Engage Community Members Research Articles

The WE Project Partnership: The Role and Scope of Community Researchers

<strong>Background:</strong> Academic-community partnerships form the backbone of community-based participatory research. This partnership often supports the hiring and training of community members in the role of community researcher. A community researcher’s role is extensive, ranging from specific research tasks to various planned and unplanned community outreach and engagement activities. This paper seeks to expand current insights about engaging community members in the role of community researcher within the context of an academic-community partnership. <strong>Objectives: </strong>The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore community member motivations to serve in this role and more fully understand the varied tasks, both planned and opportunistic, that may be associated with their embedded, insider role. <strong>Method:</strong> Conducted thematic qualitative data analysis using three data sources: 1) community researcher applications, 2) meetings, and 3) bi-monthly reports. <strong>Results: </strong>Community researchers (N = 24) demonstrated a strong personal passion and interest in both the research content area of obesity and improving community health outcomes. The bi-monthly report data documents their wide range of administrative, research, and outreach activities. The meeting notes provide in-depth insights into the complexities and challenges associated with research and outreach tasks. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The role of the community researcher traverses well beyond prescribed data collection and research functions. Academic-community partnerships need to be intentional to ensure that policies and practices are inclusive and appropriately demonstrate the community researcher’s valuable role.

Community Acknowledgment

Volunteers in non-profit groups are a valuable workforce that contributes to economic development and supports people in need in the U.S. However, many non-profit groups face challenges including engaging and sustaining volunteer participation, as well as increasing visibility of their work in the community. To support non-profit groups' service, we explored how engaging community members in the volunteer-acknowledgment process may have an impact. We set up workstations and invited community members to write thank-you cards to volunteers in non-profit groups. We conducted 14 interviews with volunteers and community members, collected and analyzed 25 thank-you cards. We found that the acknowledgment activity can help circulate social goods through multiple stakeholders, that authenticity was valued in the acknowledgment process, and that non-profit groups intended to distribute, reuse, and publicize the acknowledgments to utilize them to a fuller extent. Our contributions include expanding knowledge on experiences, needs, and impact of community acknowledgment from different stakeholders, as well as presenting design opportunities.

America’s First Memorial Honoring Survivors of Sexual Violence

Over the past two decades, America taken part of a broader global trend of "memorial mania" in which memorials dedicated to remembering injustice have exploded into public space. Memorials that facilitate the centering of marginalized narratives of violence hold significant power for social change. This article focuses on one such space: The Survivors Memorial in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Survivors Memorial opened in October 2020 and is the first public memorial honoring survivors of sexual violence. Despite the progress of the anti-rape and feminist movements as well as a variety of legal interventions designed to address sexual violence and empower, many survivors are left without a sense of justice or institutional or community recognition. Drawing on 21 in-depth, qualitative interviews with individuals involved in all aspects of the memorial project, this article documents how one community mobilized to create a space for survivors whose voices are often overlooked, disbelieved and silenced by the criminal justice system, practitioners, and communities. In focusing on how participants narrate the significance and meaning of the Survivors Memorial, this article uncovers how social, political, and local circumstances coalesced to make the Memorial possible. These factors include local leadership, the prevalence of sexual violence, the unique structure of the Minneapolis park structure, and the rise of the #MeToo movement. Interviews illuminate that participants worked to intentionally construct the Memorial as an accessible and visible space that centers on providing all sexual violence survivors with public acknowledgment of their experiences, while simultaneously engaging community members in dialogs about sexual violence, ultimately, laying the foundation for sexual violence prevention efforts.

Leveraging Collective Impact to Address Structural Racism in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

Buncombe County, North Carolina, was recognized in 2014 as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize Winner for its work fostering collaboration and partnership to address community health needs. As part of this work, Buncombe County Health and Human Services (HHS) convened a cross-sector Public Health Advisory Council that supported community-based initiatives and ensured that community members were involved in identifying and implementing solutions to issues such as poverty and child well-being. Leveraging existing relationships and past efforts, Buncombe County has continued to build collaborative networks for systems change using a collective impact framework. Bringing together partners across sectors, including the faith community, Black fraternities and sororities, community health workers, consulates, and others, Buncombe County HHS is supporting efforts to train and equip community members to lead health promotion efforts and community conversations on historical trauma and racial healing; engage community members in the policymaking process through town halls; and archive the community's pandemic journey through storytelling. The collective impact framework has shaped an environment that supports community change by centering community aspirations and values. This environment informed recent declarations by Buncombe County HHS and the Board of Commissioners that racism is a public health crisis, as well as a resolution by the city of Asheville supporting community reparations. This article explores how the collective impact framework has been used in Buncombe County to engage and continually invest in communities of color and reviews steps taken to develop and implement an equity action plan to address structural racism.

