Outcomes and Intentionality of Action Planning in Photovoice: A Literature Review

Participatory action research methods have been utilized to engage community members in community-driven health promotion projects addressing issues across various socioecological levels. Photovoice is one such participatory action research method that allows participants to use photography to document their experiences and dialogue to eventually influence change and reach policy makers. However, it is unclear how photovoice projects demonstrate intentional action planning and its impact on community-level outcomes. The purpose of this literature review is to understand (1) how action plans are developed, initialized and implemented in the community and (2) describe community-wide changes that occurred in photovoice projects with an action planning process. We searched scholarly databases for peer-reviewed articles that used photovoice with action planning and community-level outcomes. As a result, 19 articles were included in this review. Using the socioecological model to assess the literature, we found that action planning varied at different levels of influence. The intentionality of action planning was described through the use of specific action steps, as well as intentional dissemination to stakeholders, evaluation, and sustainability primarily at the community and organization levels. Our results suggest that the most successful photovoice projects were those that were intentional in action planning. We provide recommendations for photovoice researchers to better incorporate action planning into their methodology and make use of photovoice as an action research tool that can provide a clear, sustainable path toward community-wide changes.