2-172 - Community Based Participatory Action Research and Practice with Children and Youth in Diverse Communities

Session Type: Professional Development Session

Integrative Statement

There is a growing interest in the fields of human development and the health sciences in effective community based participatory action research (CBPAR; Muhammad et al., 2015), yet to date few undergraduate and graduate programs in these fields fully integrate this approach into their core training in research methods and ethics. Furthermore, there is still very limited work with children and youth, particularly in the global South, employing CBPAR. In the present workshop, two community based participatory action researchers (Kim Ferguson and Linwood Lewis) working with children, youth, expectant parents, and their communities in both the global North (the United States) and South (Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa) will facilitate a participatory discussion of key theoretical and practical considerations in effective CBPAR. We will discuss CBPAR methodologies across diverse populations, with a specific focus on questions of power, justice, and community voice throughout. We will also discuss some of the challenges and opportunities in implementing effective CBPAR projects in collaboration with vulnerable groups and communities, including children, youth, communities of color, LGBTQIA communities, undocumented and refugee children and their families, individuals and families with HIV/AIDS, and communities in the global South. In addition, workshop participants will engage in a series of participatory integrative exercises so as to begin to conceptualize their own CBPAR projects based on their own areas and communities of interest. We thus hope that this workshop will allow participants to effectively launch their own CBPAR projects in collaboration with a like-minded group of scholars and practitioners.

Sub Unit

• Professional Development Track

Leaders

• Kim Theresa Ferguson, Sarah Lawrence College

• Linwood J Lewis, Sarah Lawrence College