Using research poetics responsibly: Applications for health promotion research

Research poetics, a form of arts-based research methods, has been underutilized in the field of health promotion. Poetic methods have most commonly been used as a form of representation of the lived experience in qualitative research. For the community-engaged researcher, representing findings through poetry offers unique opportunities for engaging the reader and reaching diverse communities. However, this approach also has implications as an analytic method and allows the analyst to have a more meaningful and personal engagement with participants’ stories. Perhaps most importantly, this approach acknowledges and brings to the forefront the co-construction of qualitative findings and de-centers the authority of the researcher by preserving and promoting the participant’s voice. Using examples from the authors’ own research, this article describes opportunities for incorporating research poetics into health promotion research and argues for its applicability for community-engaged health promotion researchers.