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It's making us look disgusting…and it makes me feel like a mink…it makes me feel depressed!: using photovoice to help ‘see’ and understand the perspectives of disadvantaged young people about the neighbourhood determinants of their mental well-being.

Watson, Megan; Douglas, Flora

Authors

Megan Watson



Abstract

There is growing recognition that poor adolescent mental well-being is a serious global health issue. Research exploring adult mental well-being issues has shown positive and negative associations with environmental factors such as quality of the neighbourhoods and social support. However, little is known about young people's notions of mental well-being, or factors they associate with generating, sustaining or eroding it. A qualitative community-based participatory research study was conducted using photovoice (PV), with young people attending a youth project based in a deprived inner-city neighbourhood in Scotland. The research enabled participants to identify and explore aspects of their neighbourhood they experienced as having a direct impact on their mental well-being. The following themes emerged as those most important to participants' mental well-being: (1) perceived levels of local neighbourhood investment and care; (2) access to various forms of capital (including social, economic and natural capital) and (3) fears about personal safety. Concerns about being perceived as poor by others and feeling neglected by city officials and councillors also pervaded participants' accounts. Young people actively engaged in this research and helped generate rich, contextualised data about their lives and neighbourhoods. Moreover, they identified feasible, locally based remedies to perceived problems. PV is a powerful tool for engaging disadvantaged adolescents in research about their health. This study revealed that there are several important and modifiable aspects of the neighbourhood environment that if remedial actions were taken, it could have a beneficial effect on young people's mental well-being.

Citation

WATSON, M. and DOUGLAS, F. 2012. It's making us look disgusting…and it makes me feel like a mink…it makes me feel depressed!: using photovoice to help ‘see’ and understand the perspectives of disadvantaged young people about the neighbourhood determinants of their mental well-being. International journal of health promotion and education [online], 50(6), pages 278-295. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2012.723379

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 12, 2012
Online Publication Date Nov 12, 2012
Publication Date Nov 30, 2012
Deposit Date Jul 11, 2021
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal International Journal of Health Promotion and Education
Print ISSN 1463-5240
Electronic ISSN 2164-9545
Publisher Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 50
Issue 6
Pages 278-295
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2012.723379
Keywords Photovoice; Adolescent; Youth; Mental well-being; Neighbourhood; Community-based participatory research
Public URL https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1346676