Creative and visual communication of health research: development of a graphic novel to share children’s neighbourhood perspectives of COVID-19 lockdowns in Aotearoa New Zealand

Research dissemination to target stakeholders including communities, policymakers and practitioners is a fundamental element of successful research projects. For many of these stakeholders, however, barriers to access and uptake exist, including time taken to publish, academic jargon, language barriers, paywalled articles and time taken to consume and understand academic outputs. Ultimately these barriers could prevent research from reaching target audiences or could severely delay the uptake of key research messages. Creative and visual dissemination approaches as a complement to traditional academic outputs offer numerous advantages and may improve real-world uptake in a timely manner. In this practitioner piece, the authors present detailed methods for the development of a graphic novel using research findings from an online survey that asked children what they liked about their neighbourhood during COVID-19 lockdowns in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here, they share critical reflections from the process of developing and disseminating this creative communication, with the aim of informing and supporting future creative and visual dissemination of research findings.