Living with psychotropic drugs: A community photovoice study in people with high treatment adherence in Southeastern Spain

Abstract

Adherence to psychopharmacological treatment essentially involves a process of meaning-making. The objective of this study was to explore the experience of people undergoing chronic psychiatric treatment from the patients’ perspective. In 2018, using the photovoice methodology, four sessions were conducted with the participation of 11 individuals from a community school in a socially marginalized neighborhood of a southeastern Spanish city, some of whom were also users of a social rehabilitation and integration center and a day center. Participants took and selected 41 photographs under the premise: “Photograph your experience regarding health and medication.” A categorization of the emerging narratives was carried out during a dialogical session between participants and researchers, which was recorded for subsequent transcription and analysis. The experiences were divided into two major symbolic themes that seek to give therapeutic meaning to medication: one of conflict and the other of motivation.