Pulling at All Threads: Reflections on Using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis Within Arts-Based Health Research

Area of Science:

• Qualitative Data Analysis
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• Health Communication

Background:

• Contemporary communication involves multiple modes beyond text.
• Critical discourse analysis (CDA) traditionally focuses on linguistic elements.
• Arts-based health research (ABHR) offers unique insights into community well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the synergy between multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) and ABHR.
• To deconstruct health discourses impacting marginalized communities.
• To apply MCDA within ABHR to analyze men's body image.

Main Methods:

• Expanding CDA to include visual, auditory, and other non-textual modes.
• Integrating MCDA with arts-based methods like cellphilming.
• Analyzing semiotics of ideology and power in communication.

Main Results:

• MCDA provides a robust framework for analyzing complex health-related discourses.
• Combining MCDA with ABHR can reveal hidden ideologies affecting marginalized groups.
• Cellphilming and MCDA deconstructed cis-heteronormative influences on men's body image.

Conclusions:

• MCDA offers significant potential as an analytic method in ABHR.
• This integrated approach is valuable for understanding and challenging health inequities.
• Further research can explore MCDA's application across diverse marginalized populations.