Blake Scott (he/him/his)
Professor of Writing & Rhetoric
University of Central Florida
Description of Work:
Our interdisciplinary team–which includes scholars of stigma and graphic medicine–is working on a multi-phased project that aims to develop training materials to address healthcare provider-enacted HIV stigma. Informed by the used of comics in provider training elsewhere, these materials will be in the form of scenario-based comics or “graphic pathographies,” to help providers recognize the ways they might be enacting stigma, how PLWH experience this stigma, and its effects on PLWH. Some of the comics we create will also show examples of alternative, more affirming experiences with providers, again from the perspective of PLWH.
The first phase, which we recently completed, involves a pilot study that tests our novel method of using minimal comic storyboards as data collection tools to help elicit PLWHs’ experiences of and responses to stigma. Through asking interviewees to complete and give us feedback about the storyboards, we are seeking to 1) determine whether and how the comic storyboards help participants tell their stories, 2) evaluate and identify revisions to specific aspects of the storyboards, including the scenes they present and use of animals as characters, and 3) determine the most useful sequencing of storyboards.
We hope to pose and get feedback about the following questions during the Symposium:
• How can we combine data from existing literature with stories of stigma we gathered to develop composite stories in the training materials, and what forms of rhetoric should these composite stories foreground?
• How many variations of composite stories should we create?
• How can we portray scenes, participants, interactions, and responses (including thoughts and feelings) in ways that avoid essentializing and recognize intersectionality?
• How can we protect confidentiality but also bring to life specific aspects of PLWH experiences that they tell us are important?
• What are the best ways to workshop our drafts and otherwise seek the input and approval of participants?
Contact: bscott@ucf.edu