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Robert Boyzo, Attending Mass in Beechview, Digital photograph, December 5, 2016. Courtesy of Héctor Camilo Ruiz Sánchez.
Source publication
In recent years, the Latino population has increased rapidly in areas with traditionally low concentration of Latinos. In these emerging communities, Latinos often live scattered, confronting social isolation and social services not tailored to serve their cultural and linguistic needs. Latinos’ invisibility in Pittsburgh is evidenced by the absenc...
Citations
... Photovoice has been used to challenge the power dynamics that often exists between institutions and communities as well as between physicians and patients by showcasing the experiences of the patients in order to change treatment policies and re-center the humanity of the patients [17,18,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. In addition, photovoice has been used with Latinx communities to focus on a number of chronic health conditions including asthma, diabetes, and mental health [31,[33][34][35][36][37]. ...
Background
Photovoice is a form of visual ethnography intended to engage impacted communities in research followed by action to ameliorate the injustices under study. Photovoice has increased in use, especially in collaboration with Latinx communities addressing health inequities. The Latinx population comprises nearly 18% of the overall United States population and according to the census is projected to reach just under 30% by 2060. This diverse panethnic community faces significant structural barriers in accessing services. Racism and the resulting marginalization, specifically, contributes to limited access to recovery services and treatment. Making meaningful advances in substance use disorder training, intervention and policy necessitates learning alongside the Latinx community.
Methods
We partnered with a Latinx serving integrated behavioral health and primary care setting in Boston Massachusetts to explore barriers and facilitators to recovery using photovoice. Spanish-speaking Latinx adults with a substance use disorder participated. The group met for three photovoice sessions over a six-week period. Together group members critically analyzed photographs using the SHOWeD method.
Results
Findings indicate a sense of purpose and meaning, security, faith and housing are important elements of recovery. The results illustrated the importance of sources of connection in maintaining sobriety. Through this photovoice project, Latinx Spanish speaking participants highlighted barriers and facilitators to their substance use disorder recovery which spanned individual, community, and structural levels.
Conclusions
The experiences and voices of the Latinx community are crucial to drive discussions that advance policy (e.g., housing stability and access), enhance providers’ understanding of Latinx Spanish-speakers' substance use disorder recovery, and inform culturally and linguistically appropriate services. This study demonstrated that photovoice is highly acceptable and feasible among Latinx clients receiving substance use disorder services. Visual images related to housing, faith, etc. communicate challenges, power structures, as well as hopes to policymakers at multiple levels (e.g., institution/ agency, state).
... Participants expressed the need to belong to a community. A similar thirst for community appeared in a PhotoVoice project with members of the same population ( Ruiz Sánchez et al., 2018 ), confirming this finding. It is also likely that the community's invisibility contributed to the feeling that there was no Latinx community. ...
Promotores or community health workers are trusted community members who offer information and support to marginalized groups in society. Latinx immigrants in new growth communities or emerging communities (areas with a small yet growing Latinx population) confront many challenges in their settling processes. De la Mano con la Salud was a community-based participatory project that trained Latino immigrant men as promotores. Promotores recruited 182 Latino immigrant men helped them to attain their own goals, connected them with health and social services and connected them to the larger community. We present data from 23 in-depth interviews with project participants conducted after six months of enrollment. Qualitative analysis confirmed participants' vulnerabilities and showed that promotores addressed many of the health, legal, and occupational needs of participants. Emerging themes showed that 1) participants had a thirst for a united Latinx community; and 2) felt that promotores had their back (respaldo). The need for community may reflect the current invisibility of this Latinx population, as well as the desires for recognition and ethnic identity affirmation. Respaldo strongly resembles perceived social support, which is the kind of support most associated with health outcomes. Future research can determine what intervention components best foster respaldo .
... My research approach to the heroin epidemic in a Global South city, Cali, is based on PhotoVoice, which is a methodology that seeks to invite participants whose perspectives are often excluded from artistic authorship, historical knowledge, and decision-making to capture with a camera how they perceive their reality, and then generate a collective dialogue around what their photos represent and what actions are necessary to fight injustices and promote social change (Latz, 2017;Ruiz Sánchez, Pardo Gaviria, De Ferrari, Savage, & Documet, 2018;Sitter, 2017). In this sense, through PhotoVoice I had access to a multi-sighted intimate gaze from heroin and methadone users narrating their daily challenges with healthcare, addiction, family and love relationships, work, and the city. ...
... During 2017 and 2018, I visited a needle exchange program and methadone clinic where, in collaboration with 13 clients (12 male and 1 female), I conducted community-based participatory research (CBPR) that includes the use of participant's photographs and narratives from people often excluded from artistic and academic authorship, historical knowledge, and decision-making (Latz, 2017;Ruiz Sánchez et al., 2018;Sitter, 2017). This methodology is called PhotoVoice, and I used it to invite heroin and methadone users to capture with a camera their perspectives on: how does methadone intake change their daily lives? ...
