Using Photovoice in Research with People who have Psychosis - Thursday 10th April 2025
Summary and speakers:
Strengthening Care in collaboration with People with lived Experience of psychosis in UGANDA (SCAPE-U)
Dr Byamah Mutamba
Mental health services are most effective and equitable when designed, delivered, and evaluated in collaboration with people with lived experience of mental illness. Dr Mutamba discusses experiences and lessons learned from the SCAPE-U study in which people with lived experience of psychosis are involved in service delivery improvements at primary care, community, and home levels using Photovoice as a medium.
Using Photovoice to inform Experience based Co-design Meetings with Marginalised Populations
Dr Roisin Mooney
Roisin Mooney is a senior postdoctoral fellow and project manager in the CHiMES Collaborative Group, in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. Her work focusses on recognising and addressing different forms of inequality in health care systems. Much of Roisin’s work has been centred around foregrounding the voices of those with relevant lived experience at all levels of research. Roisin was the Co-PI for the Co-PACT study and is a Co-Investigator on the Co-PICS study which she will talk about. Co-PACT explored the disproportionate sectioning of racialised populations under the Mental Health Act in the UK, using photovoice as a novel and creative policy-research tool to engage service users as co-researchers. Co-PICS is an experience-based co-design study exploring care of people from diverse ethnic groups living with psychosis and multimorbidity. Both projects are/were funded by the NIHR.
Chair: Dr Laura Lorenz, Co-founder, Educator Photovoice Worldwide
Biographies
Dr Byamah B. Mutamba, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist: Dr Byamah B.Mutamba (MMED.MPH, PhD) has dual expertise in public health and mental health. He is a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, and an honorary lecturer at the School of Public Health, Makerere University in Uganda. He is also a co-founder and technical director at YouBelong Uganda (www.youbelongCommunity.org), a community-based NGO in Uganda working to transition institutionalized and /or abandoned individuals living with severe mental disorders back to their families and communities.
His research interest is public mental health and he has been involved with a number of mental health implementation research projects including: the Mental Health beyond Facilities (mhBeF), the Family Based Interpersonal Therapy for Caregivers of Children with Nodding Syndrome to Improve the Mental Health of Both (GCC/IPT-F) and the Curtailing Hospital Readmissions of Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Africa (ChaRiSMA) study which sought to determine which patients with Severe Mental Illness are most likely to be readmitted to Butabika hospital, as well as generate more evidence on the feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of a community mental health model (the YouBelongHOME intervention) in low resourced settings like Uganda. He is currently the Principal Investigator on the STRENGTHENING CARE IN COLLABORATION WITH PEOPLE WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE OF PSYCHOSIS IN UGANDA (SCAPE-U) project; a WELLCOME TRUST funded study which aims to strengthen mental health services across the continuum of care from community to health facility levels for persons living with psychosis.
Dr Roisin Mooney, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher: Roisin graduated from Brunel University with a 1st Class BSc Hons in Psychology with Professional development in 2012 and was awarded her PhD in 2020. Conducting her PhD alongside being employed full time ignited a passion for mental health research. She joined Prof Kam Bhui at Queen Mary University London, and then University of Oxford in 2020 to pursue a research career. A central tenet of her work has been recruiting research naïve populations. Her approach has centralised making research more accessible to different populations, meeting people where they are and working towards building an evidence base that represents the populations who are most impacted.
Dr Nimra Khan of the CHiMES Collaborative has written an informative and insightful blog on this webinar:
Reflections on the Seminar: Using Photovoice in Research with People Who Have Psychosis
On 10th April 2025, an insightful seminar took place as part of the WPA Collaborating Centres & CHiMES Webinar Series, focusing on the innovative methodology of Photovoice in research involving individuals experiencing psychosis. The session was chaired by Dr Laura Lorenz, co-founder of Photovoice Worldwide. Dr Lorenz introduced Photovoice, a powerful tool developed by Dr. Caroline Wang and Mary Ann Burris in 1997. Originally created for a study involving women in rural China to express their experiences related to their lives and health issues through photographs and accompanying captions. What distinguishes this methodology is its ability to empower participants to share their perspectives visually, making it a powerful instrument for advocacy. By highlighting the stories of often overlooked and marginalised communities, Photovoice plays a significant role in promoting social justice. It is rooted in participatory action research, which encourages collective action and community-driven solutions to address pressing issues. The seminar featured two speakers: Dr. Byamah Mutamba and Dr. Roisin Mooney, both of whom presented projects that utilised Photovoice.
Dr. Mutamba presented the SCAPE-U project (Strengthening Care in Collaboration with People with Lived Experience of Psychosis in Uganda), which seeks to transform mental health care in Uganda. The country faces significant challenges, notably a troubling imbalance in the patient-to-healthcare professional ratio, resulting in inadequate support for those affected. SCAPE-U aims to bridge the treatment gap and combat stigma by actively involving individuals with lived experience of psychosis (PWLE) as integral contributors to the system. Central to this initiative is the Photovoice methodology, where PWLE share their recovery journeys through photographs and narratives, co-facilitating training for primary care workers and providing vital home-based support to service users. This collaborative approach empowers PWLE, enhances understanding, and strengthens mental health care systems, demonstrating its potential in low-resource settings.
Dr. Roisin Mooney presented her findings from the CO-PACT project (Experience-based investigation and Co-design of approaches to Prevent and reduce Mental Health Act Use), which focused on the experiential data collected through Photovoice from individuals who have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act in the UK. This legislation permits the involuntary treatment of those diagnosed with mental illness, disproportionately impacting Black and minority ethnic groups. The project's aim was to investigate and co-design strategies to reduce reliance on the Mental Health Act. Dr. Mooney highlighted the severe trauma associated with being sectioned, with many participants expressing a preference for community-based support over involuntary treatment. Their experiences often resembled incarceration. Through Photovoice, the stark realities these individuals face were vividly depicted, shedding light on a critical social injustice that demands urgent action.
Overall, the seminar underscored the remarkable potential of Photovoice as a methodology capable of bringing forth often sidelined experiences. Despite the differing contexts of the two projects, their shared vision to amplify the voices of those affected by psychosis and challenge the systems that marginalise them was profoundly inspiring. This event not only showcased the strength of participatory research but also reaffirmed the necessity of ensuring that marginalised voices are heard and valued.
Dr Nimra Khan, CHiMES Collaborative, April 2025