Making microbes matter: storytelling’s potential to make antibiotic resistance real and relevant to the public

This commentary discusses how digital storytelling may help people engage with the threat of bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) including in relation to antibiotic use. The range of public health communication campaigns of recent decades have had variable impacts and there remains scope to develop novel ways to make the complex issue of AMR more real and relevant to the public. Here, we propose that structured storytelling, in particular digital storytelling, may offer a more self-reflective and meaningful approach to such communication. Subtle and overt socio-cultural determinants are at play in the public’s interpretation and response to the threat of AMR, whether addressed within or without of a medical consultation, and storytelling is framed as a way of negotiating the nuances of authentic personal experience, with the person–patient storyteller at its heart.