Creating a Narrative for Change: Health Promotion Students' Perspectives on the Power of Photovoice Research

The use of Critical Race Theory, Photovoice, and Community-Based Participatory Research has helped uncover the root causes of issues such as systemic racism in the fields of public health and health promotion. Often, we see studies using traditional research methods to investigate potential causal factors of disparities in minoritized communities report only quantitative data. While these data are imperative for understanding the severity of disparities, quantitative-only approaches cannot address nor can they improve the critical root causes of these disparities. As a team of BIPOC graduate students in public health, we conducted a community-based participatory research project using Photovoice methodology to explore inequities in Black and Brown communities exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participatory nature of this research revealed cumulative challenges across the social determinants of health in New Haven and Bridgeport, Connecticut. It allowed us to engage in local-level advocacy to promote health equity as our findings illuminated the need for community-led and community-engaged action. Health and racial inequities cannot be effectively addressed if public health research and programming do not collaborate with the community to build community capacity, empowerment, and trust. We describe our experiences doing community-based participatory research to investigate inequities and provide reflections on their value for public health students. As responses to health inequities and disparities become more politically polarized in the United States, it is critical for public health and health education students to use research methodologies that elevate communities that have been historically marginalized and neglected. Together, we can catalyze equitable change.