Primary health care in the Amazon and its potential impact on health inequities: a scoping review.

Health studies of the Amazon often focus on diseases and infections prevalent in the region, and few studies address health organizations and services. In this sense, this study fills a gap by reviewing the studies aimed at primary healthcare (PHC) implementation in the nine Amazonian countries. This review addresses a need to explore the forms in which PHC is implemented in the Amazon areas outside the urban centers and its potential to reduce health inequities. This study contributes to improvements in the practices of managers and health professionals and research on the topic. Scoping review methodology was applied to peer-reviewed articles. The databases searched were PubMed, Scopus, Lilacs, Embase and Web of Science. Selected studies included peer-reviewed publications, published between January 2000 and November 2019, that focused on PHC or one of its components in the Amazon, and were published in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The study used Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review guidelines, supported by Levac, and included five steps: (i) identification phase, where search queries were applied to the databases followed by the removal of duplicates; (ii) screening phase, where titles and abstracts of articles were screened to exclude irrelevant articles; (iii) eligibility phase, where the full texts of articles were read to assess their relevancy to this study; (iv) data extraction, using a spreadsheet designed to capture relevant information required in this review, using an iterative process; (v) summarizing and classification of each article according to content. The second and third phases were conducted independently by two reviewers. If a disagreement arose between the reviewers, a third reviewer was consulted to help decide whether to include or exclude a study. This review included 25 studies. Of these, 11 presented promising results regarding PHC functioning in the Amazon region, and 14 presented challenges and difficulties in its functioning. Some PHC strategies implemented in the Amazon showed the potential to reduce inequities, mostly when they involved actions that increased access to PHC in the region when they developed a culturally adapted role and engaged community members in the decision-making and in the collaborative construction of health services. Actions that exposed challenges and difficulties were related to ill-prepared healthcare professionals, inadequate service approach and the inability to adapt to cultural issues. The findings reveal information about PHC implementations that have had promising results in the Amazon region and, at the same time, show the challenges and difficulties of the PHC actions. The findings also highlight and synthesize knowledge about the potential that PHC strategies have to affect existing inequities in the Amazon region and gaps in the studies that have been undertaken, or at least published, including a lack of studies of PHC implementation and examination of strategies aimed at health determinants.

What predicts community members’ intentions to take action to protect koalas?

Context Without urgent action, koalas could be extinct in New South Wales (NSW), Australia by 2050. Despite the key role that community members could play in koala protection, we know little about what might motivate them to engage in these actions. Aims This study surveyed residents (n = 585) of local government areas of far north east NSW to identify demographic and social-psychological factors associated with likelihood of engaging in actions that could help to protect koalas. Methods A survey using a multi-pronged recruitment process was administered to relevant participants. Key results Binary logistic regression analyses revealed that the likelihood of joining a community conservation group was greater in the Byron shire and for those with a stronger environmental identity, more positive attitudes toward koalas and who perceived that others who are important to them take action to protect koalas. Byron residents, those with a stronger environmental identity and those with more knowledge about koalas were also more likely to advocate government for koala protection. Positive attitudes towards koalas and perceptions that others who are important to them take action to protect koalas significantly predicted likelihood of restoring native vegetation on respondents’ properties. Gender emerged as the only significant predictor of likelihood of joining council conservation initiatives. Conclusions These findings provide insights that could help guide the efforts of government and non-government agencies in engaging community members with koala protection. Implications This study identified which factors to target when focusing on koala protection behaviours, and can be used to help guide efforts to build community support for koala protection actions.

