“Youth Are More Aware and Intelligent than Imagined”: The Mountain Air Youth Photovoice Project

Abstract

Appalachian Kentucky reports some of the highest rates of respiratory illness in the United States, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. While smoking rates are high in the region, unexplained variation remains, and community-engaged research approaches are warranted to identify contributing factors. The Mountain Air Project’s community advisory board recommended that investigators invite youth to provide their perspectives on possible contributing factors to respiratory illness, and we undertook an exploratory study to determine the utility of photovoice to elicit such perspectives with this population. While photovoice has been employed for other youth-focused health studies in Appalachia, to our knowledge, this work represents the region’s first environmental study using photovoice among youth. Over eight weeks, ten participants (age 12–18) represented their perspectives through photographs and accompanying narratives. A brief thematic content analysis of the youth narratives that accompanied the photos revealed three primary themes of environmental determinants of respiratory illness. These themes included compromises community members make regarding respiratory health in order to secure a livelihood; tension between cultural legacies and respiratory health; and consequences of geographic forces. This study demonstrates the value of incorporating youth perspectives in environmental health research, and that photovoice was a valuable approach to elicit such perspectives.

High School Students as Citizen Scientists to Decrease Radon Exposure

“…Among the youth citizen scientists, we documented high rates of returned test kits and valid results. Our results using a citizen science approach, similar to other youth-focused community-engaged projects, demonstrated that youth participation can improve outcomes (in this case, radon testing) [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 17 ]. This project was consistent with the healthy environment dimension of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030.…”

“…However, collaborating with youth citizen scientists presents opportunities and potential benefits for both the youth and the research institution [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Engaging youth in research promotes youth empowerment and enhances the relationship between communities and academic institutions [ 11 , 13 ]. The purpose of this exploratory project was to assess the feasibility of the citizen science approach by engaging youth in the school setting to raise awareness of home radon testing in rural KY and suburban OH.…”

A 10-Year Systematic Review of Photovoice Projects With Youth in the United States

“…Most recommendations for future research focused on the individual project’s research or program area but a few addressed design and implementation related issues. These recommendations included addressing participation and communication challenges by embedding the photovoice project within a class or student organization (Cardarelli et al, 2019), assessing the time commitments of the participants (Foster-Fishman et al, 2010), and building an atmosphere of trust (Irby et al, 2018).…”

“…In the Mountain Air Project, one participant expressed their desire for the findings to be shared with their community and another said: “I feel proud to have been a part of something so active. I hope it will result in change” (Cardarelli et al, 2019). The “Health in my Community” project participants shared that the project “affected my perspective of what is my community,” and they felt they were “helping and doing something good” (Madrigal et al, 2014).…”

Authentic Youth Engagement in Environmental Health Research and Advocacy

“…These themes included: compromises community members make regarding respiratory health in order to secure a livelihood; tension between cultural legacies and respiratory health; and consequences of geographic forces. This PV project demonstrated the value of deep understanding and analysis of environmental health concerns from the perspective of youth participation using PhotoVoice [ 18 ].…”