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Schedule:
Friday, January 16, 2026
Marquis BR 12, ML 2 (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)
* noted as presenting author
This study employs a qualitative community-based participatory research design to engage comunidades Indígenas living in Los Angeles, California, in exploring their perspectives on limitations and strengths in attaining their well-being, such as health, mental health, and community well-being. Using photovoice, comunidades Indígenas were centered, through pictures and narratives, as they identify community action-oriented issues to support their health, mental health, wellness, and ancestral practices. Supporting traditional ancestral ways of knowing and traditional wellness practices supports a decolonial approach to avoid the erasure or ongoing colonization of Indigenous practices to promote Indigenous well-being.
This photovoice study occurred in a Westlake, Los Angeles, California, urban community garden with community members who lived near this garden. A snowball sampling method was used to recruit co-collaborators (n=13) who identified as belonging to a comunidad Indígena from a Latin American country. The thirteen participants, referred to as co-collaborators, participated in an introduction and consent process (phase 1), a photovoice training (phase 2), a focus group (phase 3) to identify themes related to well-being and culminated with a community-based public photo exhibit (phase 4) to advocate for community change. This action-oriented, community-based participatory photovoice study can bring awareness about the oppression and discrimination comunidades Indígenas experience by engaging these communities in a more culturally responsive way that honors their autonomy and equity.
Future research implications are the importance of avoiding the clustering of comunidades Indígenas under the Latinx/e monolith, as this can exclude Indigenous groups that have resisted colonization. The co-collaborators shared their lived experiences and perspectives through photovoice and a focus group. The co-collaborators identified themes of strengths such as Salud de la Comunidad (Community Health) and Salud Mental (Mental Health) and barriers such as: Acceso al Arte (Access to Art), Bienestar para los ñiños (Well-being for the Children), Desigualdad (Inequality), Dificil dejar tu lugar de origen (Difficulty Leaving Your Place of Origin), Inmigración (Immigration), Limpieza Comunitaria (Community Cleanliness), Más Espacios Verdes (More Green Spaces), Racismo (Racism), Seguridad Comunitaria (Community Safety).
Policy implications that need to be considered are immigration reform, Indigenous language accessibility, language preservation, and Indigenous group preservation and protection. The social work implications identified are the need to understand the diversity in language, culture, and ancestral practices. Theoretical implications are the need for flexibility in applying a critical race lens as this study applied CRT, LatCrit, and Critical Latinx Indigeneities to gain an understanding of the systemic barriers that comunidades Indígenas navigate. This photovoice study has led ongoing discussions within the community on ways to support their health, mental health, and well-being from their lived experience.
This photovoice study occurred in a Westlake, Los Angeles, California, urban community garden with community members who lived near this garden. A snowball sampling method was used to recruit co-collaborators (n=13) who identified as belonging to a comunidad Indígena from a Latin American country. The thirteen participants, referred to as co-collaborators, participated in an introduction and consent process (phase 1), a photovoice training (phase 2), a focus group (phase 3) to identify themes related to well-being and culminated with a community-based public photo exhibit (phase 4) to advocate for community change. This action-oriented, community-based participatory photovoice study can bring awareness about the oppression and discrimination comunidades Indígenas experience by engaging these communities in a more culturally responsive way that honors their autonomy and equity.
Future research implications are the importance of avoiding the clustering of comunidades Indígenas under the Latinx/e monolith, as this can exclude Indigenous groups that have resisted colonization. The co-collaborators shared their lived experiences and perspectives through photovoice and a focus group. The co-collaborators identified themes of strengths such as Salud de la Comunidad (Community Health) and Salud Mental (Mental Health) and barriers such as: Acceso al Arte (Access to Art), Bienestar para los ñiños (Well-being for the Children), Desigualdad (Inequality), Dificil dejar tu lugar de origen (Difficulty Leaving Your Place of Origin), Inmigración (Immigration), Limpieza Comunitaria (Community Cleanliness), Más Espacios Verdes (More Green Spaces), Racismo (Racism), Seguridad Comunitaria (Community Safety).
Policy implications that need to be considered are immigration reform, Indigenous language accessibility, language preservation, and Indigenous group preservation and protection. The social work implications identified are the need to understand the diversity in language, culture, and ancestral practices. Theoretical implications are the need for flexibility in applying a critical race lens as this study applied CRT, LatCrit, and Critical Latinx Indigeneities to gain an understanding of the systemic barriers that comunidades Indígenas navigate. This photovoice study has led ongoing discussions within the community on ways to support their health, mental health, and well-being from their lived experience.