Youth participatory action research as an empowerment-based method for community change

Youth participatory action research as an empowerment-based method for community change

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) centers the experiences of young people as experts in issues impacting their lives. The process of engaging in YPAR has potential to create positive outcomes for youth researchers, including skills associated with empowerment. As such, YPAR is a valuable me...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of community practice Vol. 31; no. 3-4; pp. 297 - 314
Main Authors: Wagaman, M. Alex, Howell, Kathryn, Teresa, Benjamin, Hefner, Rachel, Woehrle, Hannah, Haynes, Tiffany S., Lawrence, Jackie
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Abingdon Routledge 02-10-2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
community
Community change
Community organizations
Community power
Empowerment
Leadership
Participatory action research
Participatory research
Qualitative research
Researchers
Young adults
Youth
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Summary:Youth participatory action research (YPAR) centers the experiences of young people as experts in issues impacting their lives. The process of engaging in YPAR has potential to create positive outcomes for youth researchers, including skills associated with empowerment. As such, YPAR is a valuable method for building community power and capacity for change. Little is understood about the process by which empowerment happens through YPAR, including how youth develop a sense of themselves as changemakers and the indicators that an empowering space and process have been created. The current study identified components of youth empowerment rooted in the experiences of young people who were involved in YPAR. Data were collected through an initiative between university researchers and three community-based organizations. The project included development of three YPAR teams with a total of 15 youth and young adult researchers. Data for this study were drawn from post-project focus groups and observation tools that were completed at each YPAR team meeting. Using a theory-driven coding structure for empowerment, the researchers used an iterative qualitative analysis process to identify key indicators of empowerment that emerged from the data. Examples of how they manifested provide valuable insight to community practitioners as well as community-engaged researchers as they work to support community leadership and power building.
ISSN:1070-5422
1543-3706
DOI:10.1080/10705422.2023.2283446