In this Share & Learn session, we explored photovoice as a technique that can be used for a variety of applications in public health practice. Jennifer Felner, associate professor in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University, covered what photovoice is, how it can be used in public health practice, and tips and resources to successfully carry out your own photovoice project. We ended the Share & Learn with examples of how to apply photovoice in disseminating success stories, supporting LOHP work plan objectives 2.4.e (B), 3.1.i (B), 3.2.j (B), 4.2.f (B), 6.4.c (B), and plenty of time for questions.

Learning objectives:

1. Learn about the photovoice technique.   
2. Understand how to apply photovoice in public health practice.
3. Access resources to support use of photovoice.
4. Discuss how to incorporate photovoice into oral health success story dissemination.

Speaker bio

Slides

Recording (1:36:38)

Resources shared:

• Photovoice toolkit (other resources can be found linked in the slide deck)
• Examples from Jenn Felner:
  • Action4Health community report and academic paper co-written with 2 of the youth collaborators/partners
  • Little Manila Rising
• Examples shared by LOHPs:
  • Using photovoice to tell the story of a refugee family: two siblings, one with access to Head Start and one that did not have access, to highlight the importance of early prevention. Head Start has a policy that requires all preventive health services including dental care are required to remain enrolled in the program.
  • We use photos from classroom presentations but students are taken from behind (back of their heads) so they can't be identified. We use these for reports and coalition meetings.

Announcements:

• AB 2630 implmentation guidance:
  • Proof of assessment required only once during the two-year (TK+K) timeframe
  • Count TK with K when reporting in SCOHR - will not report separately
  • Indicate grade level on KOHA form (TK, K, or 1st) 
• Newly translated KOHA forms are available (Spanish, Mandarin simplified, Mandarin traditional, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese)
• COHTAC is recruiting for School Open Hours and RBA Learning Collaboratives
  • Fill out this form if interested in joining School Open Hours
  • Learn more about RBA here and sign up at this link
• National Children's Dental Health Month resources
  • COHTAC's toolkit
  • Children Now's guide
  • New Smile, California resources
    • English
    • Spanish
    • Event kit request form 

Q&A: 

1. Can you say more about the consent form and ethics of photos, especially with kids/schools? The short answer is you need consent from anyone whose photo you are going to take that might be identifiable. A picture of someone’s face or their home or anything else that might identity who that person is – you have to get consent. If you can’t get consent, you can’t take the photo. You might decide not to take photos of anything identifiable depending on the sensitivity of the project. For partners in the work, you will also want consent from them to be able to share their stories and anything else they share as part of any reports and analysis disseminated – you never want to use someone’s words without their permission.
2. Are the consents written or verbal? That would depend on the project. If it is a research project and you have an Institutional Review Board (IRB), you will have to have an approved consent method through the IRB. If it’s for public health practice (that is not considered research), whether it’s assessment, evaluation, sharing success stories, you get to make the rules based on what you think is ethical and appropriate. It may not be feasible to get written consent or it may be inappropriate, and maybe verbal consent is OK, but the team would have to decide with any sort of administrators who might be involved who know what is required and expected. In some cases, verbal consent would be acceptable.
3. What software programs were used to disseminate the photos/videos? For the Action4Health project, we used Instagram to share a few photos and recruit attendees for our exhibition. We did not use other programs for dissemination — kind of old-school report and article, plus interviews and a few policy briefs. But, with some tech-savvy staff or partners, the sky is the limit in what you could do.
4. Here is an example of a project an LOHP is working on currently – how can photovoice be used in this example? Working with local FQHC, managed care plan partners, and coalition to create a video around promoting their strategy for implementing fluoride varnish application for children during well child visits – we want to share their successes with a video that can be shared with other medical providers and offer fluoride varnish training. This is a great question and a really good example – the short answer is yes; you’re using a lot of the approaches that are from photovoice. You could consider adding testimonials or narratives or analysis that you could do with some of those providers that you’re highlighting in that video documenting or unpacking with some of the stakeholders why the program is working, how it’s different from other projects, how it’s elevating something, and how other providers can follow this example. So, if you don’t have those testimonials or that conversation already, that could be something that you could add. You could also try telling the story that you want to highlight – who has been participating in the program? What do you think people should know? You could have an iterative conversation and analysis as a way to further it as participatory. But it sounds like you’re definitely leveraging photos to elevate a success and facilitate the voice of the people participating, which definitely sounds like photovoice.
5. For the success story dissemination plan deliverables that are due June 30^th, is it just the plan that is due or does the whole project need to be finished by then? And is photovoice the only tool that we have available or is open to other methods with photovoice being on option? Do you have templates or examples of what the dissemination plan should look like? The dissemination plan is due June 30^th and photovoice is just one example of a method that you can use. The OOH is looking at templates they can provide for upcoming deliverables and this will be discussed more during the in-person LOHP Convenings that COHTAC is hosting.
6. Which work plan objective specifies the June success story dissemination plan due date? See Appendix 14. 
7. In our messaging about AB 2630, are we asking school staff to include TK in reporting this school year or next school year? This can be implemented this school year.
8. On the KOHA form, we should indicate the exact grade but when reporting, include TK in the K count? That’s right – on the KOHA form, indicate the child's grade level, but report both TK and K together (not separately) in SCOHR.
9. Would you please clarify if the new Spanish KOHA form is the same as the one that was previously online from San Mateo, or should we share with our schools and partners that they should switch to this newer version? The new forms are slightly different and are the officially translated forms – please switch to the newer versions from here on out. If you have already provided the San Mateo forms to your partners, that’s fine – the forms were vetted by COHTAC and others to be used as interim forms until we had the official translations.
10. We have some charter schools that are pushing back saying that they are not mandated to do the KOHA since they aren’t the regular public schools – is that correct? If the charter schools are part of the public school district, they are required to participate in KOHA. All public schools are required to participate in KOHA.