Participatory Action Research (PAR) approaches and methods have seen an explosion of recent interest in the social and environmental sciences. PAR involves collaborative research, education and ...action which is oriented towards social change, representing a major epistemological challenge to mainstream research traditions. It has recently been the subject of heated critique and debate and rapid theoretical and methodological development.
This book captures these developments, exploring the justification, theorisation, practice and implications of PAR. It offers a critical introduction to understanding and working with PAR in different social, spatial and institutional contexts. The authors engage with PAR’s radical potential, while maintaining a critical awareness of its challenges and dangers. The book is divided into three parts. The first part explores the intellectual, ethical and pragmatic contexts of PAR; the development and diversity of approaches to PAR; recent poststructuralist perspectives on PAR as a form of power; the ethic of participation; and issues of safety and well-being. Part two is a critical exploration of the politics, places and practices of PAR. Contributors draw on diverse research experiences with differently situated groups and issues including environmentally sustainable practices, family livelihoods, sexual health, gendered experiences of employment, and specific communities such as people with disabilities, migrant groups, and young people. The principles, dilemmas and strategies associated with participatory approaches and methods including diagramming, cartographies, art, theatre, photovoice, video and geographical information systems are also discussed. Part three reflects on how effective PAR is, including the analysis of its products and processes, participatory learning, representation and dissemination, institutional benefits and challenges, and working between research, action, activism and change.
The authors find that a spatial perspective and an attention to scale offer helpful means of negotiating the potentials and paradoxes of PAR. This approach responds to critiques of PAR by highlighting how the spatial politics of practising participation can be mobilised to create more effective and just research processes and outcomes. The book adds significant weight to the recent critical reappraisal of PAR, suggesting why, when, where and how we might take forward PAR’s commitment to enabling collaborative social transformation. It will be particularly useful to researchers and students of Human Geography, Development Studies and Sociology.
1. Introduction: Connecting People, Participation and Place Part 1: Reflection 2. Participatory Action Research: Origins, Approaches and Methods 3. Participation as a Form of Power: Retheorising Empowerment and Spatialising Participatory Action Research 4. Participatory Action Research: Making a Difference to Theory, Practice and Action 5. Toward a Participatory Ethics 6. Participatory Action Research and Researcher Safety Part 2: Action 7. Environment and Development: (Re)Connecting Community and Commons in New England Fisheries, USA 8. Working Towards and beyond Collaborative Resource Management: Parks, People and Participation in the Peruvian Amazon 9. Researching Sexual Health: Two Participatory Action Research Projects in Zimbabwe 10. Gender and Employment: Participatory Social Auditing in Kenya 11. Inclusive Methodologies: Including Disabled People in Participatory Action Research in Scotland and Canada 12. Working with Migrant Communities: Collaborating with the Kalayaan Centre in Vancouver, Canada 13. Peer Research with Youth: Negotiating (Sub)Cultural Capital, Place and Participation in Aotearoa/New Zealand 14. Participatory Diagramming: A Critical View from North East England 15. Participatory Cartographies: Reflections from Research Performances in Fiji and Tanzania 16. Participatory Art: Capturing Spatial Vocabularies in a Collaborative Visual Methodology 17. Participatory Theatre: ‘Creating a Source for Staging an Example’ in the USA 18. Photovoice: Insights into Marginalisation through a ‘Community Lens’ in Saskatchewan, Canada 19. Uniting People with Place Using Participatory Video in Aotearoa/New Zealand: A Ngati Hauiti Journey 20. Participatory GIS: The Humboldt/West Humboldt Park Community GIS Project, Chicago, USA Part 3: Reflection 21. Participatory Data Analysis 22. Participatory Learning: Opportunities and Challenges 23. Beyond the Journal Article: Representations, Audience and the Presentation of Participatory Action Research 24. Linking Participatory Research to Action: Institutional Challenges 25. Relating Action to Activism: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections. Conclusion 26. Conclusion: The Space(s) and Scale(s) of Participatory Action Research: Constructing Empowering Geographies?
Sara Kindon is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Development Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Her research interests focus on participation, visuality and cross-cultural research. She has worked in Costa Rica, Indonesia and in rural and urban contexts in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Rachel Pain is a social geographer at Durham University in the UK. Her research interests include fear, well-being and social justice. She is currently conducting PAR with young asylum seekers, refugees and locally born young people in north east England.
Mike Kesby is a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK. His research interests include participatory methods, HIV education programs, gender relations and children’s geographies. He works predominately in rural Zimbabwe.
To examine how information and communication technology (ICT) access and use are conceptually incorporated in the Successful Aging 2.0 framework.
Using data from the 2011 National Health and Aging ...Trends Study (N = 6,476), we examined how ICT access and use for different purposes are associated with social engagement (i.e., informal and formal social participation) by gender. Weighted logistic regression analyses were performed.
Findings revealed that men were more likely to access and use ICT than women. ICT access was positively associated with all types of women's social engagement, but only with men's informal social participation. Information technology (IT) use for health matters was positively associated with formal social participation for women and with informal social participation for men. IT use for personal tasks was negatively associated with formal social participation for older adults. Communication technology use was positively associated with formal and informal social participation for women and men.
