A strategy for empowering individualsto become “visual researchers”

What is PhotoVoice?

• People identify, represent, and enhance their lives and communities through specific photographic approach.

• Entrust cameras to groups who seldom have access to those people who make decision about their lives.

• Uses visual images and accompanying stories to promote an effective, participatory means of sharing expertise and creating healthful public policies.

PhotoVoice is a method that enables people to define for themselves and others, including policymakers, what is worth remembering and what needs to be changed.

(from photovoice.com)

Participatory Action Research

• “...contribute both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to further the goals of social science simultaneously.”

• Stresses importance of co-learning as a primary aspect of the research process.

• Requires active collaboration of researcher and client.

Thomas Gilmore, Jim Krantz and Rafael Ramirez, "Action Based Modes of Inquiry and the Host-Researcher Relationship," Consultation 5.3 (Fall 1986): 161. ( retrieved from http://www.web.ca/~robrien/papers/arfinal.html#_edn1)

PhotoVoice as PAR Research

Principles:– The “researched” are partners (rather than

simply subjects• Involved in research design, data collection,

analysis, dissemination, etc.

– Data is personal, context-specific experiences of partners.

– Findings disseminated to both scientific and lay audiences.

– Insights from findings used to develop strategies for individual and social change.

Participatory Action Research

Can be adapted to specific goals:– Needs assessment– Impact evaluation– Process evaluation– Outcome evaluation

PhotoVoice as PAR ResearchData:

– Images– Text accompanying photos– Transcripts/notes from group

discussions– Participant interviews and surveys– Individual journals kept by participants

PhotoVoice as PAR ResearchData Analysis:

– Qualitative analysis using Grounded Theory methods:1. Selecting photos– choosing those

photographs that most accurately reflect the community's concerns and assets

2. Contextualizing – telling stories about what the photographs mean

3. Codifying – identifying the issues, ideas, solutions, themes, or theories that emerge

PhotoVoice as Intervention

Focus:– Develop individual skills, insights,

resources.– Empowerment and validation of

individuals and groups.– Community education.– Social/political action.

PhotoVoice Foundations • Documentary Photography and

Photojournalism– Photos used to draw attention to social issues.– Limitation:

• Typically taken from outsider’s viewpoint and therefore may fail to capture the insider’s perspective.

PhotoVoice Foundations• Paolo Freire

– Education for critical consciousness.– Education to change status quo. – Common people should be active participants

in understanding their community’s issues.– Become agents of community change.

PhotoVoice Foundations

• Feminist Theory– No one is in a better position to study and

understand issues of a group than are the people within that group.

– Discovery through shared experience and dialogue.

PhotoVoice vs. Photography• Photovoice is not just

– photography project– visual anthropology– art therapy– photojournalism

• Photovoice is equal parts+ photography+ research+ group process+ storytelling + social action+ self-consciousness+ social-conscience

PhotoVoice Background• Developed in early 1990s by:

– Dr. Caroline Wang (University of Michigan, School of Public Health) and Dr. Mary Ann Burris (Ford Foundation)

– Yunnan (China) Women's Reproductive Health and Development Program

Yunnan Women's Reproductive Health and Development Project

HOEING CORN Li Qiong Fen, age 37

The village has no kindergarten and at home there are no elderly people to look after the young. Women can only take the children to the field, doing farmwork as they look after them.

Yunnan Women's Reproductive Health and Development Project

FEEDING A MEAL Zhu Yu Zhen, age 42

The older brother in this photograph is about three years old and the smaller one is only one year old. During the busy season, adults have no time to watch the children. This older child is taking care of the little one.

PhotoVoice Applications• Elderly using photovoice to show psychosocial

outcomes of chronic pain (2002-04) Ann Arbor, Michigan

• African American breast cancer survivors identify their needs and voice them to influential people in their communities(2001-02) Eastern North Carolina

• A snapshot of Health in Contra Costa County(1998) California

• Multigenerational linking of homeless and marginally housed African American women (1997 - 2000) Detroit, Michigan

• People with psychiatric disabilities educating providers (1998) New Haven, Connecticut

• Women's Reproductive Health and Development Program (1992 - 1996) Yunnan, China

PhotoVoice with Adolescents• Engaging youth as research partners in a

community needs/assets assessment (2001 - 2002) Baltimore, Maryland

• Mapping assets and building community ties involving youth, adults, and policy makers(1988 - present) Flint, Michigan

• Black Youth as Town Criers on the AIDS Epidemic An AIDS Photovoice, (2001-03) San Francisco Bay, California

• Youth Violence Prevention Center, Youth Against Violence Photovoice Project (2002 – present) Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Youth Empowerment Strategies (YES!) developing critical thinking and problem solving skills among underserved children (2002 - present) San Francisco Bay area, California

Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Heath

SouthEastYouthAcademy

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceGoals:

1. Build university-community partnership between the Center for Adolescent Health and SEYA.

2. Explore utility of the Photovoice as a means of engaging youth in a community-based research process.

3. Develop and refine a curriculum for the replication of a youth Photovoice project.

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceSite Selection:• After-school teen center

• Multiethnic urban community of Baltimore

• Site emphasizes community development (change) rather than social service (status).

