More than Data Collectors: A Systematic Review of the Environmental Outcomes of Youth Inquiry Approaches in the United States

From developmental neuroscience to policy: A novel framework based on participatory research

Insights from developmental neuroscience are not always translated to actionable policy decisions. In this review, we explore the potential of bridging the gap between developmental neuroscience and policy through youth participatory research approaches. As the current generation of adolescents lives in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing society, their lived experiences are crucial for both research and policy. Moreover, their active involvement holds significant promise, given their heightened creativity and need to contribute. We therefore advocate for a transdisciplinary framework that fosters collaboration between developmental scientists, adolescents, and policy makers in addressing complex societal challenges. We highlight the added value of adolescents' lived experiences in relation to two pressing societal issues affecting adolescents' mental health: performance pressure and social inequality. By integrating firsthand lived experiences with insights from developmental neuroscience, we provide a foundation for progress in informed policy decisions.

Positive Impacts of Adolescent Involvement in Health Research: An Umbrella Review

Despite an increased recognition of the right of adolescents to be involved in decisions that affect them, young people continue to be under-involved in health research. One of the reasons is a lack of awareness among researchers on the current evidence base around the benefits of involving adolescents. To address this, we conducted an umbrella review to synthesize the evidence on the positive impacts of adolescent involvement in health research. This umbrella review was preregistered with PROSPERO (CRD42021287467). We searched 11 databases, Google Scholar, PROSPERO, reference lists, 10 journals, websites of 472 organizations, and sought input from experts. Ultimately, we included 99 review articles. We found that adolescent involvement has many positive impacts on young people, including increased knowledge and skills; personal development; financial benefits; career and academic growth; enhanced relationships; and valuing their experience. The positive impacts of adolescent involvement on the research itself include increased relevance of the study to adolescents, improved recruitment, development of more adolescent-friendly materials, enhanced data collection and analysis, and more effective dissemination. Researchers also benefited from adolescents' involvement through increased knowledge, skills, and a shift in their attitudes. The evidence supporting the positive impacts of adolescent involvement in research is substantial but limited by a lack of rigorous evaluation, inconsistent reporting, and unclear evaluation methods.

Youth Empowered Advocating for Health (YEAH): Facilitating Partnerships Between Prevention Scientists and Black Youth to Promote Health Equity

Structural racism inflicts a disproportionate burden of stress and trauma within Black communities, resulting in physical and mental health inequities that impact Black youth. Yet few multilevel interventions exist to address these deeply rooted inequities from a preventive standpoint, and even fewer are informed by the participatory input of the impacted communities. To bridge these gaps, we developed a community-based prevention strategy that promotes agency and active resistance to structural racism, Youth Empowered Advocating for Health (YEAH), and implemented it across various settings. We outline the development, implementation, and expansion of YEAH as a tool for promoting optimal health among Black communities. Lastly, we discuss lessons learned and offer a framework outlining key principles for prevention scientists to partner with Black youth and engage them in translational science to address structural racism. This framework is aimed at driving policies, practices, and procedures that promote equitable and sustainable change for and with Black communities.

Process and experience of youth researchers within a Health Promoting Schools study in Nova Scotia, Canada

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is an approach to research that engages youth across the research process. The peer researcher method is a technique used in YPAR where youth are trained in research and ethics to interview their peers. The purpose of this study was to: (i) describe the process of engaging youth as peer researchers in a Health Promoting Schools (HPS) and student engagement project and (ii) understand the peer researchers' perspectives of their experience throughout the project. Youth from across Nova Scotia, Canada in grades 7-10 (ages 12-16) were recruited as peer researchers in the Summer, 2022. The project included three stages: (i) peer researcher training, (ii) practicing, recruiting and conducting interviews and (iii) data interpretation workshop. To understand the peer researcher's experience, quantitative data were collected from an evaluation questionnaire. Outputs were produced using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were collected through a focus group and interviews and analyzed using inductive content analysis. A total of 11 youth were recruited and completed peer researcher training. Most youth provided positive feedback on the training with a satisfaction score of 8.7/10. Qualitative analysis indicated benefits to the peer researchers including opportunities to build interview and social skills and learn about other's perspectives. This study provides a detailed overview of how to use a peer researcher method in a YPAR project to involve youth in research related to HPS and student engagement. The research also highlights the benefits of engaging youth in YPAR. Future research will report on the findings from the peer interviews.

