Creative collaboration on a disability and sexuality participatory action research project: A reflective diary account

ABSTRACT

This article presents a team’s engagement with a creative collaborative project challenging the myths about the sexuality of people with physical disabilities in South Africa. The article is presented as a reflective diary account, which has been constructed from minutes of meetings, email correspondence, and personal reflections of the activities undertaken. We reflect on the work we have done and what we have learned as well as the decisions and dilemmas we had along the way and the increasingly creative process. We reflect on our work with reference to participatory action research and the use of arts-based methods for generating and disseminating knowledge. We believe this can provide a useful and practical resource for researchers who are new to participatory research methods.

KEYWORDS:

• participatory action research
• disability
• sexuality
• South Africa
• collaborative research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ http://www.firah.org/.

² Written by ‘Rosabelle’; used here with permission.

³ A selection of photographs with accompanying narratives are available to view on [www.disabilityandsexualityproject.com]. All photographs are available on the website with participants’ express permission.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the International Foundation of Applied Disability Research;

Notes on contributors

Poul Rohleder

Poul Rohleder is a clinical psychologist and Reader in clinical psychology at the University of East London, UK. He obtained a DPhil in psychology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, in 2008. His research interests include sexuality, sexual health, disability studies and mental health.

Stine Hellum Braathen

Stine Hellum Braathen is Research Manager at SINTEF Department of Health Research in Norway. She obtained a PhD in Psychology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, in 2016. Her research interests include disability, mental health and access to health and care, including sexual and reproductive health and care.

Mark T Carew

Mark T. Carew is a Research Fellow at the Leonard Cheshire Research Centre,based at University College London. Mark holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology and his research interests encompass the numerous barriers that people with disabilities face globally (e.g., to social participation, employment, education), including access to sexual and reproductive health and care.

Mussa Chiwaula

Mussa Chiwaula is the Director General of the Southern African Federation of the Disabled, based in Botswana. He has a degree in Managing Rural and Community Development from the Open University in Malawi.

Xanthe Hunt

Xanthe Hunt is a junior researcher in Psychology with the Institute for Child and Adolescent Health Research at the Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She passed a PhD in Research Psychology from the same institution, and is due to graduate in 2018. Her research interests include disability and sexuality, public health, psychopathology, and trauma.

Leslie Swartz

LeslieSwartz is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He obtained his PhD in psychology from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 1990. His research interests include disability studies and mental health, with an emphasis on low-resource, African contexts.