. Between May and September 2025, DST workshops were hosted in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa with 38 adults who had experienced cyclones and flooding. Participants attended project information meetings, gave informed consent and joined the project as community-based co-researchers (CBCRs), contributing to data generation, interpretation and intervention design. The five-day DST workshops were co-facilitated by local community engagement teams. The method was designed to be replicated across sites while remaining culturally responsive, enabling participatory thematic analysis using a shared framework.
RESULTS:
Thirty-eight individual stories of three to six minutes duration were recorded on tablet devices with narration and accompanying images created by CBCRs. Stories were narrated in Duola, Swahili, Portuguese, isiZulu, and English. DST supported equitable and inclusive knowledge production, and generated rich data and dialogue on this critical topic. Yet the approach also required substantial time, resources and careful navigation of cultural differences and the ethical risk of re-traumatization.
CONCLUSIONS:
DST offers a robust participatory method for integrating lived experience into transdisciplinary climate-mental health research. Ethical facilitation, including psychosocial support and reflexive practice is essential to ensure safe and meaningful participation.
Extreme weather events (EWEs) are becoming more frequent and intense globally, wrecking homes, destroying livelihoods and exacerbating health challenges. Interventions to strengthen public health are more likely to be effective if informed by the experience of people most affected by the challenge. Digital storytelling (DST) is an established participatory visual research method that generates qualitative data to understand lived experience. Yet can it be applied effectively and ethically to include lived experience in public health research? This paper reflects on facilitating DST within a transdisciplinary project examining climate-related mental disorders in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
METHODS:
Digital stories are short multimedia narratives created in workshops by combining text, images, audio, and sometimes video. Between May and September 2025, DST workshops were hosted in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa with 38 adults who had experienced cyclones and flooding. Participants attended project information meetings, gave informed consent and joined the project as community-based co-researchers (CBCRs), contributing to data generation, interpretation and intervention design. The five-day DST workshops were co-facilitated by local community engagement teams. The method was designed to be replicated across sites while remaining culturally responsive, enabling participatory thematic analysis using a shared framework.
RESULTS:
Thirty-eight individual stories of three to six minutes duration were recorded on tablet devices with narration and accompanying images created by CBCRs. Stories were narrated in Duola, Swahili, Portuguese, isiZulu, and English. DST supported equitable and inclusive knowledge production, and generated rich data and dialogue on this critical topic. Yet the approach also required substantial time, resources and careful navigation of cultural differences and the ethical risk of re-traumatization.
CONCLUSIONS:
DST offers a robust participatory method for integrating lived experience into transdisciplinary climate-mental health research. Ethical facilitation, including psychosocial support and reflexive practice is essential to ensure safe and meaningful participation.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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