Go-along Interviews Research Articles

Fast-food, everyday life and health: A qualitative study of ‘chicken shops’ in East London

The higher prevalence of fast food outlets in deprived areas has been associated with the production and maintenance of geographical inequalities in diet. In the UK one type of fast food outlet - the ‘chicken shop’ - has been the focus of intense public health and media interest. Despite ongoing concerns and initiatives around regulating these establishments, the ‘chicken shop’ is both a commercially successful and ubiquitous feature of disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods. However, little is known about how they are perceived by local residents. We report data from a qualitative study of neighbourhood perceptions in a low SES urban setting. Narrative family interviews, go-along interviews and school video focus group workshops with 66 residents of East London were conducted over two waves. The topic of chicken shops was a prolific theme and a narrative analysis of these accounts revealed that local perceptions of chicken shops are complex and contradictory. Chicken shops were depicted as both potentially damaging for the health of local residents and, at the same time, as valued community spaces. This contradiction was discursively addressed in narrative via a series of rhetorical rebuttals that negated their potential to damage health on the grounds of concepts such as trust, choice, balance, food hygiene and compensatory physical activity. In some instances, chicken shops were described as ‘healthy’ and patronising them constructed as part of a healthy lifestyle. Chicken shops are embedded in the social fabric of neighbourhoods. Successful strategies to improve diet therefore requires context-sensitive environmental interventions.

Perceptions of walkability and determinants of walking behaviour among urban seniors in Toronto, Canada

Abstract Research has indicated the built environment strongly influences active transportation, though the specific mechanisms through which active transport occurs differ in findings. This study investigated the relationship between objective and subjective measures of walkability for seniors living in Toronto through a multi-phased, mixed-methods approach. Two neighbourhoods within the city were selected as case study areas. Wychwood represented a high walkability neighbourhood and Edenbridge-Humber Valley represented a neighbourhood lower in walkability. The walkability audit, the Senior Walking Environmental Assessment Tool – Revised (SWEAT-R), served as the objective measure. Subjective measures included the use of focus groups, go-along interviews, and traditional interviews with twenty-eight seniors across both neighbourhoods. The findings of this research highlighted the efficacy of objective measures existing in literature, but these did not adequately capture the holistic relationships between seniors and their surrounding environments. The subjective measures of walkability proved especially important for understanding perceptions of walkability and walking behaviour. Additionally, the findings echo recent study findings that recommend theory-based approaches to walkability research may be more effective in accounting for human behaviour in active transportation. This study concludes with practical and theoretical recommendations for planners, public health specialists, and other experts interested in promoting active transportation for seniors.

Can comic books influence consumer awareness and attitude towards rape victims and perpetrators in India? The case of Priya’s Shakti

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the role of comic book narratives in creating awareness and influencing attitudes about how society treats rape survivors, specifically in the Indian context. The gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi in 2012 inspired an Indian-American filmmaker to author the comic book Priya’s Shakti, which was launched at the Mumbai Comicon in December 2014. The book uses Hindu mythology in its narrative to call for a change in existing belief systems about rape and rape victims. Twenty-four in-depth and ethnographic go-along interviews of informed participants were conducted to understand how they perceive the role of comics such as Priya’s Shakti in affecting popular awareness and attitudes about rape and what approaches they feel are best suited to use comic books to bring about sustainable social change. Results indicated comics can play a significant role in creating awareness, especially among the younger audience but that changing attitudes is a more complex issue, demanding the active and engaged participation of other stakeholders. A culture-centred approach was the key emerging theme. Respondents believed comic books could be used to reach out to children in schools and to rural audiences via multiple communication methods but that engaged and involved participation of community stakeholders was essential if comic books were to drive home socially relevant messages and affect awareness and attitudes about rape.