Social capital as a factor of territorial communities’ sustainable development: behavioral aspect

The article defines the major development problems of territorial communities established in the course of administrative-financial decentralization. On this basis, the relevance of the research of territorial communities’ social capital as a factor of securing their development and capacity in the long run is emphasized. The nature of the concept of social capital is defined, and its development factors and possible results of its use in a territorial community are outlined. The author defines conditions (qualitative institutional framework), perspectives (consideration of communication and informal relations when mapping the community development policy), and risks (the threat of social alienation of community members, development of xenophobia and intolerance, and unequal inclusion of social groups) that accompany the process of social capital intensification in a territorial community. The article focuses on the role of social values in the generation of social capital. Based on the conducted sociological survey, the low civil activity of the residents of territorial communities and low interest in the opportunities for personal participation in the community life are detected. The analysis of the role of social capital as a factor of securing the development of a territorial community in the long run gives the ground to substantiate the need to establish interaction between the community residents and local government and to involve residents in the territorial management. The principles of engaging the community members in its development (establishment of the objective and limits of engagement; equal access; inclusiveness; tolerance; interaction and decision-making consistency; feedback) and the engagement ways (raising awareness, consulting, interaction, cooperation, authorization) are determined. The possible consequences of efficient engagement of community members in the solution of certain development issues are substantiated.

Algorithm for Creating a Multidisciplinary Team in the Palliative Care System

Aim: The study aimed to develop an algorithm for organizing the work of a multidisciplinary palliative care team in a territorial community. Materials and Methods: The following methods were employed: analysis of the regulatory framework, statistical data, international and domestic experience, scientific literature, opinion survey, strategic sessions, participant observation. The field research was conducted by the Center for Social Research of Sumy State University together with the NGO “Family Circle of Trostianechchyna (Trostianets district)” in the Trostianets territorial community of Sumy region (Ukraine) during September-October 2021. Eighty respondents took part in the survey. Up to 30 people joined the strategic sessions at different stages. Results: The survey discovered that at the research time in the pilot territorial community, the needs of palliative patients were more restrained than those who rendered assistance. However, in both cases, there is a high demand for social services against the background of medical services. Proceeding from the identified needs and by the results of strategic sessions, we proposed an algorithm for organizing the work of a multidisciplinary palliative care team at the territorial community level. The algorithm distinguishes between the program and operational levels. We put forward the structure of the interdisciplinary palliative care team. Conclusions: As a conclusion, we can specify the following points. The study confirmed the hypotheses that the basics of the identified needs and the use of strategic sessions with multidisciplinary participation of community members facilitate the development of an efficient algorithm. The designed operational level of the interdisciplinary team recorded the practices available in the pilot community. Simultaneously, the collaborative design determined the development of the multidisciplinary team itself. The involvement of management representatives, junior medical staff, and social workers became an essential factor in their inspiration, contributing to the development of human resources for a new level of quality in palliative care.

RECURSIVITY IN DIGITAL COLLABORATION PLATFORMS

This article investigates conditions of the reproduction of the techno-social component of recursivity with collective collaboration in the development and use of network information technologies. For this purpose, this article uses two cases that give a prototype of the institution of “governability without interference.” In the concept of the “recursive public” that underlies the first case, accessibility and changeability of the subject of its activity are important. Such conditions take place in the social environment of programmers who create and develop freely available software. In its scheme, passive and active recursive processes are distinguished. The first case is “consumption” of software by external stakeholders, while the second is about active participation of community members in its creation. Close to this concept are the ideas of “recursive organization,” “recursive citizenship,” and “recursive democracy” in a networked society. These are revealed in the second case using the example of the Decidim project. A distinctive feature of the digital political network that is being formed is the desire to meet basic requirements of radical democracy. It is shown that this orientation is largely associated with the ideas and experience of the social movement 15-M. Project participants, collaborating with each other, can consistently control the functioning of its digital platform and data, as well as modify other elements, including internal code and interface part. In the activities of the community that has developed in the project, the recursive process of creating organizational structures and their influence on the formation of the “action space” is highlighted. As in the first case, we can specify active and passive forms of recursion in the project. The understanding of technopolitical democratization, including the recursion mechanism, is disclosed. The process is presented in the form of an ontology schema. The results obtained concretize the understanding of recursivity and its impact on the development of digital collaboration platforms.

Community health workers and promotoras' perspectives of a research best practice course: A focus group study.

