Usefulness of Image Theater Workshops for Exploring Dilemmas in Diabetes Self-Management Among Adolescents

Diabetes treatment involves a demanding self-management regime that is particularly challenging to adolescents. There is a need for qualitative research into the specific contexts in which adolescents attempt to balance self-management demands with the needs and desires of adolescent life. This study investigates the usefulness of image theater, a participatory form of theater using the body as an expressive tool, to articulate these dilemmas in daily life contexts. We performed a qualitative analysis of two image theater workshops with 12- to 18-year-old adolescents living with diabetes. Our results show three areas of application: (a) unraveling the contextual complexity of lived experience, (b) the articulation of implicit understandings and underlying motives, and (c) the playful exploration of new behavior. We conclude that image theater is a promising method, especially with respect to the opportunities of a more contextual and action-oriented understanding of the trade-offs made in self-management provide for diabetes education and counseling.