Experiential learning is important in preparing the next generation of public health professionals to address health inequities. Students who aspire to work in community health must learn to engage with communities and advocate for change that aligns with community priorities. Learning about Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and related methodologies can facilitate students’ understanding of community engagement and community organizing. Photovoice, a CBPR methodology, provides a unique opportunity to understand the lived experiences of participants while identifying community-led solutions to address public health challenges. Photovoice has been used as a pedagogical tool to engage students as participants in reflection, critical thinking, discussion, and experiential learning. However, the peer-reviewed literature often lacks detailed accounts of methodology, and barriers and facilitators to engaging participants in photovoice. We provide a detailed account of our methodology as we co-learned with 23 graduate students as co-researcher-participants in a photovoice experiential learning project as part of a CBPR course at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health. Students reflected on their experience with the methodology by completing a series of fieldnotes while participating in photovoice. Fieldnotes were analyzed using an iterative inductive coding process. We present five themes from student reflections that convey barriers and facilitators to engaging in photovoice, and share related recommendations for using photovoice as a pedagogical tool to prepare the next generation of public health professions.

Objectives This cross-sectional survey aimed to examine employment characteristics and their associations with employment precarity in two high socioeconomic hardship Chicago neighborhoods. Methods We used a community-based participatory approach to develop and administer a survey to residents who perceived their work situations to be precarious. Results A total of 489 residents were surveyed. Responses were skewed toward the most precarious work situations, with the majority of respondents employed outside of a traditional arrangement. Those in the highest precarity category were most likely to identify as Latinx and born outside of the United States. Unstable, low-quality employment conditions were nearly all significantly associated with highest precarity work situations. Conclusions Precarious employment is an important predictor of other employment conditions, and characterizing these at a hyperlocal level allows for a nuanced understanding of work as a determinant of health.

Sustaining productive academic-community research partnerships requires a deep commitment to ongoing reflexivity and problem-solving praxis to address conflicts that inevitably arise due to inherent power imbalances within the partnership and injustices embedded in the research topic. However, few guidelines exist for how intentional reflexivity among research partners informs praxis for community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnerships. The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work (GLHW) project is a CBPR study focused on work and occupation as social determinants of health. The GLHW aims to build power, equity, and community capacity to develop community-led approaches to promote healthy work at the neighborhood level. The GLHW is led by a Council of community stakeholders who determine the vision and guiding principles and oversee the implementation of evidence-based interventions. The GLWH Council co-chairs and academic partner co-leads use critical framing and structured, collaborative reflexivity sessions to unpack contradictions and conflicts that emerge as part of the research process to assure attention to equity and justice in our research partnership and processes. In addition to local commitments to equity within the academic partnership, systems change at the academic, institutional, and government (funding) levels are needed to dismantle long-held power advantages maintained by internal processes of the university, to allow for more equity and reciprocity within academic-community research partnerships.

Background While there is evidence that workers in nonstandard employment arrangements are disproportionately exposed to recognized occupational hazards, existing studies have not comprehensively examined associations between employment precarity and exposure to occupational hazards for these workers in the USA. The aim of this study was to examine relationships between employment precarity and occupational hazards in two contiguous high socio-economic hardship neighborhoods in Chicago. Methods Using a community-based participatory research approach, community researchers administered a community-developed survey to 489 residents of Greater Lawndale who reported current or recent employment in a job that met at least one characteristic of precarious employment (e.g. unpredictable schedule, insecure work, no living wage/benefits). Employment precarity was calculated using a modified version of the Employment Precarity Index (EPI) developed by the Poverty and Employment Precarity in Southern Ontario group. We modeled the association between employment precarity and occupational exposures using logistic regression models. Results We identified a high prevalence of precarious employment in this sample, as well as a high prevalence of self-reported exposure to recognized occupational hazards. Increases in relative employment precarity were significantly associated with self-reported exposure to chemical and biological hazards, physical hazards, and slip, trip, strike, fall, trap or crush hazards at work. Conclusions Results highlight the importance of using community research approaches and robust measures of employment characteristics, such as the EPI, to evaluate associations between employment precarity and hazardous exposures. These results suggest that variability in employment situations and resultant relative employment precarity are important predictors of exposure to recognized occupational hazards. Findings also suggest that health inequities observed among precariously employed workers may be partly explained by increased risk for exposure to occupational hazards, which has implications for community health and should be investigated in future longitudinal research.

BACKGROUND:Few have examined factors associated with community advisory board (CAB) sustainability from the perspective of members.OBJECTIVES:We aimed to provide insight into the formation of a CAB and attributes and challenges to sustaining it in addressing Latino health disparities in Chicago.METHODS:The Little Village CAB was formed in 2009 with members representing a wide range of local organizations, including churches, nonprofit organizations, and health centers. We analyzed annual survey results sent to members over a 10-year period. Likert-type questions assessed five domains: mission, commitment, communication, respect/trust, and teamwork/balance of power. We also analyzed free-text responses to determine prevalent themes. Ten years of CAB monthly meeting minutes were used to form word clouds which were assessed for changes across years.RESULTS:Survey questions demonstrated high averages across all years for each domain with minimal variation. Free-text responses indicated that members initially joined the CAB owing to request or interest in community health. CAB attributes included mission, community focus, openness/respect, teamwork, and leadership. Areas for improvement included broadening membership, clarifying goals periodically, and meeting structure. Meeting minutes demonstrated a progression from program creation to maintenance across the years.CONCLUSIONS:The CAB rated openness/respect, community focus, and commitment to mission high across all 10 years. Areas for improvement included broadening membership and clarifying goals periodically. In forming a CAB to address health disparities in a Latino community, researchers must be aware of factors that motivated members to join and remain engaged with an academic team using an iterative evaluative process.

OBJECTIVE:As part of community-based participatory research (CBPR) examining precarious employment and community health, academic, and community researchers used concept mapping to explore how residents in two high hardship neighborhoods perceive the impact of work on health.METHODS:Between January and May 2017, 292 individuals who lived or worked in two contiguous Chicago neighborhoods were engaged in brainstorming, sorting, and rating activities. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis were applied, and findings were interpreted by a community-academic partnership.RESULTS:Brainstorming resulted in 55 unique ways that work impacts health, each of which was rated on its perceived impact on health and prevalence in the neighborhood. Four major themes emerged: Healthy Aspects of Work, Systemic/Structural Injustices, Lack of Control/Exploitation, and Psychological/Physical Stress, which was a multidimensional, cross-cutting theme.CONCLUSION:These findings provide critical insight into community perceptions of the mechanisms by which work influences health, providing a basis for community-driven, sustainable, work-focused interventions that promote community health.

Trusting, productive relationships between traditionally discordant stakeholders-community members and researchers-are critical for successful Community-Based Participatory Research. Practical guidance on processes allowing for partner trust-building and collaborative leadership development in Community-Based Participatory Research literature lacks specificity. In this paper, we introduce our praxis of Transformative Communication Spaces to facilitate purposeful, iterative discourse that occurs in, and fuels each research phase. We elaborate on the use of Transformative Communication Spaces through Platicas de Salud, Oral History Listening Events, and Data Analysis Think Tanks within the framework of our Little Village Participatory Community Health Assessment. We believe the integrity and potential of Community-Based Participatory Research is contingent on the use of Transformative Communication Spaces strategies to foster trusting partnerships necessary for shared learning and co-leadership.