title: Include them and they will tell you: learnings from a participatory process with youth.
abstract: Encouraging youth voice, visibility, and active participation in adolescent-related research is strongly advocated in the literature. In this article, we describe how participatory approaches informed by arts-based methods (e.g., reflective writing, dramatization) were used with adolescents to enhance the research process in an exploratory study designed to develop and evaluate prevention resources for sexual risk-taking behaviors.Youth aged 15 to 17 years participated in iterative focus groups conducted over a 1-year period in school settings in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Descriptions of our experiences, strategies, and insights provide evidence for guiding practice to optimize adolescent participation in research.
authors.affiliation: University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. jammacdonald@upei.ca
authors.forename: Jo-Ann M
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.forename: Anita J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Gagnon
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Meglio
authors.forename: Janet E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Rennick
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cox
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011325:Prince Edward Island; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012574:Schools; D012736:Sex Education / Q000379:methods*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control