A room of your own : Photographs of situations of well-being taken by patients suffering from a stress-related illness

• The study presented in this article is part of the project‘Finding Viability in Daily Life’. In the project, participantproducedphotographs of situations of well-being were usedin interviews. A knowledge gap was identified: mediaspecificaspects of photographic material used in relatedresearch were not considered. In this study, photographstaken by twelve women aged 27–54 with a stress-relatedillness were examined. The research questions was: Howare situations of well-being visually represented inphotographs produced by the participants in the project,and how are these situations described in words by theparticipants? The results show that a typical photographhad a balanced composition, depicted a closed space withisolated object/s situated close to the beholder, and wastaken from above. Indoor settings were more dominantthan outdoor ones. The outdoor settings showed an openspace and horizontal depictions more often than the indoorones. A typical photograph depicted an activity or objectsrelated to activities. By portraying calm and manageablespaces, the photographs visually suggested that qualitieslike balance and control are important aspects ofexperiencing well-being. These qualities of spaces forexperiencing well-being were confirmed in interviews withthe participants and by previous studies in the project.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Arbetsterapi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Occupational Therapy (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Konstvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Art History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

auto-photography

media-specific

casual photography

everyday life

Vårdvetenskap

Caring Science

Health and Caring Sciences

Hälsovetenskap

Visuell kultur

Visual Culture

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)