... My research approach to the heroin epidemic in Cali, a city of the Global South, employed PhotoVoice, a methodology that invites participants whose perspectives are often excluded from artistic authorship, historical knowledge, and decision-making to capture with a camera how they perceive their reality. The aim is to generate a collective dialogue around what their photos represent and what actions are necessary to fight injustices and promote social change (Latz, 2017;Ruiz Sánchez et al., 2018;Sitter, 2017). This chapter provides a multivocal and inside gaze on the heroin epidemic based on photographs and narratives from heroin users enrolled in a methadone clinic in Cali, Colombia. ...
In my PhD dissertation, I show that HIV-positive heterosexual men and heroin users are often forced to bear the intensity of HIV and opioid addiction, respectively, in silence and without institutionalized care. I argue that the absence of support for these groups and the political blindness towards the suffering of these invisible populations makes their chronic diseases fatal.
I show that Colombian HIV prevention and treatment policies, known for their inclusiveness of diverse gender dynamics, have systematically excluded heterosexual men from prevention and healthcare, most profoundly impacting men living in poverty. I examine how heterosexual men find out about their HIV diagnosis, how they understand it, and how they cope with it. I highlight the struggles that heterosexual men must undergo to access support and medical networks, as well as the complicated role of HIV in romantic and family relationships. I also show how the neoliberal fragmentation and privatization of the Colombian healthcare system, as well as the centralization of HIV clinics in cities, magnifies the negative experiences of men living in poverty in urban and rural areas of Colombia.
My dissertation also explores the effects of the rapidly growing heroin epidemic in Colombia, a “risk group” for HIV and Hepatitis C infection, through the experiences, photographs, and narratives of heroin users in the first state-run methadone clinic in the southwest of Colombia. I explain how inter-American shifts in the legal and illegal opioid
markets have resulted in the production and marketing of heroin within Colombia, sparking an unprecedented national epidemic with nearly non-existent public policies to deal with the issue. Moreover, my research shows that HIV and heroin addiction can sometimes can become experiences of self-reflection that promote positive changes. These reflections with positive outcomes are typically the product of the labor of men in conjunction with partners, family members, friends and idealistic institutions. The dissertation concludes with a discussion on family formation and legal opioids as technologies of hope that give meaning to the lives of men and women I talked to.
The paper explores the intersection of Critical Race Theory (CRT)
and Latinx Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) within Latinx communities,
focusing on Photovoice as a method to understand systemic
inequalities and power dynamics. Drawing on Freire’s
concept of critical consciousness, CRT and LatCrit frameworks
delve into institutional racism and intersecting forms of oppression
experienced by Latinx communities. The study adapted the
use of Photovoice to a virtual format during the COVID-19
pandemic, aiming to authentically capture community narratives.
Through the Your Family, Your Neighborhood (YFYN)
intervention, Photovoice sessions engage Latinx families in documenting
neighborhood strengths and challenges. Virtual
adaptation enabled inclusivity and participation despite geographical
barriers. Thematic analysis of participant-generated
photos and narratives reveals community strengths in resilience,
faith, and recreational spaces in response to challenges
such as environmental hazards and inadequate infrastructure.
This paper also highlights the role of social work in integrating
culturally relevant methodologies to better understand and
address Latinx experiences. By leveraging digital technologies,
remote Photovoice projects uphold principles of participation
and empowerment, contributing to nuanced understandings of
Latinx realities within the U.S. socio-cultural landscape and
offering valuable insights for social work practice and advocacy.
Background:
As more people with cystic fibrosis (CF) consider their reproductive futures, the impact of parenthood on CF must be better understood. In the context of chronic disease, deciding if, when, and how to become a parent is complex. Little research has investigated how parents with CF balance their role as parents with its associated health impacts and demands of CF.
Methods:
PhotoVoice is a research methodology that utilizes photography to generate discussion about community issues. We recruited parents with CF with at least 1 child <10 years old and divided them into 3 cohorts. Each cohort met 5 times. Cohorts developed photography prompts, took photographs between sessions, and reflected on the photos at subsequent meetings. At the final meeting, participants selected 2-3 pictures, wrote captions, and as a group organized the photographs into thematic groups. Secondary thematic analysis identified metathemes.
Results:
Participants (n=18) generated a total of 202 photographs. Each cohort identified 3-4 themes (n=10) which secondary analysis grouped into three metathemes: 1) It is important for parents with CF to pay attention to the joyful aspects of parenting and to cultivate positive experiences; 2) Parenting with CF requires balancing your own needs with those of your child, and creativity and flexibility can be key; 3) Parenting with CF consists of competing priorities and expectations often with no clear "correct" choice.
Conclusions:
Parents with CF identified unique challenges to their existence as both parents and patients as well as ways in which parenting has enhanced their lives. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
