Testing the effectiveness of community-engaged citizen science to promote physical activity, foster healthier neighborhood environments, and advance health equity in vulnerable communities: The Steps for Change randomized controlled trial design and methods

Our Voice NOLA: Leveraging a Community Engaged Citizen Science Method to Contextualize the New Orleans Food Environment

“…One limitation was the small sample size. However, this sample size was in range with other Our Voice research, which has shown that consensus in a community locale can typically be reached with as few as 8–10 citizen scientists [ 26 , 33 , 53 ], Our Voice research has demonstrated that insights typically reach a point of consensus with such sample sizes—and thus, larger sample sizes may not be necessary in many cases [ 26 ]. Yet, while the community meeting yielded five community members (seven scientists, 14 community organizations), having greater community representation would have contributed to further and deeper insights.…”

“…This work has important implications for New Orleans residents, community leaders, and local organizations as they work towards improving the intertwined social, built, and food environments. Previous Our Voice studies have demonstrated the inherent value of the methodology for advocacy and change [ 26 , 28 , 29 , 33 , 34 ] amongst researchers, public health practitioners, community organizations and others. The current study demonstrates the feasibility of using the DT identify issues; and convene residents and other key stakeholders to begin initial conversations on: problem identification and their root causes; existing and/or new solutions and changes that need to take place; and insights that may inform which inter- and multi-sector collaborators might play a role in facilitating and implementing said changes.…”

“…Following the journey, a brief, reflective, semi-structured oral interview was conducted. This phase was an additional component to the Our Voice method that, at the time of implementation, was unique to Our Voice NOLA [ 26 , 29 , 33 ]. Specifically, Our Voice studies typically have a data review meeting [ 33 , 34 ], whereas the current study provided an opportunity for residents to reflect immediately after their journey.…”

“…This phase was an additional component to the Our Voice method that, at the time of implementation, was unique to Our Voice NOLA [ 26 , 29 , 33 ]. Specifically, Our Voice studies typically have a data review meeting [ 33 , 34 ], whereas the current study provided an opportunity for residents to reflect immediately after their journey. The aim of this new element to the methodology was to allow citizen scientists to share their experience of the journey—framed as a ‘story’—to deepen the experience and enable them to reflect on and analyze their observations.…”

The “Our Voice” Method: Participatory Action Citizen Science Research to Advance Behavioral Health and Health Equity Outcomes

“…Traditional definitions of “citizen” often are used with this approach to signal community resident participation regardless of legal citizenship status. Although citizen science has a lengthy history of application within the natural and environmental sciences, more recent adaptations have focused on social, biomedical, and public health issues, leading to a growing scientific literature base [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Citizen science methods have not been as widely applied within the field of public health, yet they show promise for addressing health equity issues and the potential for democratizing access to scientific knowledge by diverse groups in addition to aiding real-world translation of knowledge into meaningful action [ 15 ].…”