By: Dorothy Wanega and Jane Awi
This article presents preliminary findings of a locally developed research project that combined arts-based research tools and narrative therapy as a response to the effects of domestic violence on the academic performance of school students between the ages of 16 and 19. Students in selected schools from two regions of Papua New Guinea (PNG) participated in the study. These students experienced a set of creative exercises devised to enable them to speak about their experiences of domestic violence and to elicit and honour their stories, responses and suggestions about ways of addressing and preventing further violence in PNG. From the rich material offered by the students, three collective letters were written for use in advocacy and education. These letters and this paper provide a voice for PNG school students. This paper also presents a way of bringing together arts-based research and narrative practice, offers an example of the use of collective letters to represent qualitative research findings, and documents a form of research that encompasses social action on community problems.
Key words: Arts-based research; qualitative research; domestic violence; family violence; process drama, externalising, collective letters; narrative therapy; narrative practice
Wanega, D., & Awi, J. (2026). “Dear Violence”: Using process drama, narrative therapy and collective letters to explore and acknowledge students’ experiences of domestic violence in PNG. International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, (1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.4320/MYSQ8125