Imagining body size over time: Adolescents’ relational perspectives on body weight and place

ABSTRACTThe author contextualizes the social construction of body weight among 31 adolescents living in low-income neighborhoods in Southern Ontario, Canada. Theoretically informed by critical “obesity” discourse and the temporal turn in youth geographies, this article explores the ways in which participants defined acceptance and risk of fatness, the fluidity of their own body weight, and the connection between body size and place. These constructions gathered through in-depth and go-along interviews are interpreted through the lens of relational geographies that account for multiple spatial-temporal experiences of place. Temporality plays a significant role in three thematic areas emerging from the data: pausing the present, recursive fatness over time, futurity of body weight in place. The author concludes with a discussion of bringing temporality to the forefront of youth fatness and childhood “obesity” discourse to shift the narrative away from risk. In addition, the author emphasizes the power of story and imagination in shifting the cultural understandings of body size among adolescents. Finally, the author responds to a broader call to action that advocates for a more relational approach to the study of “obesogenic” environments and place. Temporality in general and futurity in particular are important areas of future investigation for the study of young fat bodies in/out of place.

Mobilizing Dis/Ability Research: A Critical Discussion of Qualitative Go-Along Interviews in Practice

In this article, I document the challenges of operationalizing critical qualitative mobile research methods, specifically go-along interviews. Mobility-oriented qualitative inquiry is a way to examine disabled and Mad persons’ socio-spatial knowledges and study spatial inequalities impacting these persons. I reflect on my own positionality as an able-bodied researcher, while conducting research with self-identifying Mad and disabled research participants. I further discuss the limitations, enabling factors, constraints, and implications of engaging in go-along interviews. Next, I unpack how and why this method at many times was not desired by my research participants in favor of more traditional interview techniques, such as sit-down face-to-face interviews. There is a need to critically (re)consider space and place in research practices in ways that value the often subjugated voices and socio-spatial knowledge(s) of Mad and disabled persons.

Helping Young People Stay Afloat: A Qualitative Study of Community Resources and Supports for LGBTQ Adolescents in the United States and Canada

ABSTRACTLGBTQ youth are at increased risk of poor health outcomes. This qualitative study gathered data from LGBTQ adolescents regarding their communities and describes the resources they draw on for support. We conducted 66 go-along interviews with diverse LGBTQ adolescents (mean age = 16.6) in Minnesota, Massachusetts, and British Columbia in 2014–2015, in which interviewers accompanied participants in their communities to better understand those contexts. Their responses were systematically organized and coded for common themes, reflecting levels of the social ecological model. Participants described resources at each level, emphasizing organizational, community, and social factors such as LGBTQ youth organizations and events, media presence, and visibility of LGBTQ adults. Numerous resources were identified, and representative themes were highly consistent across locations, genders, orientations, racial/ethnic groups, and city size. Findings suggest new avenues for research with LGBTQ youth and many opportunities for communities to create and expand resources and supports for this population.

Explaining the continuum of social participation among older adults in Singapore: from 'closed doors' to active ageing in multi-ethnic community settings

ObjectivesThis study aims to identify and explain the continuum in which older people in Singapore participate in community and social life, highlighting the influence of culture and policy context on social participation. MethodsUsing an ethnographic approach in a neighbourhood (n=109), we conducted focus groups with older adults of different ethnicities, exploring experiences of social participation. Next, participants took 50 photographs relating to ‘lives of elders’, showcasing the socio-ecological context that influenced social participation. Lastly, go-along interviews were conducted in various precincts with community leaders. ResultsA continuum of social participation emerged among older adults, ranging from (1) marginalization and exclusion, to (2) ‘comfort-zoning’ alone (3) seeking consistent social interactions, (4) expansion of social network, and (5) giving back to society. Seeking consistent social interactions was shaped by a preference for cultural grouping and ethnic values, but also a desire for emotional safety. Attitudes about expanding one's social network depended on the psychosocial adjustment of the older person to the prospect of gossip and ‘trouble’ of managing social relations. Despite the societal desirability of an active ageing lifestyle, cultural scripts emphasizing family meant older adults organized participation in social and community life, around family responsibilities. Institutionalizing family reliance in Singapore's welfare approach penalized lower-income older adults with little family support from accessing subsidies, and left some living on the margins. DiscussionTo promote inclusiveness, ageing programs should address preferences for social participation, overcoming barriers at the individual, ethnic culture and policy level.

