Using PhotoVoice to Understand Youth Perspectives on Substance Abuse Recovery

Just finishing up an IRB this morning to submit to PSU to get permission to proceed with a new research project I’ve been committed to doing for several years now. Most excited to jump into it this summer. Here is the brief required narrative from my proposal:
Substance abuse remains a formidable problem in the U.S. Until recently, adolescent substance abuse treatment frameworks and related research about them was under-developed. However in the last ten years, there has been significant development in both treatment models and research in the area (Carter Narendorf & McMillan, 2010). Simultaneously, there has been a movement in motion regarding the “recovery” process which is associated with, but tends to follow, formal treatment (Sheedy & Whitter, 2009). What happens when people leave treatment and begin a new life in “recovery?” This research will fill a gap in the addiction recovery literature by centering youth perspectives on their unique developmental view of the process of recovery from addiction as they experience it. Research questions include:

• What does recovery mean to young people following cessation of alcohol and drug abuse?
• What are examples of recovery in the lives of young people who are experiencing it?
• What do young people wish people knew about the recovery process from their own points of view?
• What risks and what reinforcements to recovery do young people experience in their lives?

PhotoVoice is being selected because it has been shown to be a promising emerging research method to engage marginalized or hard to reach populations (Wang, 1999) and especially youth (Wang, 2006). The method puts cameras in the hands of research subjects, and after some basic orientation to the research challenge and opportunity (including a 1.5 hour training session to include: underlying issues about the use of cameras, power, and ethics, risks to participants and how to minimize them, and informed consent including issues of confidentiality, and participants’ rights during the study), asks them to take photos to represent the answers to specific research questions in their own lived environments. Both the selected resulting photos taken by participants, along with their own verbal analysis is then considered the “data” of the research, and subsequent qualitative research methods (in this case a participatory action research frame). Following the orientation training session, subjects will have approximately 2 weeks in which to take their own photographs. Subjects will then participate in recorded 1.5 hour individual sessions to process their photos, as well as one additional multi-subject focus group which will last approximately 2 hours. An optional additional 1.5 hour recorded focus group session may also be included to work collaboratively to seek additional points of commonality among photographs and to strategize about additional avenues for dissemination of their shared work. Overall, this method is intentionally utilized to promote original, creative and emergent interpretive perspectives and dialogue, as well as an invitation to the youth participants to use their collective voices to inform the larger system about their own youth-specific identities, needs, realities and recommendations for improved “developmentally-specific” programming. An empowerment framework forms the basis of the research itself as well as emergent directions for its use and dissemination.
Will post updates about our process as we get going!

This post is reprinted with permission from Learning Social Work.

Laura Burney Nissen, Ph.D., M.S.W. specializes in innovative and dynamic community/cross-agency partnerships. From 2000 to 2011, she led the Reclaiming Futures initiative through conceptualization, demonstration and dissemination. As national program director, Laura wrote extensively about the lessons of the initiative, and was a regular speaker at national meetings on juvenile justice reform and excellence in youth programming. Laura has worked with state and federal agencies to encourage system-wide recognition and use of strength-based methods for youth. She is an associate professor at Portland State University's School of Social Work. Her research focuses on qualitative research methods, system reform issues, and communication tools for social change. She received both her M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work.