Words, Camera, Music, Action: A Methodology of Digital Storytelling in a Health Care Setting

In this technological age, storytelling is moving from oral and written to digital formats, creating many methodological opportunities for researchers and practitioners. This article explores a specific genre of participatory media production, digital storytelling (DST), which could be a valuable research tool to describe, analyze, and understand the experiences of research participants. Digital stories (DS) are short movies that use images, videos, a voice-over, and various video editing techniques to share an important story from the participant’s life. In a health care setting, DS can be used as knowledge translation tools for education and advocacy, as data to be analyzed in the research process, or as a therapeutic intervention, in any combination, depending on the intent of the project. Although an increasing number of health-related research studies indicate using DST, or some variation of it, there is a glaring paucity of methodologically focused manuscripts in the health care literature. This article delineates and describes four primary phases of DST in a health care context as finding the story, telling the story, crafting the story, and sharing the story. Both the creative and technical considerations of DST facilitation are elucidated through specific examples and practical concepts. By drawing from diverse literature such as narratology, film, and psychotherapy, and exploring new creative tools and ideas to help research participants convey meaning, this article provides a starting point for qualitative researchers to explore the use of DST in their own contexts.