UNDERSTANDING PERSON-PLACE TRANSACTIONS IN NEIGHBOURHOODS: A QUALITATIVE-GEOSPATIAL APPROACH

AbstractEmerging research regarding aging in context reveals much about neighbourhood characteristics that relate to aging adults’ health, participation and inclusion; however, in-depth information about the nature of person-place relationships is lacking. Shifting away from previous conceptualizations of place as static, a transactional perspective considers place as inseparable from the person, each shaping the other through complex, ongoing transactions. The inter-woven nature of person and place highlights the need to use methods that can examine this relationship in situ and explore meanings derived from places. Participatory geospatial methods (i.e. methods that involve the participant in collecting geospatial data) can capture situated details about place that are not verbalized during interviews or otherwise discerned, and qualitative methods can explore interpretations, both helping to generate deep understandings of the relationships between person and place. This presentation argues for applying qualitative-participatory geospatial approaches to this area of study and describes an innovative methodology. A study exploring how neighbourhood and person transact to shape a sense of social connectedness in older adults provided the basis from which we developed a combined qualitative-participatory geospatial methodology. Methods included global positioning system (GPS) tracking followed by map-based interviews, narrative interviews, and go-along interviews, with attention to integrating spatial and other forms of data during analysis. Findings indicate the unique understandings that each method contributes, the strengths and limitations of integrating geospatial with qualitative data, and the potential for this methodology to generate knowledge about person-place transactions that can inform practice, policy and research to promote older adults’ well-being.

LGBTQ Youth's Views on Gay-Straight Alliances: Building Community, Providing Gateways, and Representing Safety and Support.

Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) are school-based clubs that can contribute to a healthy school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. While positive associations between health behaviors and GSAs have been documented, less is known about how youth perceive GSAs. A total of 58 LGBTQ youth (14-19 years old) mentioned GSAs during go-along interviews in 3 states/provinces in North America. These 446 comments about GSAs were thematically coded and organized using Atlas.ti software by a multidisciplinary research team. A total of 3 themes describe youth-perceived attributes of GSAs. First, youth identified GSAs as an opportunity to be members of a community, evidenced by their sense of emotional connection, support and belonging, opportunities for leadership, and fulfillment of needs. Second, GSAs served as a gateway to resources outside of the GSA, such as supportive adults and informal social locations. Third, GSAs represented safety. GSAs positively influence the physical, social, emotional, and academic well-being of LGBTQ young people and their allies. School administrators and staff are positioned to advocate for comprehensive GSAs. Study findings offer insights about the mechanisms by which GSAs benefit youth health and well-being.

Toward Understanding Person-Place Transactions in Neighborhoods: A Qualitative-Participatory Geospatial Approach.

Emerging research regarding aging in neighborhoods emphasizes the importance of this context for well-being; however, in-depth information about the nature of person-place relationships is lacking. The interwoven and complex nature of person and place points to methods that can examine these relationships in situ and explore meanings attached to places. Participatory geospatial methods can capture situated details about place that are not verbalized during interviews or otherwise discerned, and qualitative methods can explore interpretations, both helping to generate deep understandings of the relationships between person and place. This article describes a combined qualitative-geospatial approach for studying of older adults in neighborhoods and investigates the qualitative-geospatial approach developed, including its utility and feasibility in exploring person-place transactions in neighborhoods. We developed and implemented a qualitative-geospatial approach to explore how neighborhood and person transact to shape sense of social connectedness in older adults. Methods included narrative interviews, go-along interviews, and global positioning system tracking with activity/travel diary completion followed by map-based interviews. We used a variety of data analysis methods with attention to fully utilizing diverse forms of data and integrating data during analysis. We reflected on and examined the utility and feasibility of the approach through a variety of methods. Findings indicate the unique understandings that each method contributes, the strengths of the overall approach, and the feasibility of implementing the approach. The developed approach has strong potential to generate knowledge about person-place transactions that can inform practice, planning, policy, and research to promote older adults' well-being.