Anti-Racist Violence Prevention: Partnering With Black Youth to Identify Intervention Priorities

In this study, academic researchers partnered with Black youth to engage in critical analysis of the intersection between racism and community violence to promote anti-racist social action that advances health equity. Through youth participatory action research, we examined perspectives and experiences of Black youth to develop a shared understanding of how to approach community violence prevention with an anti-racist lens. Thirteen youth from Kansas City and Atlanta who identified as Black or African American participated in a photovoice project to explore the intersection of racism and community violence. Youth generated photo assignments, took photos that reflected the assignment, shared their photos as a group, and chose one photo to explore in depth each week using a structured method to guide photo-discussion. Qualitative analysis of youth photo-discussions identified themes related to Black youth's experiences of racism at multiple levels and identified suggestions for anti-racist interventions, including promoting Black history knowledge and nurturing Black mentoring relationships. Grounded in these findings, we propose an anti-racist approach to community violence prevention among Black youth that engages Black youth as equitable partners to build from their expertise and strengths in developing comprehensive solutions.

A scoping review of youth advisory structures in the United States: Applications, outcomes, and best practices

Although youth advisory structures (YASs) have proliferated internationally to facilitate the voice of young people, little is known about the practices of such groups, especially in the United States. To address this gap of knowledge, this study describes the findings of a scoping review of scholarly research on YAS in the United States. The review found that although the use of YAS is increasing, current scholarship offers little information about YAS processes or how youth are engaged. Most YAS in the review partnered with marginalized young people to inform research and programming around sensitive health topics, such as human immunodeficiency virus prevention. Youth who participated in YAS experienced positive outcomes such as leadership and skill development, healthier decision-making, and confidence. Although most studies involved youth in minimal ways, there is a growing body of literature where youth are engaged in long-term partnerships that support positive youth development. This review details other key characteristics of YAS and provides recommendations for best practices, such as building consensus around terms used to refer to YAS and promoting the dissemination of process details around YAS facilitation.

Social Work and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR): Past, Present, and Future

The social work profession has made tremendous contributions to youth well-being, laying the foundation for social welfare systems and child protection laws. However, deficit-based constructions of youth are deeply engrained in the profession. Social work researchers have called for attention to critical approaches like youth participatory action research (YPAR). YPAR has an action-oriented epistemology and engages youth as coresearchers, providing an opportunity to shift social work research and practice paradigms. Yet, social work scholars lag behind cognate disciplines in adopting YPAR. This article examines challenges that have stymied YPAR in social work. The authors review the historical roots of the profession and its relationship to youth; examine present challenges, including social work's training and career progression; and make suggestions for the future, calling social work to affirm our values by reevaluating the way we do research on youth, the way we train future social workers, and the paradigms driving our practice.

Toward Integration of Life Course Intervention and Youth Participatory Action Research

We provide an overview of diverse forms of youth participation, with a focus on youth participatory action research (YPAR) and its synergies with life course intervention research to promote healthier development for young people and across the life span. We analyze why YPAR matters for research, practice, and policies related to the systems and settings in which young people develop. We also illustrate how young people perform YPAR work to improve the developmental responsiveness and equity of school and health systems, including descriptions of an innovative youth-led health center in Rwanda and a long-standing and evolving integration of YPAR into public high schools in the United States. We then briefly consider the adult capacities needed to do this work well, given that YPAR challenges typical youth-adult power relationships and broader assumptions about who can generate expert knowledge. We consider the alignment and potential challenges for integration of life course intervention research as well as YPAR and next steps for research and practice at this intersection.

“Why Don’t They Just Move Closer?”: Adolescent Critical Consciousness Development in YPAR About Food Security

The aim of this paper is to explore high school students’ critical consciousness development in the context of youth participatory action research (YPAR) focused on food security at an alternative school in Alabama. The YPAR project took place in an elective agriscience class with 10 students (Seven Black, two white, one Latino) who were in the 10th to 12th grades. Utilizing data from researcher notes, classroom observations, and archival classroom documents, we present students’ YPAR project outcomes to share their research-driven solutions to food insecurity in their community. Vignettes of classroom dialogue are also constructed to illustrate moments of reflection in the YPAR context about food security. We present three “critical moments,” or instances of social analysis, to illustrate how students’ individual-level attributions occurred alongside teacher dialogue and student-led investigation of structural inequities in the community. Findings illustrate how students’ nonlinear critical consciousness development consisted of reliance on individual-level attributions in classroom dialogue co-occurring with systems-thinking activities and other YPAR project outcomes. This paper has implications for research on the imperfect and wavering nature of adolescent critical consciousness development in YPAR.

