scholarly journals The Article Idea Chart: A participatory action research tool to aid involvement in dissemination

Author(s):  
Cheryl Forchuk ◽  
Amanda Meier

Participatory-action research encourages the involvement of all key stakeholders in the research process and is especially well suited to mental health research. Previous literature outlines the importance of engaging stakeholders in the development of research questions and methodologies, but little has been written about ensuring the involvement of all stakeholders (especially non-academic members) in dissemination opportunities such as publication development. The Article Idea Chart was developed as a specific methodology for engaging all stakeholders in data analysis and publication development. It has been successfully utilised in a number of studies and is an effective tool for ensuring the dissemination process of participatory-action research results is both inclusive and transparent to all team members, regardless of stakeholder group.Keywords: participatory-action research, mental health, dissemination, community capacity building, publications, authorship

2021 ◽  
pp. 146879412110399
Author(s):  
Verusca Calabria ◽  
Di Bailey

This article explores the similarities and differences between oral history and participatory action research (PAR) as two qualitative research methods that both accord with an interpretivist paradigm. It examines how combining these two methodologies can benefit mental health research, offering opportunities for reflection and reciprocity. Drawing from the authors’ respective knowledge and experience of using oral history and PAR methods within social care and mental health settings in the UK, the article considers these opportunities in relation to key concepts, namely, the sharing of power, reciprocity and positionality that are inherent in both methodological approaches. The article concludes that PAR-led oral history offers a trans-disciplinary methodology that can offer fresh insights for improving practices and social outcomes and for reducing inequalities.


2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Knightbridge ◽  
Robert King ◽  
Timothy J. Rolfe

Objective: This paper describes the first phase of a larger project that utilizes participatory action research to examine complex mental health needs across an extensive group of stakeholders in the community. Method: Within an objective qualitative analysis of focus group discussions the social ecological model is utilized to explore how integrative activities can be informed, planned and implemented across multiple elements and levels of a system. Seventy-one primary care workers, managers, policy-makers, consumers and carers from across the southern metropolitan and Gippsland regions of Victoria, Australia took part in seven focus groups. All groups responded to an identical set of focusing questions. Results: Participants produced an explanatory model describing the service system, as it relates to people with complex needs, across the levels of social ecological analysis. Qualitative themes analysis identified four priority areas to be addressed in order to improve the system's capacity for working with complexity. These included: (i) system fragmentation; (ii) integrative case management practices; (iii) community attitudes; and (iv) money and resources. Conclusions: The emergent themes provide clues as to how complexity is constructed and interpreted across the system of involved agencies and interest groups. The implications these findings have for the development and evaluation of this community capacity-building project were examined from the perspective of constructing interventions that address both top-down and bottom-up processes.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. e049564
Author(s):  
Mary Abboah-Offei ◽  
Akosua Gyasi Darkwa ◽  
Andrews Ayim ◽  
Adelaide Maria Ansah-Ofei ◽  
Delanyo Dovlo ◽  
...  

IntroductionWith rapid urbanisation in low-income and middle-income countries, health systems are struggling to meet the needs of their growing populations. Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) in Ghana have been effective in improving maternal and child health in rural areas; however, implementation in urban areas has proven challenging. This study aims to engage key stakeholders in urban communities to understand how the CHPS model can be adapted to reach poor urban communities.Methods and analysisA Participatory Action Research (PAR) will be used to develop an urban CHPS model with stakeholders in three selected CHPS zones: (a) Old Fadama (Yam and Onion Market community), (b) Adedenkpo and (c) Adotrom 2, representing three categories of poor urban neighbourhoods in Accra, Ghana. Two phases will be implemented: phase 1 (‘reconnaissance phase) will engage and establish PAR research groups in the selected zones, conduct focus groups and individual interviews with urban residents, households vulnerable to ill-health and CHPS staff and key stakeholders. A desk review of preceding efforts to implement CHPS will be conducted to understand what worked (or not), how and why. Findings from phase 1 will be used to inform and co-create an urban CHPS model in phase 2, where PAR groups will be involved in multiple recurrent stages (cycles) of community-based planning, observation, action and reflection to develop and refine the urban CHPS model. Data will be managed using NVivo software and coded using the domains of community engagement as a framework to understand community assets and potential for engagement.Ethics and disseminationThis study has been approved by the University of York’s Health Sciences Research Governance Committee and the Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee. The results of this study will guide the scale-up of CHPS across urban areas in Ghana, which will be disseminated through journal publications, community and government stakeholder workshops, policy briefs and social media content. This study is also funded by the Medical Research Council, UK.