"Little things matter!" Exploring the perspectives of patients with dementia about the hospital environment.

BackgroundRecognising demographic changes and importance of the environment in influencing the care experience of patients with dementia, there is a need for developing the knowledge base to improve hospital environments. Involving patients in the development of the hospital environment can be a way to create more responsive services. To date, few studies have involved the direct voice of patients with dementia about their experiences of the hospital environment.Design and methodUsing an action research approach, we worked with patients with dementia and a team of interdisciplinary staff on a medical unit to improve dementia care. The insights provided by patients with dementia in the early phase shaped actions undertaken at the later stage to develop person‐centred care within a medical ward. We used methods including go‐along interviews, video recording and participant observation to enable rich data generation.AimThis study explores the perspectives of patients with dementia about the hospital environment.ResultsThe participants indicated that a supportive hospital environment would need to be a place of enabling independence, a place of safety, a place of supporting social interactions and a place of respect.ConclusionsPatient participants persuasively articulated the supportive and unsupportive elements in the environment that affected their well‐being and care experiences. They provided useful insights and pointed out practical solutions for improvement. Action research offers patients not only opportunities to voice their opinion, but also possibilities to contribute to hospital service development.Implications for practiceThis is the first study that demonstrates the possibility of using go‐along interviews and videoing with patients with dementia staying in a hospital for environmental redesign.Researchers, hospital leaders and designers should further explore strategies to best support the involvement of patients with dementia in design and redesign of hospital environments.

Living as an LGBTQ Adolescent and a Parent's Child: Overlapping or Separate Experiences.

It is well known that parental and community-based support are each related to healthy development in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, but little research has explored the ways these contexts interact and overlap. Through go-along interviews (a method in which participants guide the interviewer around the community) with 66 youth in British Columbia, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, adolescents (aged 14-19 years) reported varying extent of overlap between their LGBTQ experiences and their parent-youth experiences; parents and youth each contributed to the extent of overlap. Youth who reported high overlap reported little need for resources outside their families but found resources easy to access if wanted. Youth who reported little overlap found it difficult to access resources. Findings suggest that in both research and practice, considering the extent to which youth feel they can express their authentic identity in multiple contexts may be more useful than simply evaluating parental acceptance or access to resources.

“I don't know how I'm still standing” a Bakhtinian analysis of social housing and health narratives in East London

Housing is a significant determinant of health and substandard housing is a public health issue. East London has long had a shortage of social and affordable housing, worsened in recent years by a combination of stressors. In one of East London's most deprived boroughs, Newham, changes brought about by the 2011 Localism Act and the unique demands of being the host Olympic borough in 2012 have brought considerable pressures to bear on social infrastructure. This paper examines how these pressures were experienced by local residents via their narratives of social housing and health. The data reported here are from a qualitative study comprising two waves of data collection. Narrative family interviews and go-along interviews were conducted with 40 Newham residents at wave one and 28 at wave two. A narrative analysis with a Bakhtinian interpretation was undertaken. This revealed that residents framed experiences of social housing in terms of an inherent system-level ideology based on notions of need and waiting. A particularly striking feature of this ideology was the extent to which descriptions of ill health and impairment were implicated in constructions of housing need; participants directly attributed a range of health complaints to their housing predicaments, including stress, depression, cancer scares, panic attacks and loss of sleep. Understanding the contested ideology of social housing can illuminate both the dynamic processes of social exclusion and the ways in which its subjects seek to resist it.

