An article describing how a participatory visual method was used for engagement.
In Brazil, researchers from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul conducted a participatory study with adolescents receiving care at a Child and Adolescent Psychosocial Care Center (CAPSi). The study explored how the Photovoice methodology could support the co-production of autonomy in mental health care. Beyond its primary objectives, the study offers an interesting Community Engagement lesson.
Before recruitment, the team conducted a Photography Workshop, which emerged from discussions with the CAPSi team as a way to build rapport, trust, and familiarity with the researcher while allowing adolescents to experience photography before being invited to participate in the study.
The workshop was not initially the research itself, but a space for relationship-building and skill development.
Participants reported being attracted by the opportunity to learn photography, some even mentioning aspirations related to future employment as photographers. This suggests that the activity was not solely designed to serve research objectives, but also responded to interests identified among the young people themselves.
Participation in the workshop was not contingent upon research enrollment. Adolescents received an opportunity to learn about photography, use digital cameras, develop new skills, and participate in a meaningful collective activity regardless of whether they ultimately joined the study. The workshop therefore functioned as a form of reciprocal benefit, creating value for participants and the service community before any research data were collected.
The authors describe how the workshop helped create bonds between adolescents and researchers, fostered ongoing participation, and established a safe space where participants felt comfortable discussing fears, desires, anxieties, and personal experiences.
The engagement did not end at recruitment.
The study itself employed Photovoice, a methodology explicitly designed to position participants as active contributors to knowledge production. Adolescents chose what to photograph, interpreted the meaning of their images, participated in collective discussions, selected photographs for exhibition, and helped determine how the outputs would be shared. The authors describe this as research conducted with adolescents rather than about adolescents.
Viewed through a Community Engagement lens, the study therefore presents engagement at multiple levels:
- Pre-research engagement through the Photography Workshop.
- Trust-building and relationship development before recruitment.
- Capacity strengthening through photography skills and creative expression.
- Non-conditional benefit for participants regardless of study enrollment.
- Participatory recruitment grounded in existing relationships.
- Participatory knowledge production through Photovoice.
- Shared dissemination through the co-created photographic exhibition.
This case suggests that engagement-oriented approaches may be particularly valuable in mental health research with adolescents, where trust, expression, participation, and the recognition of young people as active contributors are central to both research quality and ethical practice.
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