Audience engagement and impact: Ethical considerations in art-based health research

Art-based research presents epistemological benefits and challenges for researchers and artists. There are also significant ethical implications for audiences as well as participants and researchers. We argue that it is important to consider who is in the audience and how to minimize potentially harmful effects of the work. This includes issues of privacy and confidentiality arising from incorporation of participants’ stories into the art form and the need to offer reassurance to audience members who may believe they recognize aspects of themselves or someone they know in the production. It also highlights the need for researchers to establish respectful terms of engagement for audiences who may offer a variety of interpretations to the artistic work. We point to possible ways that researchers and artists can address these ethical tensions to ensure that art-based health research is ethically rigorous as well as being creatively engaging.