Qualitative-Geospatial Methods of Exploring Person-Place Transactions in Aging Adults: A Scoping Review.

Research exploring how places shape and interact with the lives of aging adults must be grounded in the places where aging adults live and participate. Combined participatory geospatial and qualitative methods have the potential to illuminate the complex processes enacted between person and place to create much-needed knowledge in this area. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify methods that can be used to study person-place relationships among aging adults and their neighborhoods by determining the extent and nature of research with aging adults that combines qualitative methods with participatory geospatial methods. A systematic search of nine databases identified 1,965 articles published from 1995 to late 2015. We extracted data and assessed whether the geospatial and qualitative methods were supported by a specified methodology, the methods of data analysis, and the extent of integration of geospatial and qualitative methods. Fifteen studies were included and used the photovoice method, global positioning system tracking plus interview, or go-along interviews. Most included articles provided sufficient detail about data collection methods, yet limited detail about methodologies supporting the study designs and/or data analysis. Approaches that combine participatory geospatial and qualitative methods are beginning to emerge in the aging literature. By more explicitly grounding studies in a methodology, better integrating different types of data during analysis, and reflecting on methods as they are applied, these methods can be further developed and utilized to provide crucial place-based knowledge that can support aging adults' health, well-being, engagement, and participation.

Go-along interviewing with LGBTQ youth in Canada and the United States

ABSTRACTGo-along interviews, which are interviews conducted while being in and moving within participant selected spaces, were conducted with 66 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer adolescents (14–19 years old) in their self-identified communities to explore perceived community attributes, including safe spaces, resources, and supports; this article highlights methodological lessons learned. Successful recruitment in 2 countries and varied community settings required partnership with local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer supporting agencies, including school-based gay–straight alliances. Youth chose to walk, use public transportation, and drive to community locations, identifying numerous formal and informal resources in their communities. Participant reflections highlighted that go-along interviews can be conducted in safe ways that encourage lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth to express themselves about communities in which they live, study, work, play, and relax.

Chasing the rainbow: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth and pride semiotics

While the pride rainbow has been part of political and social intervention for decades, few have researched how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer young people perceive and use the symbol. How do lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth who experience greater feelings of isolation and discrimination than heterosexual youth recognise and deploy the symbol? As part of a larger study on supportive lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth environments, we conducted 66 go-along interviews with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth people from Massachusetts, Minnesota and British Columbia. During interviews, young people identified visible symbols of support, including recognition and the use of the pride rainbow. A semiotic analysis reveals that young people use the rainbow to construct meanings related to affiliation and positive feelings about themselves, different communities and their futures. Constructed and shared meanings help make the symbol a useful tool for navigating social and physical surroundings. As part of this process, however, young people also recognize that there are limits to the symbolism; it is useful for navigation but its display does not always guarantee supportive places and people. Thus, the pride rainbow connotes safety and support, but using it as a tool for navigation is a learned activity that requires caution.

Using Geonarratives to Explore the Diverse Temporalities of Therapeutic Landscapes: Perspectives from “Green” and “Blue” Settings

A growing evidence base highlights “green” and “blue” spaces as examples of “therapeutic landscapes” incorporated into people's lives to maintain a sense of well-being. A commonly overlooked dimension within this corpus of work concerns the dynamic nature of people's therapeutic place assemblages over time. This article provides these novel temporal perspectives, drawing on the findings of an innovative three-stage interpretive geonarrative study conducted in southwest England from May to November 2013, designed to explore the complex spatial–temporal ordering of people's lives. Activity maps produced using accelerometer and Global Positioning system (GPS) data were used to guide in-depth geonarrative interviews with thirty-three participants, followed by a subset of go-along interviews in therapeutic places deemed important by participants. Concepts of fleeting time, restorative time, and biographical time are used, alongside notions of individual agency, to examine participants' green and blue space experiences in the context of the temporal structures characterizing their everyday lives and the biographical experiences contributing to the perceived importance of such settings over time. In a culture that by and large prioritizes speed, dominated by social ideals of, for example, the productive worker and the good parent, participants conveyed a desire to shift from fleeting time to restorative time, seeking a balance between embodied stillness and therapeutic mobility. This was deemed particularly important during more stressful life transitions, such as parenthood, employment shifts, and the onset of illness or impairment, when participants worked hard to tailor their therapeutic geographies to shifting well-being needs and priorities.

