Paper
Monday, November 5, 2007
539
Photovoice: A Method for Understanding Resources for Physical Activity in an African American Community
Julie Derenowski Fleury, PhD, FAAN, College of Nursing, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Purpose: This research outlines the use of photovoice methodology as a mechanism for exploring cultural knowledge, as well as social contextual strengths and resources related to physical activity.
Rationale: African Americans have higher than average rates for several chronic illnesses and lower than average rates for participation in physical activity. Photovoice served as both a needs assessment tool by which community members could document and evaluate community assets and capacity, as well as a way to document experiences and promote dialogue about issues of concern, as a basis for the development of relevant and sustainable community-based interventions to promote physical activity.
Methods: Participants included a representative group of rural dwelling African American elders who served as recorders and storytellers outlining social and cultural knowledge and contextual strengths related to physical activity. Participatory ethnography guided the implementation of three interrelated data collection strategies (a) participant photography, (b) ethnographic interviews, and (c) participant focus groups. Together, these methods enabled participants to document their strengths and felt needs. Naturalistic methods were used for data analysis, including an iterative approach, constant comparison in data collection and analysis, and theoretical sensitivity. Both internal and external replication strategies were used to ensure that the findings provided a reliable picture of participants’ experience.
Results: Data explicated the strengths, resources and social networks of the community, and supported a social ecological framework for intervention design, including strengths and resources at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and organizational resources..
Implications: Data underscore the value of photovoice in eliciting perceptions of cultural knowledge, as well as social contextual strengths and resources related to physical activity. Through the stories of community members, the photovoice process provided a forum for building trust and creating a setting for discussion and problem solving essential to intervention design in underserved populations.