Let’s all play ‘Stigma’! Learning together using forum theatre in collaboration with mental health service users and nurse lecturers

Abstract

This paper shares the experiences of a group of University lecturers and mental health service users who collaborated in the
use of an experiential theatrical technique, forum theatre. The aim of the project was to jointly develop a forum theatre that
would be performed to all fields of student nurses in their second year within a classroom setting. The was achieved through
a session that employed a theatrical technique to bring staff and service users in order to 1) stimulate student analysis around
the complexities of communication and 2) raise awareness about the damaging effects of stigma in mental health. Findings
showed that service user/carer involvement issues can be presented using interactive theatre techniques. The method
facilitated innovative and educationally stimulating engagement between the students and the service users’ personal
narratives without losing the impact of the experiences being articulated; this process also brought about a collaborative
service user-lecturer initiative.

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Identifiers

ORCID for James J. Wilson: orcid.org/0000-0002-7924-9997

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