Using Creative Methods to Elevate Youth Voice to Understand Why Youth from Low-Income Backgrounds Return and Do Not Return to Camp
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Abstract
Background: Common data collection strategies create barriers to authentically elevating youth voice, which is critical to understanding the complexity of youth’s involvement in structured programs. These barriers may be especially profound when asking youth to share about their positive and negative experiences in programs, including reasons why they choose to return or not return. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the use of journey mapping as a potentially effective approach to engaging youth in the continuous improvement process regarding a potentially challenging topic. Setting: The evaluation took place with youth participants from a Canadian summer camp organization serving youth from low-income backgrounds. Intervention: The evaluation method employed creative methods, specifically journey mapping, and semi-structured interviews. Research Design: Retrospective and qualitative. Data Collection and Analysis: Qualitative data were interpreted using a six-step thematic analysis approach. Findings: The findings of this case study suggest that creative methods, such as journey mapping, can be an effective approach to engaging youth from marginalized backgrounds in continuous improvement and evaluation.
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