Involving Children in Creating a Healthy Environment in Low Socioeconomic Position (SEP) Neighborhoods in The Netherlands: A Participatory Action Research (PAR) Project

To ensure that health behavior interventions for children living in low socioeconomic position (SEP) neighborhoods are in line with children’s wishes and needs, participation of the children in the development, implementation, and evaluation is crucial. In this paper, we show how children living in three low-SEP neighborhoods in the Netherlands can be involved in Participatory Action Research (PAR) by using the photovoice method, and what influences this research process. Observations, informal chats, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions with children and professionals were done to evaluate the research process. The photovoice method provided comprehensive information from the children’s perspectives. With the help of the community workers, the children identified feasible actions. We found that it is important to constantly discuss the research process with participants, start with a concrete question or problem, and adapt the project to the local context and skills of participants.

How Our Technology Use Changed in 2020: Perspectives From Three Youths

The Technology and Adolescent Mental Wellness program (TAM) is a research program with the primary goals of promoting research on the topic of adolescent technology use and mental wellness, creatively disseminating that research, and fostering community among stakeholders. Our foundational question is this: How can technology support adolescent mental wellness? Youth are key stakeholders in pursuit of this foundational question. In this commentary, we invited 3 members of TAM's youth advisory board to respond to the following question: "How did your technology use change in 2020?" Jessica, Jared, and Babayosimi describe their technology use during COVID-19 as dynamic, and neither uniformly positive nor negative. Further, these 3 youths differ in their perceptions of the same technologies-social media and online school, for example-as well as their perceived ability to self-regulate use of those technologies. We invite you to weigh these perspectives just as we do at TAM-not as empirical findings in themselves, but as examples of youth ideas for future empirical investigation.

Adolescent Health on Social Media and the Mentorship of Youth Investigators: Five Content Analysis Studies Conducted by Youth Investigators

Although the literature on adolescent health includes studies that incorporate youth perspectives via a participatory design, research that is designed, conducted, and presented by youth remains absent. This paper presents the work of 5 youth investigators on the intersecting topics of adolescent health and social media. Each of these youths was equipped with tools, knowledge, and mentorship for scientifically evaluating a research question. The youths developed a research question that aligned with their interests and filled a gap that they identified in the literature. The youths, whose projects are featured in this paper, designed and conducted their own research project, drafted their own manuscript, and revised and resubmitted a draft based on reviewer input. Each youth worked with a research mentor; however, the research questions, study designs, and suggestions for future research were their own.

Youth Participatory Action Research for Health Equity: Increasing Youth Empowerment and Decreasing Physical Activity Access Inequities in Under-resourced Programs and Schools

To address gaps in the youth participation and adolescent physical activity (PA) promotion literature, we examined the feasibility of youth participatory action research (YPAR) in (a) general aftercare (YPAR only) and (b) with a physical activity intervention, (YPAR + PA) to reach marginalized youth and impact individual empowerment and second-order change for equitable PA access. We intervened during middle school, a developmental stage conducive to changing health habits. We used a concurrent, mixed-method triangulation design. Participants were students (94% non-Hispanic Black/African American, 75% free/reduced lunch) in the southeastern United States. YPAR was adapted from online modules. Youth conducted photovoice, capturing and analyzing social/environmental factors contributing to inequities in their schools/programs. PA inequities emerged for girls. Findings indicated feasibility of YPAR with systems supports. Changes occurred at the individual and systems level in the YPAR + PA program. Sociopolitical skills, participatory behavior, and perceived control empowerment subdomains increased pre-post, and youth qualitative responses aligned. A follow-up interview with the director revealed all youth-proposed changes occurred. A feedback loop was developed for continued youth input. Youth-led changes to increase PA access have potential to decrease health disparities by generating unique solutions likely missed when adults intervene alone.

Youth Participatory Approaches and Health Equity: Conceptualization and Integrative Review

There is an array of youth participatory approaches relevant to health equity efforts in community psychology, adolescent health, youth development, and education. While they share some commonalities, they also reflect important distinctions regarding key processes and intended level of impact. Here, we consider the following: (a) youth-led participatory action research (YPAR), (b) youth organizing (YO), (c) youth-led planning, (d) human-centered design, (e) participatory arts, and (f) youth advisory boards. Informed by community psychology theories on empowerment and levels of change and social epidemiology frameworks that focus on the social determinants of health inequities, we aim to promote greater clarity in the conceptualization, implementation, and evaluation of youth participatory approaches; frame the "landscape" of youth participatory approaches and their similarities and differences; present an integrative review of the evidence regarding the impact of youth participatory approaches; and describe several illustrative cases so as to consider more deeply how some youth participatory approaches aim to influence the social determinants of health that lead to the physical embodiment of health inequities. We conclude by identifying areas of future policy- and practice-relevant research for advancing youth participation and health equity.

