A Qualitative Systematic Review of Youth Participatory Action Research Implementation in U.S. High Schools

Abstract

This qualitative systematic review examined the context‐specific factors that influence the implementation of youth participatory action research (YPAR) projects in high schools within the United States. Thematic synthesis was conducted to identify and analyze the YPAR implementation factors that were present in 38 peer‐reviewed studies. Results indicate the following two analytic themes concerning YPAR implementation in high schools: (a) pedagogical strategies and (b) stakeholder dynamics and needs. The themes provide support for existing ecological frameworks of implementation factors and demonstrate that adult researchers’ project‐specific decisions are nested within educational power structures. This paper will discuss the implications of these YPAR implementation themes in executing YPAR projects in high schools.

“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’

“…Community partners mentioned many preconditions for a successful YPAR project, of which a close collaboration of researchers with children, KA, local government and community project group, was indicated as most important. Collaborations between academics and community organizations may provide an enabling environment for successful YPAR [34]. Crucial in 'Kids in Action' was that the community partners were interested in child participation and understood the power dynamics between children and adults in YPAR, which helps gain support for such a study [18,35,36].…”

“…Another precondition for YPAR-as experienced in all YPAR-is a considerable time investment of the principal researcher, the children and community partners, to be able to create close ties, hold regular participatory meetings, and co-develop and implement actions [35]. It also required high flexibility from researchers and the community project group, as YPAR remains an iterative approach dependent on many uncontrollable factors and school schedules [34,35].…”

Youth Participatory Approaches and Health Equity: Conceptualization and Integrative Review

“…YPAR groups have tackled a range of health equity issues in the peer, family, school, community, and policy domains such as air pollution, pesticide exposures, gender‐based dating violence, bullying, and unequal access to healthy food and physical activity opportunities (Garcia, Minkler, Cardenas, Grills, & Porter, 2014; Lindquist‐Grantz & Abraczinskas, 2020; Madrigal et al, 2016; Ozer & Piatt, 2018). Extensive work across the public health, education, community psychology, sexual and reproductive health, and international development fields has developed principles, processes, and curricula to support high‐quality training of adult facilitators and implementation of YPAR (e.g., Anderson, 2019; Ozer et al, 2010; Rodríguez & Brown, 2009; Rubin, Abu El‐Haj, Graham, & Clay, 2016).…”

Conceptualizing Social Determinants of Neighborhood Health through a Youth Lens

“…Another conceptual review (Ozer et al, 2020 ) specifically investigating YPAR and health equity highlighted the value of engaging youth in research because their unique expertise is needed for understanding and addressing key issues affecting youth health, development, and well‐being. While a number of studies have engaged youth in research on their health and well-being (Anderson, 2020 ; Anyon et al, 2018 ; Ozer et al, 2020 ), these studies largely overlooked the unique and contextual-based findings related to youth’s perceptions on their health and well-being.…”