Teens spread health advocacy message in their communities

“Photovoice confronts a fundamental problem of community assessment: What professionals, researchers, specialists and outsiders think is important may completely fail to match what the community thinks is important,” said Jonathan Necheles, MD, MPH, an attending physician at Children’s Memorial Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

“Photovoice goes beyond the conventional role of community assessment by inviting people to promote their own and their community’s well-being,” said Necheles, who described the photovoice project in and article in the Fall 2007 Volume 1.3 issue of the journal Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research Education and Action.

For the first six months of the project, 13 youths aged 13 to 17 years who had been given a new digital camera took hundreds of pictures to capture images in their communities – such as fast food, liquor stores, pollution – they believed influenced their health behaviors.

At regular meetings, the teens shared their photographs and talked about common themes that arose. Two main themes developed: food and stress.

“Our discussions showed us that youth are concerned about the current obesity epidemic and want to effect change. They also worry about their stress levels in school and want to communicate this to school staff,” Necheles said.

The youth then developed a series of posters aimed at educating their peers and others about health issues in their communities. One of the posters showed that in their neighborhoods and schools unhealthy foods were more readily available than healthier choices such as fresh fruit and salads. Another poster depicted images of major stressors in the teens’ environment, such as traffic, school and pollution.

The posters were exhibited in a special show and then reproduced and distributed around the students’ neighborhoods to promote change.

After the Teen Photovoice Project, several participants continued to develop their community advocacy interest through advocacy-related skill building activities, involvement in community organizations and college classes that address this topic. Necheles plans to engage more teens in the future to develop messages to influence peer behavior on eating and physical activity, and to evaluate the messages’ efficacy.-Children's Memorial Hospital