scholarly journals Exploring the co-involvement of disabled adolescents in participatory action research; protocol for a critical interpretative synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Fiona McDonald ◽  
Katie Robinson ◽  
Aoife L. Gallagher ◽  
Judith Pettigrew
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
Practice Framework

Background: Participatory action research (PAR) provides an opportunity for academic researchers and adolescents to co-conduct research within an area of shared interest. Reciprocal learning occurs as co-researchers acquire research skills and knowledge, and academic researchers gain understanding of the issue being examined, from the perspective of those with lived experience. All members of the research team have a shared responsibility for the research and decision-making processes. PAR has predominantly involved adults as co-researchers. However, in recent years more effort has been made to co-conduct research with adolescents. The aim of this review is to interrogate the practices of academic researchers employing a PAR approach when working along-side disabled adolescents. Methods/design: A critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) will be conducted, allowing for a diverse range of evidence to be drawn from. A systematic search of nine databases, from 1990 onwards, will be conducted first. Reference checking will occur to elicit further relevant data. Following screening, further purposive sampling will be completed to facilitate the development of concepts and theory in line with the on-going analysis and synthesis of findings. Data analysis will involve interpretation of included papers in relation to the principles of PAR and a ‘best-practice’ framework will be developed. During analysis particular emphasis will be given to the identification of potential social barriers to the participation of disabled adolescents in PAR.    Discussion: PAR is widely employed but little is known about its use when working with disabled adolescents. This current CIS will critically question the current practices of academic researchers employing PAR when working along-side disabled adolescents and future research through the best practice framework we will develop.

‘How Do You Feel About the Language That You Use?'

2021 ◽  
pp. 151-171
Author(s):  
Claire Louise Needler ◽  
Jamie Fairbairn
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
University Research ◽  
Creative Arts ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Transformative Power

Scots is one of three indigenous languages in Scotland, alongside English and Gaelic. In recent History, it was considered ‘slang', or ‘bad English'. Following legislative and policy changes, Scots is now recognized as a language and is recognized as a valuable part of the cultural heritage and lived experience of many who reside in Scotland. Further, in 2014, the Scots Language Award was introduced, and Scots is now taught in some schools. This chapter outlines a school-university research partnership that aimed to investigate the influence of teaching Scots on pupils' self-esteem and wider achievement. Using Participatory Action Research and creative arts to explore attitudes to Scots in school, the research highlighted the transformative power of home language (Scots) education.

scholarly journals Co-designing obesity prevention interventions together with children: intervention mapping meets youth-led participatory action research

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manou Anselma ◽  
Teatske M. Altenburg ◽  
Helga Emke ◽  
Femke van Nassau ◽  
Merlin Jurg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Expert Panel ◽  
Intervention Mapping ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Success Factor ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Academic Researchers

Abstract Background Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) involves children throughout the process of developing and implementing interventions. Combining YPAR with a structural approach for designing and planning interventions, such as Intervention Mapping (IM), may further improve implementation and effectiveness of interventions. This paper describes how YPAR and IM were combined in the Kids in Action study. Methods The Kids in Action study aims to improve health behaviors of 9–12-year old children living in a low socioeconomic neighborhood in Amsterdam, by co-designing interventions with these children. At each of four schools 6–8 children (N = 18–24 total per year) and two academic researchers formed participatory groups that met weekly or every fortnight during two school years. An IM expert panel advised the participatory groups on the application of IM. Results Following the IM protocol, we conducted a participatory needs assessment with children, parents and professionals, in IM-step 1. In IM-step 2, the IM expert panel constructed matrices of program objectives, and the children provided feedback. In collaboration with children programs were designed and produced using an iterative process during IM-steps 3–4. In IM-step 5, the participatory groups and professional community partners designed the implementation plan. Finally, in IM-step 6, the protocol of the process and effect evaluation – executed by academic researchers with input from children – was developed. Conclusions By combining YPAR and IM, several interventions have been developed and implemented, varying from a school water policy to extracurricular sports activities. Sharing responsibility with children was challenging when combining IM with YPAR. In YPAR children are given as much autonomy as possible, while traditional IM development work is primarily done by academic researchers. Strengths in combining IM and YPAR include the involvement of the end-users - children - throughout the process while at the same time developing interventions based on existing evidence. Time-management, a multidisciplinary team, and flexibility are important conditions when combining IM with YPAR. A strong community project group, with professionals who were willing to help children develop and execute their ideas, was an important success factor. This study can serve as an example to other YPAR studies developing interventions using the IM protocol.

