January 23, 2010 (Snow date: January 30, 2010)

Incorporating Photovoice into Health Research

A one-day workshop on photovoice, a participatory action-oriented research process in which people represent their points of view and experience using photographs and narratives, often for the purpose of defining strengths and gaps in health and health care as they relate to daily lives.

Visual methodologies—including photovoice—are burgeoning in the health research world as researchers, providers, and policymakers seek ways to meaningfully involve community residents and health-care consumers in research and assessment. Using photovoice, participants photograph their everyday health, work, and living environments and bring their concerns to the attention of persons in positions of authority: providers, policymakers, researchers, community leaders, and peers. The resulting visual and narrative data provide information valuable for multiple purposes, including:

• communicating local health and health-care realities,
• taking action to improve health and health care,
• measuring quality of programs and services, and/or
• identifying new areas for research.

This workshop will enhance understandings of how photovoice can be used safely and ethically in health and health-care research. Participants will leave the workshop with samples of useful photovoice tools, such as photo consent forms, and concrete ideas of ways to adapt photovoice to their contexts.

Workshop elements include foundations of photovoice, and hands-on experience with photovoice steps—becoming a visual researcher, ethical issues, taking photographs, discussing images and writing narratives, outreach, and options for analyzing images and text. Participants will receive electronic files of all handouts and tools.

Target Audience

Between 15 and 25 health researchers, health-care and social service providers, and graduate students.

Faculty

Workshop faculty is Laura Lorenz, MEd, PhD ’08, program manager of Heller’s Executive Education Program. Dr. Lorenz has been using photovoice with vulnerable groups in the US and South Africa since 2000. Her forthcoming book Brain Injury Survivors: Narratives of Rehabilitation and Healing, uses visual methods to trace the individual journeys of three acquired brain injury survivors.

Cost

Tuition is $300 for the one-day workshop. Registration includes lunch and all program materials.

For further information, please contact
Linda Purrini at purrini@brandeis.edu or 781-736-3930, or
Laura Lorenz at llorenz@brandeis.edu, or 781-736-3847.