Community Health Workers and Promotoras (CHW/Ps) are valued for their role in helping to engage community members in research. CHW/Ps have traditionally received variable training in research fundamentals, including importance and promotion of research rigor to establish consistency in the methods used over time. Research best practices training exists for research professionals, but no standard training is provided as part of the CHW/P job role. To develop this CHW/P research best practices training, our team engaged English- and Spanish-speaking CHW/Ps to watch an early version of an online module and to examine perceptions of the relevance of such a training and optimal delivery methods. Six virtual focus group discussions were conducted (three in English and three in Spanish) across different US geographic regions with currently employed CHW/Ps. Forty CHW/Ps participated (95% female, mean age 44 years, 58% identifying as Hispanic/Latino). Four themes emerged: relevance of training, benefits of providing a certificate of completion, flexible training delivery modalities, and peer-led training. With participation from representatives of the intended learner group of CHW/Ps, our team found that CHW/Ps valued learning about research best practices. They perceived culturally- and linguistically appropriate health research training to be highly relevant to their role, particularly for communicating key information to community members about their participation in health research. Additionally, participants provided input on effective dissemination of the training including the benefit of having proof of course completion, involvement of peer trainers, and value of providing the option to participate in online training.

Engaging Underserved Communities in COVID-19 Health Equity Implementation Research: An Analysis of Community Engagement Resource Needs and Costs.

Background:Meaningful community engagement is instrumental to effective implementation and sustainment of equitable public health interventions. Significant resources are necessary to ensure that community engagement takes place in culturally sensitive, trusted ways that optimize positive public health outcomes. However, the types and costs of resources best suited to enable meaningful community engagement in implementation research are not well-documented. This study’s objectives are (1) to describe a pragmatic method for systematically tracking and documenting resources utilized for community engagement activities, (2) report resources across phases of implementation research, and (3) provide recommendations for planning and budgeting for community engagement in health equity implementation research.Methods:Community engagement partners completed a tracking log of their person-hours for community engagement activities across three phases of community engagement (startup, early, maintenance) in two implementation research projects to promote equity in COVID-19 testing and vaccination for underserved communities. Both projects completed a six-session Theory of Change (i.e., a facilitated group discussion about current and desired conditions that culminated with a set of priorities for strategic change making) over 4 months with respective Community Advisory Boards (CAB) that included community organizers, promotores, federally qualified health center providers and administrators, and public health researchers. The reported person-hours that facilitated community member engagement were documented and summarized within and across project phases.Results:For both projects, the startup phase required the highest number of person-hours (M = 60), followed by the maintenance (M = 53) and early phase (M = 47). Within the startup phase, a total of 5 community engagement activities occurred with identifying and inviting CAB members incurring the greatest number of person-hours (M = 19). Within the early phase, a total of 11 community engagement activities occurred with coordinating and leading live interpretation (Spanish) during CAB sessions incurring the greatest number of person-hours (M = 10). The maintenance phase included 11 community engagement activities with time dedicated to written translation of CAB materials into Spanish incurring the greatest number of person-hours (M = 10).Conclusions:Study findings indicate that the most significant investment of resources is required in the startup period. Needed resources decreased, albeit with a greater diversity of activities, in later phases of community engagement with Spanish language translation requiring most in the later stage of the study. This study contributes to the community engagement and implementation science literature by providing a pragmatic tracking and measurement approach and recommendations for planning for and assessing costs to facilitate meaningful community engagement in public health implementation research.

Community-engaged asset mapping with Latinx immigrant families of youth with disabilities.

Asset mapping is a participatory methodology that engages community members in identifying services and settings that promote health and well-being. This study aimed to identify community assets from the perspective of Latinx immigrant families with youth with disabilities. Latinx immigrant families (n = 21) participated in the mapping, followed by a reflection session and an open forum (n = 30). The findings revealed that families identified faith-based organizations and social service agencies as some of the main assets in their communities, while they identified mental health services as the most needed. The results also showed that participants preferred to utilize services and resources that are within walking distance of their homes, provide safe spaces, treat them well, offer bilingual services, do not require documentation, and are affordable. This study has important implications for community scholars and practitioners interested in implementing asset-based methodologies that focus on participants as experts of their own realities and agents of change and that promote advocacy and empowerment actions.