Developing an audit checklist to assess outdoor falls risk.

Falls by older people (aged 65+) are linked to disability and a decrease in mobility, presenting a challenge to active ageing. As such, older fallers represent a vulnerable road user group. Despite this there is little research into the causes and prevention of outdoor falls. This paper develops an understanding of environmental factors causing falls or fear of falling using a walk-along interview approach with recent fallers to explore how older people navigate the outdoor environment and which aspects of it they perceived facilitate or hinder their ability to go outdoors and fear of falling. While there are a number of audit checklists focused on assessing the indoor environment for risk or fear of falls, nothing exists for the outdoor environment. Many existing street audit tools are focused on general environmental qualities and have not been designed with an older population in mind. We present a checklist that assesses aspects of the environment most likely to encourage or hinder those who are at risk of falling outdoors, developed through accounting for the experiences and navigational strategies of elderly individuals. The audit checklist can assist occupational therapists and urban planners, designers and managers in working to reduce the occurrence of outdoor falls among this vulnerable user group.

“Everyone was looking at you smiling”: East London residents' experiences of the 2012 Olympics and its legacy on the social determinants of health

Mega-sporting event regeneration, as a specific approach to urban renewal, uses impending host-city status as a catalyst for revitalisation and has the potential to improve health both through addressing deprivation and by promoting increased sport and physical activity among the host-city's population. This qualitative study explored how hosting of the London 2012 Games impacted upon the way East London residents perceived and experienced the social determinants of health in their local neighbourhood. We conducted narrative family interviews, go-along interviews and video focus group workshops with 66 Newham residents, aged 12–55 years, immediately after the Games. A narrative analytic approach examined accounts of health and wellbeing experiences in terms of neighbourhood change and the spectacle of the Games. Participants of this qualitative study generally welcomed the respite and the unexpected chance to live in a cleaner, safer and more unified environment. However, this positivity was underscored by an acute awareness that this was a very temporary situation and one that was intended to support the event rather than residents.

Seeking everyday wellbeing: The coast as a therapeutic landscape

Recent research suggests coastal environments may promote human health and wellbeing. This article explores the diverse coastal experiences sought out by residents of two towns in south west England to promote and preserve their personal wellbeing in the context of their everyday lives. It draws on the findings of an in-depth interpretive study conducted from May to November 2013 that examined the relative contribution of varied green and blue space experiences to individual wellbeing through the life course. Personalised activity maps produced using accelerometer and Global Positioning System (GPS) data were used to guide in-depth geo-narrative interviews with a purposive sample of 33 participants. This was combined with a subset of nine case study go-along interviews in places deemed therapeutic by the participants themselves, offering deeper insight into the lived experiences and relationships playing out within such places. Situated in a novel adaptation of the therapeutic landscapes framework, this article explores how symbolic, achievement-oriented, immersive and social experiences contributed to participants' sense of wellbeing in their local coastal areas. Participants expressed particularly strong and often enduring connections to the local coastline, with different coastal stretches perceived to cater for varied therapeutic needs and interests, at multiple scales and intensities. The findings suggest the need for greater acknowledgement of people's emotional, deeply embodied and often shared connections to the coast within coastal management policy and practice, both nationally and internationally. Importantly, such efforts should recognise the fluid, dynamic nature of this land-sea boundary, and the valued therapeutic experiences linked to this fluidity.