Where's the health equity focus?: Youth digital media programs in the United States

Background: Youth digital media programs encourage young people to explore their identities, voices, and the world-at-large. Such programs offer a range of opportunities that can positively impact the health and well-being of participants' and their communities. However, program objectives vary. Objective: Given the increasing importance of the internet and digital media in the lives of U.S. youth, we explored whether such programs explicitly discuss equity in their online program descriptions. Methods: A master program list was created via searches of academic databases, Google, the Youth Media Reporter and Future500 using the following program inclusion criteria: participants were ≤26-years-old, active organization website, youth-driven program and work. Digital media was defined as computer or other technology-based forms of photography, music, film, writing, or radio. We considered whether youth had a meaningful role in producing the media communication, whether it was publicly accessible, and the content's purpose. Results: We explored a final sample of 88 programs across multiple domains: program/organization structure and objective, theme, explicit focus on youth of racial/ethnic minority populations, whether the program incorporated equity. For a few representative programs, we created and used a rubric to gather more in-depth qualitative data. We found that 20 programs had an explicit equity focus while 39 had no discussion of equity or equality. 18 programs focused on a particular racial/ethnic minority population. Discussion: Digital media programs serve as an innovative outlet for youth to gain self-esteem, learn how to communicate via digital means, engage in collaboration, develop critical thinking skills, and hone self and community advocacy skills; such internet communication proficiency is known to impact youth health and development. However, few youth digital media programs explicitly consider equity or focus on marginalized youth populations, both of which are essential for fostering social change – a primary tenet of youth digital media.