Effectiveness of community-based livestock protection strategies: a case study of human–lion conflict mitigation

AbstractConservation scientists are increasingly recognizing the need to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to improve human–wildlife coexistence across different contexts. Here we assessed the long-term efficacy of the Long Shields Community Guardians programme in Zimbabwe. This community-based programme seeks to protect livestock and prevent depredation by lionsPanthera leothrough non-lethal means, with the ultimate aim of promoting human–lion coexistence. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we measured temporal trends in livestock depredation by lions and the prevalence of retaliatory killing of lions by farmers and wildlife managers. Farmers that were part of the Long Shields programme experienced a significant reduction in livestock loss to lions, and the annual number of lions subject to retaliatory killing by farmers dropped by 41% since the start of the programme in 2013, compared to 2008–2012, before the programme was initiated. Our findings demonstrate the Long Shields programme can be a potential model for limiting livestock depredation by lions. More broadly, our study demonstrates the effectiveness of community-based interventions to engage community members, improve livestock protection and ameliorate levels of retaliatory killing, thereby reducing human–lion conflict.

Community-based Approach to Empower People with Disabilities

This article seeks to understand the empowerment issues of persons with disabilities. Various development programs have been implemented to reduce stigma, prejudice and stereotypes that impede persons with disabilities from having greater access to education, employment or the labor markets and public services. However, research findings showed that many interventions and strategies to address disability issues focus more on individual or medical models. As a consequence, public stigma and social exclusion of persons with disabilities continue to occur, preventing them from participating in various activities in the society including in the tourism sector. The purpose of this study is to identify social reasons that lead to exclusion and lack of empowerment, as well as to establish programs at the community level to increase the engagements of persons with disabilities in tourist attractions and tourist destinations in Malang. The result of the study shows that the insufficient skills and knowledge of the community members of Desa Kalisanga (nicknamed Kampung Cempluk) in communicating and interacting with persons with disabilities cause the lack of awareness in regard to disability issues. Using macro perspective, this study exhibits community-based approach which requires participation of community members in the planning and organizing an inclusive arts and music festival in Kampung Cempluk. The community was successfully provided various accessibility facilities needed by persons with disabilities to participate, both attending and performing at the festival. This study shows that community-based approach could be employed as a model or strategy to empower persons with disabilities by providing them with equal opportunities to participate in tourist attractions or other activities in the society and wider access to tourist destinations and other public facilities.

Moving the needle on health inequities: principles and tactics for effective cross-sector population health networks.

Purpose of reviewTo summarize elements of cross-sector population health networks to support systems and policy change to achieve equitable access to health services and healthy development opportunities for young children and families, allowing everyone to have a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.Recent findingsThe principles and tactics of Equity and Inclusion, Readiness, Joint Planning, Governance, and Data can guide cross-sector networks in effectively supporting communities in addressing health inequities. These principles are not linear or siloed, but rather, they overlap and reinforce each other. The principles require equity and the participation of community members to be central in all aspects of cross-sector network work.SummaryBy building strong relationships among community partners, cross-sector population health networks can ensure the network is not a short-term, transactional one-time project, but rather, a sustained collaboration through enduring processes and infrastructure. Networks can gain a fuller understanding of the needs and assets of a community through engagement and leadership by community members than they could gather from data and surveys alone. This approach to serving a community by making members equal partners in the effort helps to place equity at the center of a network's focus, as does embedding equity-related decision-making tools and processes into daily operations of the network. If cross-sector networks build resilient, inclusive structures and procedures, they can utilize them to quickly pivot and adjust to emerging needs or respond to crisis.

Considerations and opportunities for multilevel HPV vaccine communication interventions.

From 2016 to 2019, the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded three Special Interest Projects focused on developing and testing multilevel HPV vaccination communication interventions. In this commentary, we highlight lessons learned from the funded projects, including the importance of engaging community members in the early stages of the research process, the challenges of evaluating multilevel interventions, and the need to consider stakeholder implementation preferences.

