“I Hate the Word ‘Liver’”: A Photovoice Study of Burmese and Bhutanese Adolescent Health Care Brokers in Northeast Ohio

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents health care brokers interpret for family and community members lacking English language proficiency in health care settings. The purpose of this study was to explore personal experiences of Burmese and Bhutanese teenagers who served as health care brokers in resettled refugee families in Northeast Ohio. Method: A mixed methods design using photovoice guided this study. Participants completed the Adolescent Language Brokering Survey, took photos, wrote in journals, and attended focus groups. Results: Eight Burmese and Bhutanese teenagers participated. Three themes became apparent: health care brokering within sociocultural contexts, mediation during health care encounters, and representations of childhood. Discussion: The adolescents were proud to be health care brokers yet found it disrupted their lives because they were living in both their traditional culture and the American culture. Photovoice empowered them through dissemination of findings during a photo exposition, community meeting, and health literacy class. Health care professionals must recognize benefits and prohibitions when working with adolescent health care brokers.

Psychological Distress, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Suicidal Ideation Among Resettled Nepali-Speaking Bhutanese Refugees in the United States: Rates and Predictors

“…Many learned English while in refugee camps. Adolescents frequently serve as health care brokers because they speak English well (Hess et al, 2020). Bhutanese refugees prefer to use home remedies to treat illnesses unless the condition is serious or unresolved, and tend to keep mental illnesses hidden (MacDowell et al, 2020).…”

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Inequities: A Photovoice Study With Nursing Students

“…Photovoice underpinnings, based on feminist theory and empowerment education, is a process, based on Participation Action Research (PAR) (Abma et al, 2019) by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique (Wang & Burris, 1994, 1997). Using photovoice, facilitates the ability to observe disadvantaged populations in their everyday realities, taking photographs to discuss the meanings behind those images, to promote social action (Hess et al, 2021; Musoke et al, 2015; Watchman et al, 2020). In university academic context, Photovoice method has been used, not as PAR as well, but a way of exploring the reality of others and promoting critical thinking in students (Andina-Díaz, 2020; Solano-Ruiz et al, 2021).…”

The role of temporality in adolescent refugees' sense of well‐being

“…Miled (2020, p. 2) argued that photovoice "gives [refugee] youth a sense of ownership, pride and responsibility." Among adolescent refugees resettled in the USA, photovoice has been recently used to study a variety of topics, such as their perceptions of a healthy community (Springer et al, 2023), experiences as healthcare brokers (Hess et al, 2021), experiences in sports and physical education (Farello et al, 2019), and enactment of critical consciousness to improve their and their communities' lives (Smith-Appelson et al, 2023). The participant indicated Jordan as their country of origin when filling out the demographic information form.…”