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceParticipants:• 14 adolescents ages 11 – 19• Experienced at least one of the

following:– Drug use– Drug trafficking by immediate family

members– Recent eviction– Recent death of parent– Psychiatric hospitalization of parent– Teen pregnancy– Victim of violence at school or

community

PhotoVoice Process1. Conceptualize problems/issues2. Defining broader goals and objectives.3. Train participants (techniques, ethics).4. Determine initial ideas and tasks.5. Take pictures.6. Critical reflection and dialogue.7. Document narrative stories.8. Analysis of Data.9. Presentation of findings to audiences

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceMethods:• 20 2-hour sessions• 2x/week for 12 weeks• University-community collaboration• “Take pictures of things you love about

your street or neighborhood or community and of things you would love to change.”

• SHOWeD Method

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceSHOWeD Method:

1. What do you SEE here?

2. What’s really HAPPENING here?

3. How does this relate to OUR lives?

4. WHY does this problem or situation exist?

5. How could this image EDUCATE others (the community, policy makers, etc.)?

6. What can we DO about the problem or situation?

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceAdapting to Adolescents:• Adolescent Egocentrism

– Some more interested in photographing friends and family rather than broader social contexts.

• Solution:– Allow all to take pictures describing their lives

and identifying who they are.– Encourage older teens to document broader

social contexts.– Divide (adapt) project/exhibit into 2 sections:

• Personal photographs• Community photographs

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceAdapting to Adolescents:• Groups, discussions

– Participant:Staff ratio of 10:1– Too large and heterogeneous

• Solution:– Split into 2 smaller, developmentally

homogeneous groups based on age– Participant:Staff ratio 5:1

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceAdapting to Adolescents:• Duration of project

– Longer duration (4-6 months)– Allow adolescents to develop greater

expertise.– Increase levels of empowerment

• Allow more freedom and time to plan, modify, recruit audience, etc.

– More team building

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceOther Recommendations:• Hands-on activities (missions)

incorporated into each session• Team –building• Adult-modeled photo expeditions• Professional photographer or

photojournalist involved

This is Patterson Park when it is dirty, but if we put a little bit of effort into it, it would look good.

-Joshua, age 12

This was trash day and everyone piled their trash up neat.  I like how this alley is very clean and people care about their community.

-Bliss, age 13

This is the owner of the store and he volunteered to sweep up other people's trash.  This is positive because we don't have too many people in Baltimore City that will volunteer to clean up someone else's trash.

Sierra, age 15

                                                         

This is a common sight in Baltimore.  Most of the time you see them on the corners.  They've got all different kinds.  The picture here shows a bottle of Coors Light.  I think this is creating a bad problem because the bottle here still has something in it, and a child could pick it up and drink it.  And I think that the adults need to stop drinking also, because if they stopped, they might be better role models to the teens.

Kameka, age 15

                                                         

I took this picture because it is an abandoned building, and nobody pays it attention.  It's somewhere that I have visited, and I've seen the inside.  I knew there was more to it than just what's on the outside. I noticed the flooding in the basement.  I noticed the holes in the ceilings and floors.  Also I noticed rusty elevator shafts.  One whole floor had metal rails all across it.  The entire floor was nothing but metal rails.  Kids go there because it's fun, and it's a place to get away from adults nagging.  It was once a nice building, and now it is decayed.  I think it's a bad idea for kids to go there, but it's fun.Shannon, age 14

                                                         

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceOutcome of Project:

• Informing community and policy makers

– 4 exhibits: 2 at youth center, 1 at university, 1 a cultural arts center

– Attended by:• Community organization representatives• Funding source representatives• Elected Councilmen• Members of academic community• Local community members

Highlandtown Middle School is a bad school.  The ceiling is falling apart and it is not good.

-Joshua, age 12

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceOutcome of Project:

• Youth Satisfaction– Enjoyed taking pictures: 91%– Enjoyed discussions: 100%– Commitment: 100%– Do again?: 100%

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceOutcome of Project:

• Youth Empowerment– Increased awareness of community

strengths and deficits.– Recognized positive roles in

community (positive youth voice) – Stakeholders in community– Sense of pride

Baltimore SEYA PhotoVoiceOutcome of Project:• Curriculum Development

– Developed recommendations for adapting PAR PhotoVoice to youth.

– Developed guidelines for successful replication of youth PhotoVoice.

PhotoVoice with Youth?

• How might you utilize Photovoice to engage youth in helping us to understand issues related to adolescence?