Ireland’s 7th Action Research Colloquium Call for papers - Abstract submission (18/05/2017)
Title: Capturing the Lived Experience of Tinnitus Patients: Using Photo Voice to develop Patient Personas for industry Authors: Susie Donnelly, Brenda Reginatto and Oisin Kearns, Applied Research for Connected Health (ARCH), University College Dublin Abstract: How can Action Research be used to make the invisible patient visible? This paper intends to outline the use of Photo Voice in an applied research project concerned with developing Patient Personas for tinnitus patients. Tinnitus is the perception of noise or a ringing in the ears when no external sound is present. It is a chronic condition and can lead to secondary complications such as depression, anxiety and sleep loss. Tinnitus is invisible to the clinician and relies on being self-reported by the patient. As a result, it is very difficult to capture the everyday “lived experience” of tinnitus patients. Photo voice enables the patient to provide the researcher with photographs to document their experience and construct their own narrative. It is therefore considered a highly appropriate and worthwhile instrument for data collection in this instance. We are working with an Irish company who are developing a medical device for treating the symptoms of chronic tinnitus. This project is a first attempt by a team of researchers to adapt and incorporate photo voice in an applied context for industry. This data will be complimented by approximately 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews and used to produce a dataset from which a number of Patient Personas can be generated. These personas will inform the design and development of a device and accompanying apps for this patient community. It is hoped this paper will document the learnings and challenges of our approach and will provide greater insight into how these methods can give voice to patients which can, in turn, be heard by industry. Word count: 261 Author contact: Dr Susie Donnelly Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Applied Research for Connected Health Nexus UCD Block 9/10, Belfield Office Park Clonskeagh Dublin 4 t: +353(0)1 716 5403 |e:
[email protected] |w: www.arch.ie
