The health-promoting experiences of storytellers participating in group-based digital storytelling workshops : A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies

Dominguez Hernandez, Jonathan and Brieskorn, Bernadette Irene and Leutenegger, Vanessa and Krahl, Astrid and Eastham, Rachael and Limmer, Mark (2025) The health-promoting experiences of storytellers participating in group-based digital storytelling workshops : A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies. Frontiers in Digital Health, 7. ISSN 2673-253X (In Press)

Abstract

Objective This meta-synthesis aimed to synthesize qualitative evidence, using the framework analysis method, to explore how participating in a digital storytelling workshop shapes the storytellers' health attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors. Methods We conducted a meta-synthesis to generate descriptive and analytic themes. We searched Medline, CINHAL, SocIndex, Embase, PsycINFO, SciELO, Academic Search Ultimate, Scopus, the Directory of Open Access Journals, and LIVIVO and selected two of the included studies as index papers to develop the initial framework. We identified each framework component and refined it iteratively as new themes were generated during the analysis of other studies. We created or allocated new themes to existing categories using the constant comparative approach. If a new theme was identified, we assigned a name and compared it with those included in the initial framework [72]. We then organized and integrated these descriptive themes into analytic themes and used the GRADE-CERQual approach to assess our confidence in the review findings. Results We included 25 qualitative studies from six countries representing the experiences of 629 storytellers. The meta-synthesis of the data from the included studies generated 12 descriptive themes (review findings), of which nine were graded with moderate confidence, indicating that these review findings are likely a reasonable representation of the storytellers' health-promoting experiences. Two themes were graded with high confidence and a single theme with low confidence, making them highly likely or possibly a reasonable representation of the storytellers' experiences, respectively. From these descriptive themes, we derived four analytical themes: - "Re-Storying Lived Experience," "The Ripple Effect Of Digital Storytelling," "Investing And Processing Emotions," and "Owning The Script." Storytellers experience digital storytelling workshops as a safe space where they reframe the narratives around their health experiences. This re-storying process extends storytellers' understanding of their health experiences, affords them a sense of agency and control, and motivates them to use their stories to support others. Conclusion We found evidence that digital storytelling enables storytellers to reflect and emotionally engage with the narratives shared in the co-construction of digital stories, resulting in a narrative shift that is likely to be experienced as health-promoting.