Autobiographical performance in dramatherapy: A scoping review

Autobiographical performance is a dramatherapy intervention where participants devise and perform personal narratives for an audience. This scoping review maps the research landscape of autobiographical performance within therapeutic contexts over a twenty-year period (2003–23). Following established scoping review frameworks, a systematic search was conducted across five major databases, specialized journals, and grey literature, including hand-searching reference lists. Of the 423 identified records, 33 studies met the inclusion criteria, comprising book chapters, journal articles and graduate-level papers/dissertations. The findings indicate a global interest in the practice, with the highest concentration of research emerging from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. A significant portion of the literature focuses on trainee dramatherapists, though the method is also utilized as an intervention in private and community settings across diverse populations. While the research is characterized by methodological diversity and exploratory aims, there is a noted gap in effectiveness-based studies using aligned methodologies. Future research should prioritize rigorous methodological frameworks to better evaluate the clinical efficacy of this intervention.