Young People's Experiences in Youth-Led Participatory Action Research for HIV/AIDS Prevention

"This paper examines a specific aspect of participatory action research [PAR] with youth, namely, the perceptions of the marginalized and at-risk youth participants who were reached through being involved in a youth-led project."

This research gathered information from youth 13-21 years of age participating in the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) "What Every Adolescent Has a Right to Know" (RTK) initiative on HIV prevention. "The interviews were conducted with both urban and rural participants in a Caribbean country where potential exposure to HIV/AIDS represents a significant threat to young people’s health. The purpose of the study was to examine how a truly youth organized PAR effort was perceived by the adolescents who were reached through the project."

Participants interviewed for this study were "at-risk" youth not reached by programmes other than RTK - referred to as "sharing team members." The primary participants (the peer educators for RTK) - referred to as "youth researchers" - were the subjects of another study. The study examines the effects on the "sharing team members" of their involvements with the "youth researchers" through analysis of data gathered during interviews conducted by university researchers with the youth.

The paper reviews PAR evidence from previous research. It describes the data analysis of interview transcripts and gives results including the following:

• "Sharing team members spontaneously identified various aspects of the youth researchers’ actions that helped them to feel engaged and comfortable. These included efforts to ensure fair participation, informal settings with many icebreakers, and encouraging interactions with other sharing team members..."
• "...[T]he youth researchers respected the local knowledge that emerged from sharing team members…" including knowledge of the street (drugs and violence) and of HIV/AIDS and condom use. "Furthermore, some [sharing team members] mentioned that sharing their knowledge, ideas, and values with other youth helped them think about their own lives and the lives of others."
• "...[T]he interviews with the sharing team members revealed that from their perspective the sessions also had a direct educational component...", including life skills, self-esteem building, and personal development.
• "The knowledge about HIV/AIDS that the sharing team members gained through PAR seemed to provide them with confidence in becoming educators themselves. Most of them mentioned that they planned to share or were sharing what they learned in RTK with their peers and/or family members."
• "Both youth researchers and sharing team members raised the idea that the visual and youth-friendly PAR tools that were employed by the project fostered dialogue among youth and enhanced participation levels. Some of the project managers stated that the PAR approach provided youth who were not inclined to reading and writing or those who were not outspoken with the opportunity to articulate their ideas through PAR tools, such as drawing and mapping."
• "Through active participation by the sharing team members, youth researchers learned that street condom vendors, instead of professional health service providers, actually could teach others how to use a condom..." and sensitised their programme service providers for programme changes to address the vendors as a resource group.
• "Another discovery from the analysis was that the process of sharing values, ideas, and experiences led some of the sharing team members to think about others and to understand what others are going through."
• Youth researchers trained some sharing team members who then joined the Teen AIDS Network as PAR youth researchers.

The results suggest that the central role played by youth researchers (the PAR community leaders) created a mode of participation that facilitated the collaboration of at-risk and marginalised youth. The type of engagement created was distinct from modes of participation fostered when adults alone worked with youth. The study concluded that the benefits of participation went beyond the acquisition of knowledge to include positive effects on self-confidence and, in some cases, an interest in reaching out to others. "Nurturing young people to become 'PAR change agents' requires a longer time frame, an understanding of the developmental needs of youth, and commitment at the organizational and program levels as well as support from the donor community."