Photovoice for Change (P4C): A Trauma-Informed Photovoice Project Co-Created with Foster Care-Experienced Youth

Background and Purpose: Photovoice is an innovative participatory research method designed to invite participants to express themselves through photographs and text, a process that has been known to help individuals “identify, represent, and enhance their community” (Wang, Cash, & Powers, 2000, p., 82). In this paper, we describe a multi-phased community-based youth participatory action project, Photovoice for Change (P4C), which combined trauma-informed care principles and photovoice to establish a set of program protocols that were pilot tested at a large, urban child welfare agency. Our multidisciplinary team, which included an advisory board of young adults with lived experience in foster care, co-designed a set of program protocols to be used with youth currently receiving child welfare services.

Methods: The project involved five collaborative steps executed by a multidisciplinary team: 1) the establishment of a youth advisory board (YAB), 2) the completion of a focus group with YAB members to discuss and rank order a set of topical prompts relevant to youth in foster care, 3) the funding of a collaboratively developed grant proposal to support the development of P4C, 4) the creation of trauma-informed protocols for P4C, and 5) the pilot testing of P4C with youth being served at a child welfare agency (N=22).

Results: Six themes of relevance for the photovoice program emerged from the preliminary focus group with YAB members. Group members identified “The Places and Spaces that Influenced Your Journey” as the most timely and compelling theme; it therefore became the theme embedded in the grant and used in the pilot. Through team meetings and an iterative process discussing both SAMHSA’s Trauma Informed Care principles and reviewing published protocols for photovoice projects, investigators developed a three-part program structure for P4C: 1) Launch/Orientation Protocol, 2) Process and Preparation Meeting Protocol, and 3) Share Back and Review Protocol. The team engaged the protocols with youth at four unique programs offered by the partnering child welfare agency and revised them along the way in response to youth and leadership team member feedback. Four themes emerged as saliant when providing the program, namely a) the need for flexibility, b) the importance of tailoring meetings to youth priorities and preferences, c) the importance of artistic expression and safe avenues for sharing in the lives of youth with histories of trauma, and d) the establishment of peer relationships by way of P4C participation. The project will culminate with youth participants showing their framed photographs and accompanying text in a series of gallery showings.

Implications: Collaborative partnership between multiple constituents (i.e. organizational administrators, researchers, people with lived expertise) is essential to co-develop relevant programing that will enhance engagement and well-being among young people in foster care. In co-designing P4C in partnership with a YAB and youth participants, our team has evolved a set of program protocols that can be freely used by youth-serving organizations interested in providing their clients with opportunities to express themselves and connect with peers. Programs such as P4C strengthen the social and psychological lives of youth in foster care.