Can theatre successfully disseminate messages about public involvement in research?

A play jointly developed and performed by public contributors and a community theatre team raised awareness of domestic abuse, according to a new paper published in Health Expectations. However, opinions were divided on whether it was also able to successfully disseminate messages about patient and public involvement (PPI) in research on sensitive subjects.

In December 2020, the research team behind a study about mindfulness for women with a history of domestic abuse (the coMforT study) secured a grant to explore the value of PPI in disseminating research on a sensitive topic. This resulted in the co-development of a play about the lived experiences of two members of the study’s PPI group.

The research team subsequently secured further funding to evaluate the impact, acceptability, and safety of using theatre to publicize PPI and findings from research on domestic abuse.

The results of this evaluation have demonstrated that both audience members and the play’s creators felt it increased audience knowledge and changed attitudes about domestic abuse. They linked its value for research dissemination to its accessibility and ability to emotionally engage the public.

However, the evaluation also showed that the play’s ability to raise audience awareness about PPI in research was limited. While the project funder wanted to prioritise the PPI value of the play, it was PPI contributors with lived experience who led its development. They chose to prioritise the story line about domestic abuse, resilience, and peer support.

Due to the subject matter, the play’s potential for re-traumatising its creators, performers and audience members had to be carefully considered so risks could be minimised. The play creators tried to prevent and mitigate the risk of re-traumatising audience members and the project team by:

• creating safe environments
• centring trusting relationships and peer support
• ensuring the core messages and process of play development were empowering making the play accessible

Cat Papastavrou Brooks, lead author on the study, said:

“Our work has shown that co-developing plays based on the lived experiences of PPI contributors can be an acceptable and safe way of disseminating research on sensitive subjects.

“However, successfully achieving this depends on the team being given flexibility to decide the key messages they want to disseminate. PPI contributors should have autonomy during this process and funders should be aware that the output will be shaped by PPI contributors.”

Dr Natalia Lewis, senior author on the study, said:

“Adequate resources are vital to ensuring that everyone can be supported in their role within a project of this type. Practitioners should also ensure that the creative process centres play, empowerment and safety and the play is not based on the personal experiences of contributors.”