When analysis needed rhythm: spoken word poetry as method in multicultural psychotherapy research

Qualitative psychotherapy research has traditionally privileged linear, text-based modes of knowledge production that often struggle to capture the embodied, emotional, and culturally situated dimensions of therapeutic work. This paper explores spoken word poetry as a reflexive, analytic, and therapeutic methodological practice within qualitative research in multicultural integrative psychotherapy. Situated within a constructivist–interpretivist paradigm, this study incorporated researcher-generated spoken word poetry as a mode of reflexive processing, analytic sense-making, and public dissemination. Selected poetic artefacts are presented alongside analytic commentary to illustrate how poetry functioned as both a reflexive method and a therapeutic meaning-making practice. Ethical and reflexive considerations surrounding creative analytic practice are discussed, including implications for researcher wellbeing and cultural representation. The paper argues that spoken word poetry represents a legitimate and generative methodological approach for multicultural psychotherapy research, offering important implications for poetry therapy practice, therapist reflexivity, culturally responsive research methodologies.