This study supports the expansion of the successful aging model by incorporating ICT access and use. Further, it assists in the identification of specific technologies that promote active engagement in later life for women and men.
Objective: To examine the relationship between the type and number of social participation events and the cognitive function in elderly patients with diabetes.Methods: The subjects were diabetic ...outpatients of ≥60 years of age who were managed at Ise Red Cross Hospital. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia were assessed using a self-administered dementia checklist. Six types of social participation activities and the number of participants were investigated. A logistic regression analysis with MCI and dementia as dependent variables, social participation as an explanatory variable, and adjustment variables was used to calculate the odds ratios for social participation according to the presence of MCI and dementia.Results: In total, 352 patients were included in the analysis. Volunteer activities (P=0.012), hobbies (P=0.006), activities to share skills and experiences (P=0.026), and work (P=0.003) were significantly associated with dementia. Regarding the association between the amount of social participation and dementia, there was a decrease in the risk of dementia when the number of social participation was 2. However, social participation was not significantly associated with MCI in this study.Conclusion: The type and number of social participation events were found to be associated with the risk of dementia in elderly patients with diabetes.
Highlights • Social relationships and risk of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies. • We conducted a systematic literature review in MEDLINE, Embase and ...PsycINFO. • We included 19 longitudinal cohort studies in the systematic review & meta-analysis. • We examined the association between social relationships and incident dementia. • A lack of social interaction is associated with incident dementia. • The results are comparable with other well-established risk factors for dementia.
Within the context of physical disability, participation has typically been conceptualized in terms of one's performance of different roles and activities. This perspective, however, ignores the ...meanings and satisfactions that a person derives from participating. Without an accepted conceptualization of participation that accounts for people's subjective perceptions and experiences, it is challenging for decision-makers and service providers to design meaningful participation-enhancing services, programs, and policies. Accordingly, our objectives were (1) to conduct a review of definitions and conceptualizations of participation that extend beyond performance and capture people's subjective experiences of participating and (2) to identify key experiential aspects of participation that can be used as a basis for conceptualizing and operationalizing the concept more broadly. The project involved a systematic, configurative review of relevant literature. Ten relevant articles were identified. Information on characteristics associated with experiential aspects of participation was extracted and subjected to a thematic analysis. The following 6 themes emerged: autonomy, belongingness, challenge, engagement, mastery, and meaning. Drawing on these findings, it is recommended that the individual's subjective perceptions of autonomy, belongingness, challenge, engagement, mastery, and meaning associated with participating be incorporated into conceptualizations and operationalizations of the participation construct. This recommendation provides a starting point for clinicians, researchers, and policymakers to conceptualize and measure the participation concept more consistently and more broadly.
This article aimed to identify the news published in the Brazilian media that constituted relevant social divergences during a certain period of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021). In ...this context, it was analyzed the compliance of the federative entities with the constitutional norms that encourage dialogue and social participation in health. This article also investigated the observance of norms that impose democratic values in the health área by the perspective of Habermas’ theory of communicative action. The recommendation of drugs without scientific efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19 and the respective positions of health institutions were studied as a practical example of social divergence in facing the pandemic. The research concluded that it is essential a dialogue to legitimize choices in the health area and to make management acts compatible with the values of the democratic state of law and with the guidelines of social participation in the Brazilian National Health System. The lack of social participation made it difficult to establish harmony in the fight against the pandemic because some decisions, such as the recommendation of ineffective medicines, were questionable as they did not have adequate justifications due to the lack of debates with the scientific community and other segments of society.
Este trabalho teve como objetivo identificar os fatos divulgados na mídia brasileira que se constituíram como divergências sociais relevantes durante um determinado período da pandemia de covid-19 (março de 2020 a julho de 2021). Nesse contexto foi analisado o cumprimento, pelos entes federados, das normas constitucionais que fomentam o diálogo e a participação social na saúde. O exame da observância das normas que impõem valores democráticos na área da saúde foi realizado também na perspectiva da teoria da ação comunicativa, de Habermas. A recomendação de medicamentos sem eficácia científica para tratamento da covid-19 e os posicionamentos de entidades da saúde a esse respeito foram examinados como exemplo prático de divergência social no enfrentamento da pandemia. Na pesquisa, concluiu-se pela imprescindibilidade do diálogo para legitimar as escolhas na área da saúde e para compatibilizar os atos de gestão com os valores do Estado Democrático de Direito e com a diretriz da participação da comunidade no Sistema Único de Saúde. A falta de participação da comunidade dificultou o estabelecimento de uma harmonia social no enfrentamento da pandemia, eis que, por inexistência de debates com a comunidade científica e outros segmentos da sociedade, algumas decisões, como a recomendação de medicamentos sem eficácia científica comprovada, eram questionáveis por falta de justificação adequada.
The motor dysfunctions that result in the incapacity and participation limitations in individuals with Cerebral Palsy (CP) are described as adjacent alterations from their pathology. The ...characterization of daily activities and participation is still little explored and studied in the literature to assist practice. We need to know the characteristics of the participation of adolescents with CP to guide a more assertive clinical practice.
To explore associations between the functional level and the frequency of social participation of adolescents with CP.
Observational cross-sectional study. Adolescents diagnosed with CP, between 12 and 17 years old, without associated cognitive or behavioral changes were assessed. The adolescents were classified by the Brazilian Economic classification criteria ABEP-2022, and regarding the frequency of participation at home, school and community by the Participation scale and environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY) and the functional levels classified by Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), Manual Ability Classification System (MACS), Communication Function Classification System (CFCS), Eating and Drinking Ability Classification System (EDACS) and Vision Function Classification System (VFCS). Data were analyzed descriptively and through Spearman correlations, using the Statistical Package for Social Science.
10 adolescents were evaluated, 5 boys and 5 girls, with a mean age of 13.90 (±1.79). Regarding socioeconomic status, measured by ABEP, 3 (30%) of the adolescents were classified as B2, 3 (30%) as C1 and 4 (40%) as C2. Classifications of functional levels were: GMFCS level I = 4 (40%), II = 1 (10%), IV = 3 (30%) and V = 2 (20%); MACS level I = 4 (40%), II = 3 (30%) and IV = 3 (30%); CFCS level I = 2 (20%), II = 3 (30%), III = 4 (40%) and IV = 1 (10%); EDACS level I = 4 (40%), II = 2 (20%), III = 2 (20%), IV = 1 (10%) and V = 1 (10%); and VFCS level I = 7 (70%), II = 2 (20%) and III = 1 (10%). Significant negative correlations were found between GMFCS levels and the frequency of participation at school (rho = -0.72; r² = 0.34; p-value = 0.01). No significant correlations were observed between participation and functional levels of MACS, EDACS, VFCS, CFCS.
These preliminary data may indicate a tendency that the better the gross motor function (GMFCS) the better the frequency of participation in activities in the school environment for adolescents with CP. These results suggest that better motor skills may facilitate activities in the school environment.
Knowledge about the influence of functionality on the participation of adolescents with CP is essential to guide individualized and family-centered clinical practice. Furthermore, it is essential to verify the influence of factors related to the body function and levels of frequency in social participation experienced by these individuals in different environments.
With the fast expansion of urbanization, temporary migrants have become a large demographic in Chinese cities. Therefore, in order to enhance the social integration of the migrant population, ...scholars and policymakers have an urgency to investigate the influencing factors of the integration progress. Prior studies regarding social integration have neglected to examine this topic from the perspective of social participation. Empirical research is conducted based on the data of 15,997 migrants across eight cities in the 2014 wave of National Migrant Population Dynamic Monitoring Survey (MDMS) in China. Hierarchical linear models were used to test the hypotheses regarding the impacts of formal social participation (FSP) and informal social participation (ISP) on social integration. Community type, neighbor composition, hometown pressure, withdrawal guarantee, and constraints of
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were examined as moderators. FSP and ISP possess different features such as operating with distinct modes, providing different services. Members within the organizations also entail different rights and responsibilities, providing them with different types of social capital and psychological perceptions. Hence, this study strived to identify the effects of social participation behaviors on social integration from a social capital perspective. The results revealed that social participation is positively linked to social integration. We also distinguished between FSP and ISP of migrants to investigate the boundary effects of different types of social participation on social integration. The findings provide both theoretical and practical implications for scholars as well as policymakers on issues regarding the social integration of migrants.
Previous studies have shown that formal social participation may reduce the risk of developing chronic conditions. Yet, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, we assessed the ...potential mediating roles of quality of life and depressive symptoms using longitudinal data.
We analyzed nationally representative data from three consecutive waves (2011, 2013, 2015) of the SHARE survey, including 28,982 adults from 12 European countries aged 50 years and above at baseline. Measures were self-reported and included formal social participation (i.e. active participation within volunteer organizations, educational institutions, clubs, religious organizations, or political/civic groups), quality of life (CASP-12), depressive symptoms (EURO-D), and chronic conditions. Structural equation modeling was used to construct a focused longitudinal path model.
Formal social participation at baseline was inversely associated with the number of chronic conditions at 4-year follow-up. We identified two significant longitudinal mediation patterns: 1) formal social participation predicted higher levels of quality of life, which in turn, predicted lower levels of chronic conditions; and 2) formal social participation predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms, which, in turn, also predicted lower levels of chronic conditions.
Formal social participation functions as a protective factor against the onset or development of chronic conditions. This association is partially explained by enhanced quality of life and diminished depressive symptoms.
•The protective benefit of formal social participation against chronic conditions was examined.•The outcome was 13 chronic conditions (summed up to a continuous score) at four-year follow-up.•A large nationally-representative sample of older adults (50+) in 12 European countries was used.•Formal social participation at baseline was inversely related to the number of chronic conditions at follow-up.•The association was mediated by higher levels of quality of life and lower levels of depressive symptoms.
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