An exploration of young people's experiences of a participatory project

Abstract

Listening to and involving children and young people (CYP) in decision-making and services that affect them has become increasingly important. Since the 1990s, there has been a rise in participatory approaches and research with CYP. Both models of participatory research and practice in this area are being developed. This research aims to enhance developments in participatory research with CYP by learning from the experiences, perspectives and accounts of CYP who have experienced a participatory project. The participatory research project that participants in this research experienced was The Verbatim Formula (TVF), a creative residential workshop for care-experienced young people, using applied art practices to investigate their experiences of care and plans for their futures. This research used an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach to explore how the young people taking part in TVF, experienced the project. A sample of five young people, ranging from the age of 16 to 21 years old took part in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The findings of this research focused on three main themes: the young people made sense of their experiences of the project through participating; learning and interpersonal relationships. The richness and power of how young people experienced the project highlighted the possibilities of what can be gained by asking CYP about their experiences and how these could develop participatory research practices and thinking. There are also implications for educational psychology practice and the potential for future research with Educational Psychologists is outlined.