Metaphors of Distress: Photo-Elicitation Enhances a Discourse Analysis of Parents' Accounts

In research on sensitive topics, photo-elicitation can be a profound aid to data collection and interpretation processes. Photo-elicitation methods were used in this manner in a discourse analysis of parents' distress at least 6 months after preterm birth. After an initial interview, participants were asked to take digital photographs representing their distress and to return for a second interview to discuss the photographs. The elicited photo representations supported participants' engagement with their current or past distress and generated new meanings from the reappraisal of old photographs. Photo-elicitation demonstrated the embodiment of parents' distress in the child and the placement of distress in specific locations. Photographs of documents showed the power of the written word in generating and maintaining distress. Participants used existing photographs from their child's photo history to generate rich metaphors for their distress as parents. These findings have implications for enhancing interpretive health research by incorporating photo-elicitation methods.