Background: Interest in using multimodal, arts-based methods in the context of health-related research has been increasing recently. Its value does not only lie in its ability to unearth complex, rich and nuanced data, but also in how the process/es can simultaneously facilitate the accessibility of evidence (MacGregor et al 2022; West et al 2022; Archibald & Blines 2021; Ball et al 2021; Boydel 2019; Fraser & Al Sayah 2011). From a new materialist perspective, knowledge is not merely an independent, tightly bound entity to be used or consumed, but is rather a dynamic construct that can adapt and change as it is applied and used in everyday contexts.
Objectives: The objectives of this workshop include to engage in collaborative arts-based techniques to make sense of a specific case of systematically reviewed evidence, i.e. Factors that influence parents' and informal caregivers' views and practices regarding routine childhood vaccination: A qualitative evidence synthesis (Cooper et al. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 10. CD013265. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013265.pub2.), and to demonstrate how this process can facilitate the production of embodied knowledge through active engagement with the evidence in tangible, material ways.
Description: Workshop participants will be (1) introduced to the workshop and divided into sub-groups (5 minutes); (2) each group will engage in a performative exercise based on an aspect of the reviewed evidence (20 minutes); (3) each individual will respond to their performative experience through a mark-making exercise using charcoal and/or ink on paper (20 minutes); (4) each group will be prompted through a process of cutting up their group’s drawings and reassembling parts of it through collage to re-represent the evidence in graphic form on A3 paper (25 minutes); and (5) each group will present their graphic translation of evidence to the larger group (20 minutes). What will result could be regarded as an example of how multimodal arts-based engagement with systematically reviewed content in the context of healthcare can make the evidence more accessible – and hence also applicable – to those engaging with it, and how creative representation of evidence can possibly enrich the communicative potential of empirical data.

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