Author(s):  
Lina Trigos-Carrillo ◽  
Laura Fonseca

Conducting critical community research during the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unexpected challenges to academic communities. In this chapter, the authors analyze the obstacles faced in a Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) education project with a rural community of former guerrilla members in the Amazon piedmont in Colombia. After this analysis, the authors present four CPAR principles to support critical community work during difficult times. The authors argue that communicative action, horizontal community participation in all the stages of the research process, time commitment, and the leverage of other competing needs should be guaranteed and maintained during times of crisis. CPAR offers opportunities to advocate better conditions for the most affected communities in moments of increasing inequality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Liegghio

While globally advances have been made to recognize children as social actors in their own right, for psychiatrized young people their experiences of distress are often seen as a limitation and thus used as a justification for denying their meaningful participation in matters of concern to their lives. However, what would it mean if ‘mental illness’ was not seen as a ‘limitation’, but rather as an ‘epistemological position’ from which the social world is experienced, understood and acted upon? What would it mean if our theories about ‘distress’ and ‘helping’ were premised on the subjugated knowledges of psychiatrized children and youth? The consumer/survivor-led research movement has made significant gains in answering these questions for the adult, but not necessarily for the child and youth mental health field. The purpose of this article is to critically examine the significance of psychiatrized young people setting and executing their own research and, ultimately, practice agendas. Presented are the outcomes of an evaluation of a participatory action research project examining the stigma of mental illness conducted with seven psychiatrized youth, 14 to 17 years old. The outcomes suggest our roles as practitioners and researchers need to shift from being ‘agents’ working on behalf of to ‘allies’ working in solidarity with young people to change the social conditions of their marginalization. The article concludes with the limits of consumer/survivor-led research for addressing adultism and, instead, ends with a call for decolonizing children’s mental health.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany St. John ◽  
Iulia Mihaila ◽  
Katelyn Dorrance ◽  
Leann Smith DaWalt ◽  
Karla K. Ausderau

Abstract Participatory action research methodologies may empower and protect marginalized individuals; however, they remain underutilized. Limited studies have investigated the impact of participatory action research, specifically on individuals with intellectual disability (ID). This study examines (1) the perspectives of co-researchers with ID on their involvement in the research process and (2) the feasibility of their inclusion based on perspectives of research staff (academic faculty and graduate students without ID). Three co-researchers with ID were interviewed regarding their research participation. Thematic analysis of interviews identified four themes: (1) Shared Experience of Disability, (2) Teaching and Guidance, (3) Acquisition of Skills and Knowledge, and (4) Value of Participation. Research staff reviewed field notes and identified benefits and challenges to feasibility of including co-researchers with ID. Inclusion of co-researchers with ID was found to be both meaningful and feasible.


2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Komla Tsey ◽  
Mark Wenitong ◽  
Janya McCalman ◽  
Mary Whiteside ◽  
Leslie Baird ◽  
...  

Since 2001 a team of academic researchers and medical practitioners have been collaborating with Yarrabah Men?s Health Group leaders to implement a participatory action research (PAR) process designed to support the men to (in their own words) ?take their rightful place? in contemporary Australian society. The formative stages of the PAR process and progress over the first 12 months have been documented in previous papers in order to provide much needed direction for others interested in undertaking similar community action-oriented research (Tsey, Patterson, Whiteside, Baird, & Baird, 2002; Tsey et al., 2004). The present paper addresses the need for innovative evaluation methodologies to enable participants in the PAR process to monitor and reinforce the small improvement they are making towards achieving their goals, and to maintain their vision for the future. Participation in men?s group activities resulted in modest but significant change in the men?s personal development and growth and in their response to family responsibilities. Men had the opportunity to dialogue and reflect on their gender responsibilities such as housework, which constitutes a major source of conflict in the family. Several men also gained the confidence and motivation to stand for local government. The study highlights the value of demystifying and making research more relevant to people?s day-to-day living experiences.


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