Using photovoice with first-year MPH students: An innovative educational assessment tool

Background: The transition to a Masters of Public (MPH) program is both exciting and challenging, creating financial, familial, and academic stressors. It is also a critical step in producing a well-trained public health work force. Instructors at an accredited MPH program introduced Photovoice as an instructional and experiential tool in community-based participatory research.

Purpose: To gain insight into the experiences of first-year MPH students and provide programmatic recommendations to enhance the learning environment.

Significance: Photovoice provides a medium for self-exploration and anonymous feedback, empowering individuals to inform change.

Methodology: 26 participants were asked to photograph their experiences as first-year MPH students. Each student chose one photograph and wrote a description about what they saw, what it represented, and what could be done to improve the situation. Photos and descriptions were displayed anonymously in class. Students identified themes, formed recommendations for program faculty and future MPH students, and presented these findings to the department and graduate student association.

Findings/Results: Recommendations for future students related to time management and the need for support systems. Recommendations to program faculty focused on the orientation process, including additional technological and writing support.

Conclusions/Recommendations: Photovoice is an innovative tool to assess and respond to the educational climate and provides educators with a window into the student experience. Photovoice holds promising universal applicability and similar methodology could be used in the middle, high school, and undergraduate settings to assess school climate around bullying, body image, drug use, and a host of other academic and health-related issues.