Using Youth-Led Participatory Action Research to Advance the Mental Health Needs of Latinx Youth During COVID-19

Abstract

Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) is a collaborative approach for engaging young people as experts and leaders in the research process. The purpose of this study is to showcase the potential of this methodology as a tool for social justice and equity work in schools. First, we review transformative and critical research paradigms that underpin the YPAR approach. Second, we provide an illustration of a YPAR project on youth well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic (May–June 2020). Participants included 375 middle- and high-school students living in an agricultural community (92% Latinx/Hispanic). The research design, recruitment, analysis, and interpretation were youth-led with support from adult allies. Youth researchers identified mental health and academic challenges among peers, and they successfully used survey results to advocate for increased mental health support at school. We discuss the potential and challenges of YPAR as a strategy to inspire youth-led changes to local policy and practice.

Impact Statement

This study is one of only a few published articles coauthored by youth researchers and sharing findings from a youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) project. We demonstrate how powerful youth leadership and advocacy can be for increasing access to mental health support in schools. School psychologists and adult allies should consider using YPAR as a tool for advancing equity and justice in collaboration with young people.

Keywords:

• Youth-led participatory action research
• COVID-19 pandemic
• transformative research paradigm
• adolescent mental health
• community-based participatory research

Associate editor:

• Samuel Y. Song

Acknowledgments

We thank the 2019–2020 Gonzales Youth Commissioners (Amy Perez and Madisyn Schweitzer) and the Gonzales Youth Council (GYC) members (Andrew Funk, Alexa Hernandez, Lorena Flores, Angela Rodriguez, Ruby Virgen, Luke Naegle, and Paulina Rivas) for leadership designing the survey, recruiting youth, analyzing data, sharing results, and engaging in advocacy. The authors also express their gratitude to the City of Gonzales (René Mendez), Gonzales Unified School District (Superintendent Yvette Irving), and adult allies Michelle Slade and Alicia Trentelman for supporting the GYC. Due to the nature of this research, and ownership of data by the GYC, the supporting data is not available to other researchers.

DISCLOSURE

We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

FUNDING

This work was supported by a Trinidad and Lupe Gomez Family Fund Grant; a California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) Community Solutions Lab Grant; Bringing Theory to Practice grant (number 54265); and a subaward from Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Claire Gianni Fund (number 54254). Undergraduate research was also supported by the McNair Scholars Program (award number P217A170213) and The Koret Foundation (Gift 20-0068) through the CSUMB Undergraduate Research Opportunity Center.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Claudia Rocha

Claudia Rocha, BA, identifies as a Mexican-American cisgender female born into a working-class family. Although she lives in the small town of Prunedale, CA, she grew up in Salinas, CA, and recognizes this as her home. Her father was a field worker throughout his young adult life and taught her the importance of education. Ms. Rocha was an undergraduate psychology major with competitive funding as a Koret Scholar during the completion of this project. She graduated from California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) in May 2021 and is currently a graduate student in the CSUMB Masters in School Psychology program. One day she may want to pursue a Ph.D. within the realm of youth wellness and school psychology. Her research interests concern youth mental wellness and academic achievement. With her School Psychology degree, she plans to advocate for the needs of multicultural youth within the school system.

Isabel Mendoza

Isabel Mendoza identifies as a Latinx cisgender female, and she has lived in Gonzales, CA, her entire life. She was involved with the Gonzales Youth Council (GYC) from eighth grade to her senior year in high school, and she continues to mentor and work with the GYC. Ms. Mendoza was one of three Youth Commissioners leading the GYC in 2019-2020, and she initiated several projects throughout the year targeting improvement in education and wellness in the community of Gonzales. She attended the Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Prize Celebration for Gonzales in 2019, and this event inspired her to want to work in the community and offer resources to promote equity. Ms. Mendoza was Valedictorian of the graduating class of 2020, and she is the oldest of three daughters. Ms. Mendoza is currently an undergraduate Psychology Major at Santa Clara University with an anticipated graduation in June, 2024. She hopes to pursue a career in community engagement or as a clinical psychologist with a focus in helping children and adolescents.

