Analysing patient experiences: a comparison of qualitative thematic analysis and collaborative arts-based enquiry methodologies in the case of living with a progressive lung condition

Arts-based health research is gaining traction for its ability to enhance participation, elicit diverse data, and engage audiences. While content-based qualitative analysis approaches are well established and valued for their structured, auditable processes, the analytical foundations of arts-based methods remain comparatively underexplored. This paper addresses this methodological gap by presenting a worked example comparing two approaches to analysing data on patient experience: qualitative thematic analysis, using the Framework method, and collaborative arts-based enquiry, using the Collective Character Technique. Data were collected about experiences of a progressive lung condition idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), where scarring builds up in the lungs without a known cause, which gradually makes breathing more difficult and limits oxygen flow to the body. Qualitative interviews, using photo-voice methods, were conducted with eleven people with IPF in England. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed clean verbatim, then analysed using two parallel methods: (1) a content-based, thematic approach, using an adapted Framework method led by the research team and presented in a report to the funder, and (2) using collaborative, arts-based enquiry methods, with artists, patients, carers, healthcare professionals and campaigners to produce a film launched at a regional arts centre, and shared with UK medical schools. We compared the analysis approaches used. There were significant synergies between the two analysis approaches –both approaches were structured and iterative, searching for commonalities and difference in the data. While similar issues were identified across both analysis methods, in the final analysis, the thematic approach presented five themes in the study report, illustrated with verbatim quotes from the transcripts, while the arts-based enquiry approach presented the findings through four fictional stories conveyed though a short film anthology. Used either independently or in a complementary way, qualitative content-based analysis and collaborative arts-based approaches both have the potential to offer rigorous insights into experiences of health conditions, systems and services. Their different analysis approaches demonstrate significant overlap, but with very different research outputs, that enable different types of impact, including academic, clinical, policy or public engagement. The parent trial, OxyPuF, was prospectively registered EudraCT 202,100,353,529.