Use of Research Evidence Generated by Youth: Conceptualization and Applications in Diverse U.S. K-12 Educational Settings

Youth-Led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is a social justice-focused approach for promoting social change and positive youth development in which youth conduct systematic research and actions to improve their schools and communities. Although YPAR is oriented to generating research for action, with evidence-based recommendations often aimed at influencing adults with power over settings and systems that shape youths' lives, we have little understanding of how YPAR evidence influences the thinking and/or actions of adult policymakers or practitioners. In general, the participatory research field lacks a theoretically informed "use of research evidence" lens, while the use of evidence field lacks consideration of the special case and implications of participatory research. To start to address these gaps, this paper presents a conceptual linkage across these two fields and then provides six illustrative case examples across diverse geographic, policy, and programmatic contexts to demonstrate opportunities and challenges in the use of YPAR evidence for policy and practice. Our illustrative focus here is on U.S. K-12 educational contexts, the most-studied setting in the YPAR literature, but questions examined here are relevant to YPAR and other systems domestically and internationally, including health, educational, and legal systems. HIGHLIGHTS: The use of research evidence (URE) field identifies characteristics of research and conditions that strengthen URE. Youth-led Participatory Action Research is a special case for factors that influence research use. Six case examples across diverse K-12 contexts illustrate facilitators and barriers for YPAR use. We propose next steps for community psychology research and action to promote the study and use of YPAR evidence.

Using Technology to Scale up Youth-Led Participatory Action Research: A Systematic Review

PURPOSE

Rapid advances in technology create opportunities for adolescents to influence practice and policy in health and other domains. Technology can support the scaling of Youth-Led Participatory Action Research (YPAR), in which adolescents conduct research to improve issues that affect them. We present the first known published systematic review of the use of technology to scale YPAR.

METHODS

A systematic review of the empirical literature was conducted from 2000 to 2018 using databases PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, and PubMed. The review included peer-reviewed articles of YPAR studies involving adolescents (aged 10-19 years) using technology for scaling. Appraisal of papers included the role of technology and consistency with YPAR principles.

RESULTS

Nine peer-reviewed YPAR publications focusing on a range of health issues with adolescents aged 11-19 years were identified. Technology included Facebook (most common), Twitter, Instagram, Skype, e-mail, blogs, and personalized mapping applications. Overall, technology was primarily used for adolescent participants to gather data. The appraisal revealed the complexities inherent in conducting YPAR using technology across multiple sites, with different adults in supportive roles and varying levels of opportunities for adolescent engagement.

CONCLUSIONS

This review provides insights at the intersection of youth-led research and technology, highlighting opportunities in a changing technological landscape and the challenges of YPAR at scale.

Tell it to Me Straight: The Benefits (and Struggles) of a Consumer-driven Assessment Process

Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR), where consumers participate in the design and execution of an evaluation, holds promise for increasing the validity and usefulness of evaluations of services. However, there is no literature comparing methods and outcomes of studies conducted by professional evaluators with those conducted through a consumer-driven evaluation process. We attempt to fill this gap by presenting the methods and results from a qualitative evaluation conducted by professional evaluators along with one conducted by a team of consumer researchers who engaged in a CBPR process. This paper includes: (a) methods, and findings that emerged from these evaluations each tasked with examining similar issues within the same community; (b) description of the process used to train the team of consumer researchers whose economic and educational backgrounds are different than most evaluators; and (c) lessons learned about how to prepare for and work with common barriers to implementing a CBPR evaluation.

"Not Only Adults Can Make Good Decisions, We as Children Can Do That as Well" Evaluating the Process of the Youth-Led Participatory Action Research 'Kids in Action'

In Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR), youth collaborate with academic researchers to study a problem, develop actions that align with their needs and interests, and become empowered. 'Kids in Action' aimed to develop actions targeting healthy physical activity and dietary behavior among, and together with, 9-12-year-old children as co-researchers. This paper presents the process evaluation of 'Kids in Action' based on eight focus groups with children (N = 40) and eight interviews with community partners (N = 11). Interview guides were based on empowerment theory and the RE-AIM framework, in order to evaluate the study on: empowerment, collaborations, reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. Transcripts were analyzed using evaluation and provisional coding. Both children and community partners perceived an increased awareness of healthy behaviors and an improvement in confidence, critical awareness, leadership and collaboration skills, which contributed to increased feelings of empowerment. Community partners valued child participation and the co-created actions. Actions were also well-perceived by children and they liked being involved in action development. The strong relationship of researchers with both children and relevant community partners proved an important facilitator of co-creation. Future studies are recommended to attempt closer collaboration with schools and parents to gain even more support for co-created actions and increase their effectiveness.