The Impact of Photovoice on Underserved Populations in Healthcare

Mentor 1

Lance Weinhardt

Start Date

29-4-2022 11:00 AM

Description

We conducted a systematic literature review on Photovoice projects among immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. Photovoice is a research tool that is often used to identify healthcare barriers in vulnerable and/or underserved populations. The research presented shows multiple perspectives of immigrants through photovoice in which they take photos and express how they feel about healthcare, family, or immigration to the United States. In the literature reviewed, participants were also interviewed and asked questions based on the acronym “SHOWED” which is used to ask them what they see, what’s happening, how it relates to our lives, and then leads into how we can intervene and help them with their concerns. Photovoice is based on empowerment and allowing those who feel unheard to have a voice in the community and incite change. Based on our literature review and ongoing interviews with Russian and Spanish speakers in the Milwaukee community, we argue that one commonly underserved population in the healthcare system that would benefit from use of photovoice is non-English speaking populations. Healthcare barriers often arise alongside language and cultural barriers, which can lead vulnerable populations to the decision not to seek healthcare. Lack of adequate and readily available translation services for less commonly spoken languages, such as Russian, prevent these populations from receiving the same quality of healthcare as non-vulnerable English-speaking populations. Research involving photovoice could help bring awareness of the barriers in healthcare faced by non-English speaking populations to healthcare providers and open the conversation for improvements in medical practice.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 29th, 11:00 AM

The Impact of Photovoice on Underserved Populations in Healthcare

We conducted a systematic literature review on Photovoice projects among immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. Photovoice is a research tool that is often used to identify healthcare barriers in vulnerable and/or underserved populations. The research presented shows multiple perspectives of immigrants through photovoice in which they take photos and express how they feel about healthcare, family, or immigration to the United States. In the literature reviewed, participants were also interviewed and asked questions based on the acronym “SHOWED” which is used to ask them what they see, what’s happening, how it relates to our lives, and then leads into how we can intervene and help them with their concerns. Photovoice is based on empowerment and allowing those who feel unheard to have a voice in the community and incite change. Based on our literature review and ongoing interviews with Russian and Spanish speakers in the Milwaukee community, we argue that one commonly underserved population in the healthcare system that would benefit from use of photovoice is non-English speaking populations. Healthcare barriers often arise alongside language and cultural barriers, which can lead vulnerable populations to the decision not to seek healthcare. Lack of adequate and readily available translation services for less commonly spoken languages, such as Russian, prevent these populations from receiving the same quality of healthcare as non-vulnerable English-speaking populations. Research involving photovoice could help bring awareness of the barriers in healthcare faced by non-English speaking populations to healthcare providers and open the conversation for improvements in medical practice.