Stepping onto the stage: reflections of community-based participatory researchers using Forum Theatre to address the challenges of living with diabetes while experiencing homelessness

The use of arts-based methods within health research is quickly growing in popularity. Forum Theatre is a unique type of performance that encourages audience participation to explore complex societal issues and is being used more frequently in participatory health research addressing social inequalities in health experiences and treatment. Using a Community-Based Participatory Research approach, The Calgary Diabetes Advocacy Committee (CDAC) drew on our collective experiences and used Forum Theatre to explore the challenges and possible solutions impacting people with lived experience of diabetes while living in an emergency housing shelter. Committee members participated in drama workshops and script development with rehearsals to produce and host two Forum events attended by 150 researchers, community members, and medical students. During these events, committee members performed a scripted dramatization of the challenges of managing diabetes in an emergency shelter after which attendees proposed potential interventions. A review of the field notes documented throughout three stages of our project, we identified reflections and challenges: (i) Drama workshops: Willingness to try something new; (ii) Script development and rehearsals: Tension in getting it right; and (iii) The Forum: Putting ourselves out there. Future health researchers considering Forum Theatre as an arts-based method are encouraged to draw on our experiences and reflections when planning and implementing their own productions.