Tarr Jen, Cornish Flora, Gonzalez-Polledo Elena
Department of Methodology, London School of Economics, UK.
Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths University of London, UK.
Sociol Health Illn. 2018 Mar;40(3):577-592. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12669. Epub 2018 Feb 13.
Pain is difficult to communicate and translate into language, yet most social research on pain experience uses questionnaires and semi-structured interviews that rely on words. In addition to the mind/body dualism prevalent in pain medicine in these studies pain communication is characterised by further value-laden binaries such as real/unreal, visible/invisible, and psychological/physical. Starting from the position that research methods play a role in constituting their object, this article examines the potential of participatory arts workshops for developing different versions of pain communication. Twenty-two participants were involved in workshops using drawing, digital photography, sound and physical theatre to explore pain communication. The use of arts materials made pain tangible. By manipulating pain-related objects, participants could consider alternative relationships to their pain. Pain's sociality was also explored, with relations with clinicians and others emerging as potentially cooperative rather than adversarial. Discussions considered whether pain felt internal or external, and whether it was possible to conceive of a self without pain. We argue that the socio-material context of participatory arts workshops enabled these alternative versions of pain. Such methods are a useful addition to medical sociology's heavy reliance on qualitative interviewing.
疼痛难以言传，也难以用语言来诠释，然而大多数关于疼痛体验的社会研究都采用依赖文字的问卷和半结构化访谈。除了这些研究中疼痛医学里普遍存在的身心二元论，疼痛交流的特点还在于存在其他充满价值判断的二元对立，如实/虚、可见/不可见、心理/生理。本文从研究方法在构建其研究对象中发挥作用这一立场出发，探讨了参与式艺术工作坊在发展不同版本疼痛交流方面的潜力。22名参与者参与了使用绘画、数码摄影、声音和肢体戏剧来探索疼痛交流的工作坊。艺术材料的使用使疼痛变得可触知。通过操控与疼痛相关的物品，参与者能够思考与自身疼痛的不同关系。疼痛的社会性也得到了探索，与临床医生及其他人的关系呈现出潜在的合作而非对抗性质。讨论涉及疼痛是感觉在体内还是体外，以及是否有可能设想一个没有疼痛的自我。我们认为，参与式艺术工作坊的社会物质背景促成了这些不同版本的疼痛呈现。此类方法是对医学社会学严重依赖定性访谈的有益补充。