Jennifer L. Lovell

Jennifer L. Lovell, PhD, identities as a White, multiethnic, cisgender woman from a middle-class family who has lived in the Monterey Bay area for five years. Dr. Lovell developed a passion for community-engaged research approaches and mixed-methods research as a graduate student, and this project was her first youth participatory action research project. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Child Psychology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and later specialized in pediatric psychology and infant mental health during postdoctoral training at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at California State University Monterey Bay. Her primary areas of scholarly interest focus on social and cultural factors impacting youth health and wellness, and she highly values her role as research mentor. She authored a book utilizing a strengths-based approach to clinical work with adolescents from multicultural backgrounds (The “Troubled” Adolescent: Challenges and Resilience within Family and Multicultural Contexts; Lovell & White, 2019). Dr. Lovell aims to use her research to partner with young people and address local community needs.

Selina Espinoza

Selina Espinoza, BA, is a low-income, first-generation undergraduate research student with a major in psychology and a minor in statistics. She identifies as a Latinx, cisgender woman, and identical twin raised by a single parent mother of five. Selina was raised in Gonzales, CA for the first 20 years of her life and all of her siblings attended school in Gonzales since elementary. She has four scholar titles and is currently a graduate student in University of California Merced’s Psychological Sciences Graduate Program (Health Psychology focus) under Dr. Epperson’s mentorship. Her research interests include disparities in substance use (e.g., cannabis-related behaviors), perceptions of health harm among at-risk populations (e.g., Latinx adults, rural residents), and community engagement and advocacy. She is an aspiring university psychology professor and researcher.

Carmen Gil

Carmen Gil, MPA/HSA, is the City of Gonzales’ Community Engagement and Strategic Partnerships Director. Mrs. Gil oversees the Gonzales Youth Council and has a long trajectory of working with community and youth in various capacities. She has a keen ability to develop relationships that go beyond transactional to transformational. Before the City of Gonzales, she served as the Health in All Policies Manager for the Monterey County Health Department where she raised over 3.5 million dollars for programs that advanced equity and supported resident leadership and capacity building. She was one of the founders of the Salinas youth-led project Ciclovia and led its expansion to four other communities in the Salinas Valley. She led the development of the Health and Wellness Element for the City of Gonzales’ General Plan and has worked through private and public partnerships to address issues of housing, homelessness, health access and infrastructure among others. Mrs. Gil holds a BA in Social Work from San Jose State University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration/Health Services Administration from the University of San Francisco. In 2014, she was elected to join the Board of Directors for Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, which she served for four years. She currently serves on the Board of The Big Sur Land Trust and the Alliance on Aging. Her passion for supporting youth stems from her identity as a first-generation Latinx college student from humble beginnings who has witnessed the power of youth once they are supported to be part of the solution.

Magaly Santos

Magaly Santos is one of the Youth Commissioners for the 2020-2021 Gonzales Youth Council and a senior at Gonzales High school. She identifies as a first-generation low-income Mexican-American born to migrant farmworker parents, raised in Gonzales, CA. Alongside her fellow Co-Youth Commissioner, she leads the Gonzales Youth Council, a group of 14 youth members advocating for their community needs in both our city and school. Through her experience in advocating for environmental justice, she hopes to attend a four-year institution, majoring in environmental studies to become an environmental lawyer.

Aidan Cervantes

Aidan Cervantes is a 2020–2021 Gonzales Youth Commissioner and a senior at Gonzales High School. He identifies as a low-income Mexican-American and was born and raised in Salinas, CA, by a single mother of five. As one of the two youth commissioners for the Gonzales Youth Council, he helps to lead a youth run council of fourteen members to be a voice for the youth in the city of Gonzales. As a senior in high school he hopes to attend a four-year university to study public policy and political science.