Using an age-friendly university lens to explore community member engagement during the pandemic

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 global pandemic forced institutions of higher education to adapt quickly to virtual connection platforms to maintain ties with their learners. After transitioning to virtual programming, the number of participants in our lifelong learning program more than quadrupled. As a member of the Age-Friendly University (AFU) global network, we saw this as an opportunity to continue expanding our age-inclusivity efforts and capitalized on this engagement by inviting attendees to participate in a brief online survey related to several of the AFU principles. Respondents requested, although not exclusively, continued virtual access to programming. Results emphasized the need for flexible and diverse access points, supported by age-inclusive campus infrastructure, for continuity in respondents engaging with the university post-pandemic. Our path forward is discussed, highlighting successful strategies by other AFU global partners.

Improving Cancer Survivorship Care for Latino Adolescent, Young Adult Survivors through Community-Partnered Participatory Research.

Minority adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors experience disparities in receipt of survivorship care. This study describes the infrastructure of a community-partnered participatory research (CPPR) project between a community-based organization and a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center to develop culturally-tailored interventions to improve Latino AYA cancer survivor knowledge regarding their need for survivorship care. Research team participants included the community organization and NCI cancer center directors, a research coordinator, a community liaison, and cross-training program interns. Through use of Jones's theoretical framework, additional stakeholders from academic and community settings were identified and invited to participate in the research team. A process evaluation and qualitative interviews were conducted to assess equal partnership between community and academic stakeholders and determine if the infrastructure followed the five core principles of CPPR. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze qualitative data. CPPR between an NCI-designated cancer center and a community-based organization is a new research model for conducting minority AYA cancer survivor outreach. Open communication was critical in engaging the Latino community to discuss their survivorship needs. Community stakeholders were key to infrastructure success through fostering a cohesive partnership with and acting as the voice of the Latino community. Implementing a cross-training program promoted continued engagement of community members with academic partners. Proper infrastructure development is critical to building successful research partnerships in order to develop culturally-tailored interventions to improve survivorship care knowledge.

Partisipasi Masyarakat Dalam Pengelolaan Sampah Masa Pandemik Covid 2019 Di RT 026/ RW 006 Kelurahan Oebufu Kecamatan Oebobo Kota Kupang

Handling household waste requires serious attention from various parties to protect the environmental ecosystem from being damaged. Community service provides benefits for the active role of the community in handling household waste with the target of community participation at the level of understanding the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in handling waste. Community service methods by conducting lectures, socialization, counseling, and waste management; demonstration of organic and inorganic waste containers; simulation videos; physical activity in the form of community service; non-physical activities in the form of socialization and distribution of leaflets; assistance to residents on waste management; evaluation of activities, and sustainability of activities. Presentation of devotion in a descriptive and narrative manner. The results of the activity show that the participation of community members in RT 026 RW 006 Oebufu Village, Oebobo Kupang District in controlling household waste with a system for handling used materials, waste or household waste materials showed in activities community service, the desire to get information and willing to be invited in the evaluation and assistance of waste management. The percentage of waste management knowledge before the intervention reached 81%, namely in the good category, after the intervention, the knowledge of the residents increased to 94%. Attitudes about waste management before the intervention reached 77%, namely in the good category, after the intervention increased to 89%. Behavior regarding waste management before the intervention reached 51%, namely in the good category, after the intervention increased to 58%.

Empowering Communities: Future‐Making through Citizen Ethnography

This paper proposes a way to harness the power and benefits of community‐led future change through the process of “citizen ethnography”. Just as “citizen science” has become a potent method for non‐scientists to collect and contribute to scientific knowledge and outcomes, citizen ethnography is where non‐ethnographers are trained in the tools and techniques of ethnography to research social phenomena to understand, recommend and lead their own change initiatives.Citizen ethnography essentially flips the model of a single or small team of ethnographers and consultants working with a community, to one where groups of community members research their own challenges in order to identify their own needs, preferred futures and mechanisms for change. Importantly, this approach requires a significant ‘stepping away’ of the ethnographer as the research expert and move towards a role of skill‐builder, coach and facilitator. This democratisation of ethnography helps to equip and empower communities with useful skills, while also reconnecting ethnography to the fundamentals of its well‐established method and foundation in the ethics of representation. We provide an example of how citizen ethnography is being used to deal with youth suicide in Australia, highlighting how through engaging community members in the process and skills of ethnography they can unpack their own questions of belonging and identity, participate with eachother in the solutions to their current challenges and approach their future as engaged and empowered citizens.