Exploring social inclusion strategies for public health research and practice: The use of participatory visual methods to counter stigmas surrounding street-based substance abuse in Colombia

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the participatory visual research design and findings from a qualitative assessment of the social impact of bazuco and inhalant/glue consumption among street youth in Bogotá, Colombia. The paper presents the visual methodologies our participatory action research (PAR) team employed in order to identify and overcome the stigmas and discrimination that street youth experience in society and within state-sponsored drug rehabilitation programmes. I call for critical reflection regarding the broad application of the terms ‘participation’ and ‘participatory’ in visual research and urge scholars and public health practitioners to consider the transformative potential of PAR for both the research and practice of global public health in general and rehabilitation programmes for street-based substance abuse in Colombia in particular. The paper concludes with recommendations as to how participatory visual methods can be used to promote social inclusion practices and to work against stigma and discrimination in health-related research and within health institutions.

KEYWORDS:

• Inhalant and bazuco addiction
• participatory action research (PAR)
• Latin America
• institutional stigma
• street youth

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation of all research actors involved in and touched by the PAR process in the distinct projects mentioned in this article. I also thank my colleagues of PARCES who tirelessly fight for the human rights of sex workers, LGBTQ + communities, homeless and other street-connected populations in Colombia and who played an essential role in the development of this care ethics-grounded participatory visual methods project. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude directly to the youth from the rehabilitation institution, Laura Martínez Apráez (team leader of the participatory photography exercise), Rafael Bojaca (film-maker in charge of the participatory video exercise), María Inés Cubides Kovacsics (team leader in charge of action research and fieldwork coordination), Julian(a) Salamanca and Alejandro Lanz Sánchez (team leaders in charge of action-oriented activities, trust building and community–university relations), and Argenis Navarro Diaz (team leader in charge of street-based outreach and relationships within the rehabilitation institution).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Bazuco is often equated to crack; however, chemically, bazuco is the ‘intermediate product in the production of cocaine’ and in some contexts is referred to as ‘PBC’ (pasta básica de cocaina) or cocaine paste (Joanou, 2009, p. 216).

2. A label used in Colombian society referring to dainty, rich girls and women (in this case, for gender).

3. See http://youtu.be/w1EoO2avtwU to view the participatory video (YouTube version).

4. In the Colombian context, the word parce in Spanish means friend, peer or companion in a relationship of trust and solidarity. See www.parces.org for more information about the organisation.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Center for the Study of Security and Drugs (CESED) and also draws from research funded by the National Science Foundation [grant number BCS-0903025].