Amplifying Youth and Community Voice: Using an Ecological Logic Model to Guide Photovoice Efforts

Community empowerment and participation approaches for addressing a community's health look to partners within the community to participate in identifying relevant issues, developing strategies and taking action. The aim of this presentation is to contribute to our understanding of the photovoice process as a method to enhance community participation efforts and challenge public policy. Photovoice is a guided process for members of a community to identify and examines assets and deficits of their community by taking and describing representative photographs and carrying out community dialogues and public exhibits that highlight salient issues and potential solutions.

A central component of the presentation is the description of a developed photovoice ecological logic model that can be used to plan, implement and evaluate other photovoice projects. Logic models are graphic depictions of expected causal relationships between program activities and outcomes. The ecological logic model presented here provides a means for differentiating the processes and outcomes of a photovoice process using a social ecological framework. While individual change and empowerment are desired outcomes of the photovoice process, the process also seeks to engage groups and whole communities in positive systems change. Using the model presented here should assist with the planning, implementation and evaluation of other photovoice efforts as well as provide planners and participants a visual for ensuring all are on the same conceptual page increasing the intentionality of their efforts.