On the news today: challenging homelessness through participatory action research

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-25
Author(s):  
Bruno De Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Social Issue ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Local Media

Purpose How can people with lived experience of homelessness actively participate in contesting their marginalisation? The purpose of this paper is to suggest that involving people who are homeless in participatory action research (PAR) is one such strategy. This paper shows that such an approach can have a significant impact on empowering people with direct of experience of homelessness to challenge prevailing social discourses, particularly in terms of the way in which the local media presents homelessness as a social issue. Design/methodology/approach A PAR approach informed the design, development and dissemination of the study on which this paper is based. Analytically, it is underpinned by Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA). FDA, with its focus on power relations in society, is noted to be particularly useful for analysing local media representations of homeless people. Findings The research reported here found that academic practitioners and homeless people can work together to challenge media discourses, which serve to marginalise people affected by homelessness. Research limitations/implications The research reported here served to challenge some of the ways in homeless people are victimized and stigmatized. Practical implications The research reported here has the potential to inform future research concerned with understanding media presentations of homeless people. It can be seen as a model for how people affected by a particularly pernicious social issue can contribute to research in ways that go beyond researching for the sake of research. Originality/value The research reported here provides evidence of the emancipatory value of research that seeks to bring academic practitioners and homeless people together in a partnership to challenge vital social issues such as the power of the local media to frame understandings of homelessness.

scholarly journals Applying Participatory Action Research Methods in Community-Based Adaptation With Smallholders in Myanmar

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson John Barbon ◽  
Chan Myae ◽  
Rene Vidallo ◽  
Phyu Sin Thant ◽  
Emilita Monville-Oro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Adaptation Options

The effects of climate change to agriculture being largely location specific, it is crucial that adaptation measures recognize the value of targeted, context-specific, community-based strategies and processes. This research deployed participatory action research relying on a diverse range of socio-technical methods for facilitating community-level adaptation in climate-smart villages. Smallholder farms in four unique agro-ecologies in Myanmar were targeted. Results and insights from the 3-year, participatory action research effort chronicle how the climate-smart village approach was implemented in the four targeted climate-smart villages (CSVs). The key support systems needed for effective community engagement in implementing the CSVs are discussed. Social learning helped nurture capacities of farmers to find solutions and test and improve adaptation options. Using a combination of socio-technical processes, smallholder farmers, researchers, and facilitators improved their understanding of climate change, drivers of vulnerability, and coping activities. With this knowledge and understanding, the farmers in the CSVs identified a menu of adaptation options that they would test and adopt (and scale). This “portfolio approach” to deriving adaptation options ensured that there were opportunities for men, women, and landless households to participate in the community adaptation process. This approach allowed farmers to determine what was their preferred entry point. Invariably, such approaches nurture incremental adaptation with associated incremental learning. The research suggests that land tenure regimes influence the nature of the adaptation options and their eventual uptake. In villages with high incidence of landlessness, the adaptation options were limited to homesteads, the small patch of land around the household dwelling. A more secure tenure status provided farmers with freedom to engage in diversified and long-term production systems. Poverty and wealth levels of households were other factors influencing the uptake of adaptation options, especially those aimed at diversifying production for reduced risks.

