Conference Agenda

Religiosity and faith are among the perennial issues of humankind. How do those worshippers, who frequently visit the church practice their faith outside of it? Faith is an integral part of everyday life for many, still it is challenging to capture the nature, meaning and individual variations of lived religiosity and faith practice.

The study aims to uncover deeper layers of religiosity through a qualitative investigation conducted among Catholic believers over the age of 70. To achieve this, in addition to verbal accounts we employed tools suitable for visual representation. Thus, the research focuses on identifying which objects and events participants encounter in their daily lives and the way our participants imbued them with additional religious significance.

The method used was the Photovoice method combined with Thematic Analysis. Participants were asked to take photographs regularly of objects, people, and situations that represent their everyday lived religion and faith over three weeks. They used their own smartphones or cameras provided for the study. After collecting photographs, semi-structured interviews were conducted to map the representations of religion and faith. Through the photographs and interviews, we gain insights into participants' experiences related to the transcendent, their faith, and their religious practices.

Britain’s socio-political and health crises have confronted people with a prolonged and multifaceted uncertainty, which is known to be a trigger for negative mental health outcomes such as stress, anxiety and depression (Massazza et al, 2022). In this presentation, we consider the impact of Britain’s exit from its former union, followed by the pandemic’s disruption to existing forms of community and sense of safety, on people’s mental health. Specifically, we explore ways in which arts-based research tools may promote mental health through community-building, creativity and self-reflection.

We draw from an arts-based research project investigating mental health in Brexiting Britain by means of online collage-making workshops in the aftermath of Brexit and the beginning of the pandemic. Drawing on the idea of the ‘borderlands’ epistemology, we explore the way in which collage-making and reflective writing enabled a space of live inquiry into questions around the ‘undecidability’ of belonging and identity. Attending to ‘juxtaposition’ and ‘overlapping’ (Vaughan, 2005) as embodied in the making of collage, we explore arts-based research as a material attempt at making meaning of a more fragmented sense of experience, and ultimately, contributing to more positive mental health outcomes.

Introduction: Relaxation and imaginative techniques are vital components of the diverse psycho-oncology toolkit, aiding cancer patients in achieving psychological well-being. At Semmelweis University’s Institute of Behavioral Sciences Healing Imagination Group, oncology patients are trained in progressive relaxation and guided imagery.

Aim: This study aims to explore the experiences of patients valuate their goal attainment, and identify factors that could contribute to further development of the group program.

Methods: A mixed-methods approach will be used. Quantitative data is collected through questionnaires administered at the beginning and end of the 12-session group program (e.g. to assess symptoms of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances).

The qualitative component involves semi-structured interviews, which will be analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to examine the impacts of the group, as well as the participants’ experiences and coping mechanisms.

Results: The study is ongoing from 2024 to 2025. To date, interviews with 10 participants (mean age: 49,3 years, males: 10%) have been completed. Preliminary results based on IPA will be presented.

Conclusions: Evaluating the Healing Imagination group is crucial for its development and integration into regular Hungarian psycho-oncology practices. This research aims to optimize the group’s structure and contribute to the broader psycho-oncology toolkit.

Popular memes often paint a similar picture about older adults using digital devices: technophobes who cannot keep up with the changing world of digitalisation. However, the number of older internet users grows rapidly, even on platforms associated with the younger generations, such as TikTok. Older adults contribute to internet discourses on various topics; therefore, it is important to broaden our understanding of their online activities.

This presentation aims to exhibit, using qualitative approaches, how Hungarian older adults above sixty use TikTok to reflect on their age and ageing through content creation. Utilising the Visual and Verbal Video Analysis and Discourse Analysis method, four topics emerged: reflection on age, negative experiences (including mental health issues), depiction of stereotypes, and humour. In contrast to the international results, these videos depict social disadvantages more often and interpret stereotypes in particular ways. The videos speak from different social positions, legitimating the sociological statement that there is no uniform image of older adults. Furthermore, our presentation shows an example of a qualitative analysis of social media short videos.