Participatory Video Across Mental Health Settings: A Scoping Review of Stigma Reduction, Recovery and Psychosocial Outcomes

Participatory video (PV), a methodology in which participants collectively design, film and edit audiovisual material about their own experience, has been proposed as an approach combining therapeutic, advocacy and knowledge-producing functions. This scoping review mapped and critically examined empirical reports applying PV with people experiencing severe mental illness, psychosis and related stigmatised conditions. Five bibliographic databases (Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, ERIC) and a multi-database search on the EBSCOhost platform were searched, supplemented by a Google Scholar hand-search, with reporting following PRISMA-ScR. Twelve reports, deriving from ten independent projects, were included, appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) and synthesised through thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: stigma reduction and changing public perceptions; recovery, narrative and psychosocial change; voice, empowerment and collective agency; and community, institutional relationships and structural limitations. The findings suggest that a single procedure may act in two directions, on those who produce the videos and on those who watch them. Participants reported narrative development, skill acquisition, self-esteem, connectedness and, in one project, significantly reduced self-stigma; viewers reported improved knowledge, attitudes and intended behaviour where videos were delivered alongside structured contact with those who produced them. Documented difficulties included unequal contribution and contested authorship within production groups, participants unwilling to be publicly identified, and one case of institutional retaliation following a project’s public advocacy. Designs were predominantly qualitative and single-arm, with no comparison conditions and follow-up beyond three months in a single project. Only one report involved neurodivergent participants, adults with developmental disabilities; none involved autistic participants specifically or anyone under 18.