From Substitute to Supported Decision-Making: Participatory Action Research on the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 104420732110554
Author(s):  
Benoît Eyraud ◽  
Iuliia Taran
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The Relationship

In this article, we present findings from a participatory action-research program in France on the exercise of human rights and supported and substitute decision-making, inspired by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”). Bringing together persons with the lived experience of disability, academics, and health and social care and support professionals, the project used the method of “experience-based construction of public problem” to transform experience into collective expertise. This enabled the exploration of support that people in vulnerable situations, whose capacity to exercise their human rights has weakened, need to make decisions in their lives and participate meaningfully in public debate. The relationship between the awareness of rights and exercise of rights is discussed. We argue for the need to balance out the positions of different contributors in participatory action research, in a reasoned manner, by recognizing the scientific and citizen-based participation of all partners.

scholarly journals Collaboration for Improving Social Work Practice: The Promise of Feminist Participatory Action Research

Affilia ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 088610992095442
Author(s):  
Holly Johnson ◽  
Catherine Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Institutional Power

Feminist research and participatory action research (PAR) share the belief that research should directly serve social justice aims and work to alleviate suffering of marginalized and oppressed people. This article presents the results of a unique feminist PAR (FPAR) approach to designing and implementing an evaluation of an intervention with women who have used violence. The site of our analysis is the steering committee that oversaw this work and the extent to which members adhered to FPAR principles. Over the two decades since feminist critiques of PAR began to emerge, new discourses of collaboration have appeared. As researchers, we must be alert to FPAR discourses that mask ongoing hierarchies. Our findings suggest that, while reflexivity and genuine commitment to collaboration are fundamental to enacting FPAR principles, social workers nevertheless face real challenges confronting structural barriers that impede anti-oppression goals. This study highlights the challenges of adhering faithfully to feminist participatory principles in real-life settings and the need for future research to examine the effectiveness of FPAR processes in achieving authentic collaboration among committee members who are chosen to represent disparate perspectives and are backed by vastly different levels of social and institutional power.

scholarly journals Youth Involvement in Participatory Action Research (PAR)

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jangmin Kim
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Youth Community

Participatory Action Research (PAR) has been increasingly viewed as an effective strategy to enhance youth, community-based organizations that serve youth, and broader communities. However, young people have not been frequently involved in research and evaluation efforts as co-researchers or partners. This paper explored major challenges and barriers to the active engagement of youth identified in previous PAR projects. This critical literature review revealed relational, scientific, and ethical challenges. The relational challenges included a lack of trust and unequal power relationships between youth participants and adult researchers. The scientific issues were significantly associated with the major components of the PAR, such as transformative purposes, iterative processes, and flexible methods. Finally, significant ethical issues are identified in terms of potential risks to youth, confidentiality, and informed consent. This paper concludes with specific recommendations for effective strategies to deal with the challenges and barriers identified and possible directions for future research.

scholarly journals Therapeutic creativity and the lived experience of grief in the collaborative fiction film Lost Property

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesel Dawson ◽  
Jimmy Hay ◽  
Natasha Rosling
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Collaborative Project ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Narrative Images

This collaborative project aimed to represent the embodied experience of grief in a fiction film by drawing on research, and on the personal and professional experience of all involved: academics; an artist; bereavement therapists and counsellors; and professional actors, cinematographers, sound engineers and other film crew. By representing grief in a more phenomenologically minded manner, the project sought to capture the lived experience of loss on screen while contributing meaningfully to the discourse on practice-as-research. Hay, Dawson and Rosling used a collaborative fiction film and participatory action research to investigate whether storying loss, and representing it through narrative, images and embodied movement, is therapeutic. Participatory action research was beneficial in facilitating changes in the co-researchers’ thinking, feeling and practice, and in enabling participants to inhabit multiple roles in a manner that expanded their disciplinary boundaries. However, while the project’s effect on some of the participants demonstrated the ways that creativity and meaning making can support adaptive grieving, it also revealed the risks of using participatory action research and fiction film to investigate highly emotive topics such as grief.

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