Abstract
Background: Photo-elicitation invites participants to capture and share photographs representing their lived experiences. It offers a meaningful way to evaluate how nursing students integrate knowledge, skills, and attitudes across cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains of learning. Grounded in visual sociology (Harper, 2002) and expanded through nursing pedagogy (Linz, 2011; Kronk et al., 2015), this approach helps students express ideas and emotions that are difficult to articulate or assess. Prior research indicates that photo-elicitation supports empathy, critical thinking, and self-awareness through learning experiences such as aging (Chonody, 2018), community health (Cooper et al., 2017), and academic challenges (Steenfeldt et al., 2019).
Purpose: This project explored how photo-elicitation can be used to assess nursing students’ experiences in community-based primary care clinical training. The goal was to determine how this method could also serve as a program evaluation tool to identify outcomes related to social determinants of health, empathy, and professional identity.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive design using participatory visual methods was applied. Eight nursing students took photographs during their clinical experiences. Using the SHOWED framework (Wallerstein, 1994), students participated in focus groups and reflected. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed through inductive thematic analysis.
Results: Four themes emerged. First, seeing patients in context, students recognized how environment and social factors shape health. Second, reframing perceptions of care, photos encouraged students to see strengths and community resources rather than deficits. Third, bridging emotion and analysis, students connected feelings of empathy to clinical judgment. Fourth, transforming professional identity, students described a deeper understanding of the nurse’s role in rural and underserved communities.
Conclusions: Photo-elicitation served as both a research and evaluation method. This participatory approach supports competency-based nursing education by emphasizing reflection, empathy, and critical thinking. Integrating photo-elicitation into nursing education can capture aspects of learning that traditional assessments may overlook while promoting engagement and professional growth.
Notes
Reference list included in attached slide deck.
Sigma Membership
Alpha Alpha
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Descriptive/Correlational
Research Approach
Qualitative Research
Keywords:
Competence, Curriculum Development, Public and Community Health, Nursing Students, Nursing Education, Photo Elicitation, Experience, Lived Experience, Student Attitudes
Recommended Citation
Williams, Megan P., "Seeing Through Students’ Eyes: Photo-Elicitation for Research and Program Evaluation in Nursing" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 174.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/presentations_2026/174
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-08-20
Seeing Through Students’ Eyes: Photo-Elicitation for Research and Program Evaluation in Nursing
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Background: Photo-elicitation invites participants to capture and share photographs representing their lived experiences. It offers a meaningful way to evaluate how nursing students integrate knowledge, skills, and attitudes across cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains of learning. Grounded in visual sociology (Harper, 2002) and expanded through nursing pedagogy (Linz, 2011; Kronk et al., 2015), this approach helps students express ideas and emotions that are difficult to articulate or assess. Prior research indicates that photo-elicitation supports empathy, critical thinking, and self-awareness through learning experiences such as aging (Chonody, 2018), community health (Cooper et al., 2017), and academic challenges (Steenfeldt et al., 2019).
Purpose: This project explored how photo-elicitation can be used to assess nursing students’ experiences in community-based primary care clinical training. The goal was to determine how this method could also serve as a program evaluation tool to identify outcomes related to social determinants of health, empathy, and professional identity.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive design using participatory visual methods was applied. Eight nursing students took photographs during their clinical experiences. Using the SHOWED framework (Wallerstein, 1994), students participated in focus groups and reflected. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed through inductive thematic analysis.
Results: Four themes emerged. First, seeing patients in context, students recognized how environment and social factors shape health. Second, reframing perceptions of care, photos encouraged students to see strengths and community resources rather than deficits. Third, bridging emotion and analysis, students connected feelings of empathy to clinical judgment. Fourth, transforming professional identity, students described a deeper understanding of the nurse’s role in rural and underserved communities.
Conclusions: Photo-elicitation served as both a research and evaluation method. This participatory approach supports competency-based nursing education by emphasizing reflection, empathy, and critical thinking. Integrating photo-elicitation into nursing education can capture aspects of learning that traditional assessments may overlook while promoting engagement and professional growth.
Description
Photo-elicitation invites participants to share photographs representing their experiences and offers a way to assess learning across cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. Using participatory visual methods, eight nursing students captured images during community-based clinicals and reflected using the SHOWED framework. Themes revealed empathy, reflection, and identity formation, supporting photo-elicitation as both a research and program evaluation tool in nursing education.