Youth Participatory Action Research, or “YPAR” for short, is the younger, more novel sibling of Participatory Action Research – a research approach that works with participants, rather than on or for them. Children and youth go beyond being mere informants or recipients of data and become co-researchers in partnership with adults to develop research questions, collect data, analyze findings, and share their results for real-world change. Simply put, young people wear both participant and researcher hats to help solve issues of interest and relevance to the child population. So, why is YPAR all the rage right now? YPAR has endless benefits for young people, adults, organizations, and the research process. And when it comes to school health promotion, this rings especially true.
Benefits for students
YPAR is as much a research approach, as an educational opportunity where children and youth get to be investigators into their own lives, study issues and problems that are of interest to them and build research and social skills. Leadership, empowerment, academics, social, and cognitive development, are just some of the skills and learnings young people can enhance through this process. Additionally, YPAR shifts who traditionally holds power – from adults to the child population. This is especially important for individuals and groups who identify as marginalized or at risk, and who don’t always have their voices heard or listened to. YPAR is a powerful approach to ‘pass the mic’.
Benefits for adults
YPAR also has benefits for adults as it can help build stronger relationships with children and youth, thereby helping them further understand young people’s needs and desires. YPAR can demonstrate the knowledge and capabilities of children and youth to tackle issues that affect their lives. YPAR is a win-win scenario for both adults and young people!
Benefits for schools
Going even wider, YPAR can help schools and other organizations adapt their policies, programs, and initiatives to be more tailored to the thoughts and perspectives of young people. Engaging children and youth in research can also increase the likelihood of initiatives being continued and adopted in the school community over time. This is particularly important for school health promotion, where the inclusion of child and youth voices in research is scarce, yet their participation is considered a top implementer for successful school health initiatives.
Benefits for research
Last, but not least, having children and youth involved in the research process benefits the science in and of itself. YPAR makes the work more applicable, and useful to the target population; therefore, enhancing the real-world relevance of the findings. When it comes to school health promotion this is an essential condition to ensure the programs, initiatives and activities that are being implemented on or for young people are also developed with young people.
This brief breakdown shows the powerful benefits of YPAR go unmatched. Let’s continue to put the action into Youth Participatory Action Research by reflecting, advocating, and promoting the value and importance of this approach within and beyond school health promotion.
