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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Roberta Downing, PhD¹, Freya Sonenstein, PhD², and Nedra Davis, CHES². (1) Kellogg Community Health Scholars Program, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, HH 337, Baltimore, MD 21205, 443-287-4289, rdowning@jhsph.edu, (2) Center for Adolescent Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe Street, E4618-A, Baltimore, MD 21205

Within policy realms and the social science literature, the lives of urban youth of color are often characterized in terms of social problems (e.g., teen pregnancy, school drop-out, etc.). While these issues indeed need critical attention, it is also important to highlight the strength that exists within urban communities. This presentation describes a community-based participatory research study that used Photovoice to document how adolescents define and describe the construct of “love,” the relationships of love to adolescent health, and the positive aspects of adolescents' lives and neighborhoods. Participants were African American youth (n = 20) in Baltimore who are members of the Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health Youth Advisory Committee. When choosing topics for the Photovoice project, the participants decided they were tired of focusing on the problems in their communities and instead wanted to focus on positive topics, specifically love. First, we describe how we used the Photovoice research method to examine love from the perspective of Baltimore adolescents. Second, we will present data collected using the SHOWed method (Wang,1999)—i.e., consciousness-raising discussions that identify themes related to love, and the relationship of love to adolescent health, from photographs taken by study participants. Data from one-on-one interviews will also be presented that describe how participating in the Photovoice project impacted adolescents' sense of empowerment. Finally, this presentation will discuss how data on love, and its relationship to adolescent health, can be used to help develop interventions to support health-promoting behaviors in urban adolescents.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. List 3 ways in which Baltimore youth portray the love in their lives.
• 2. Describe how Photovoice can be used to enhance youth empowerment.
• 3. Identify how Photovoice is effective at gaining the attention of community leaders.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Community-Based Partnership

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation