Climbing the "ladder of participation": engaging experiential youth in a participatory research project

Street-involved youth are at high risk for acquiring HIV and hepatitis C infection due to potential engagement in high-risk behaviours, including injection drug use. The Youth Injection Prevention (YIP) Project sought to identify factors that prevented street-involved youth from moving into injection drug use in Vancouver, BC. Our project used a participatory research orientation to study these factors. This paper describes the level of participation observed among the street-involved youth taking part in our project.

The YIP project employed street-involved youth as co-researchers. To assess the level of participation among the co-researchers, we applied Roger Hart's "Ladder of Youth Participation". Each advancing rung in the ladder represents a higher level of participation. We compared the youth's involvement in the project to the rungs in Roger Hart's tool.

Throughout the duration of the project, the youth's participation increased. Initially the youth had low levels of participation as they were hired based on their life experiences and initially consulted and informed. Over the course of the project, team- and skill-building activities took place. This helped the project environment evolve into a safe space where youth felt comfortable to engage at the highest levels of participation.

The YIP Project was successful in being a highly participatory research project. In a safe and open environment, the youth felt comfortable to question and take on initiatives that went beyond the academic researcher's initial expectations. This project highlights the success of engaging street-involved youth in participatory research.