Youth Digital Health Promo Prevention and Da the Lives of Alas Peo

Youth Digital Storytelling as
Health Promo
otion Primary
otion,
Prevention and Da
ata to Understand
the Lives of Alaska Native Young
Peo
ople
Lisa Wexlerr, PhD, MSW
University of Massachusetts Amherst
A
& Maniilaq Association
Northweest Alaska
Maniilaq’s
q Service
S
Area
Kotzzebue
Th Villages
The
Vill
Digital Stories frrom Project Life
Funded by GLS, SA
AMHSA, Cohort 2
Digital stories are three to fiveminute visual narratives that
synthesize images, video,
audio recordings of voice
and music,
m sic and te
textt to create
compelling stories (Lambert,
2006).
2006)
Website: 15,000+ page loads &
over 2,500
,
visitors!
• Project Life, Maniilaq
Association has been
traveling to the 12 villages in
NW AK and doing digital
stor telling workshops
storytelling
orkshops with
ith
school-age children.
• Over the past three years,
years the
project has produced over
400 digital
g
stories.
Digital
g
Storytelling
y
g as Primaryy Prevention
• Way for young people to foccus on the positive aspects of
their lives
• Increase self esteem throughh accomplishment
• Way to strengthen relationshhips, particularly
i t
intergenerational
ti l ones (comm
(
munity
it screening)
i )
• Have a memento to emphasiize what is going well in their
lives ((to share or revisit))
• Gain perspective about how their lives are special* as
they are shared on www.proojectlifealaska.org
• Increase
I
skills
kill in
i digital
di it l expression
i (personal
(
l aptitude,
tit d
health and potential job skillls)
• Communityy awareness of “p
ppositives” re: yyouth
Evaluatiion Plan
Process: # Participants—v
village, age, completion rate
# Digital stories produced
p
Satisfaction of parrticipants (exit surveys)
# Community
C
i mem
mbers
b ((ages)) at the
h screening
i
Outcome: Community clim
mate—general & re: youth
Positive impact on participants
Measures & Issues Related to Them
• Project
j records: Trackin
ngg attendance-consistently?
y
• Exit survey: Literacy isssues (younger participants)
• Reflection Questions
– Organizational climate—
—people’s involvement,
– Dominant
D i t narratives—po
ti
ositive
iti – negative
ti
– Other issues contributingg to these trends & Plans forward
• DST follow-up
ll
i
interview
i w- two attempts
But, we still learned sometthing…
Digital Storyteelling Tracking
Size of Village
259
458
133
383
406
6
109
3126
512
642
850
846
272
Average
# participants
16
17
4
14
14
4
10
17
5
31
6
13
15
#W k h
# Workshops
3
3
3
2
3
3
3
1
3
2
3
3
Supportive
School
( 1 – 10)
8
7
9
8
6
9
8
2
10
5
5
8
Momentum and Su
upport GROWING
• Invitations to participatee in Elders gatherings,
yyouth camps,
p , school ppro
ogramming,
g
g, etc increase
• Number of young peoplee wanting to participant in
DST workshops have rissen steadily each time
Project Life travels to a village
v
• Other health professionaals have wanted to learn
digital storytelling after seeing the young people’s
response to it at health faairs,
airs etc.
etc
Way for young people to
t focus on the positive
aspects of their lives
• Youth are overwhelmingly positive
p
about the experience
and more have been interestted in pparticipating
p g each time.
– “It was fun!”
– “Come back soon!”
– “[I was] happy making thhe movie”
• The DS focus on positive asspects of young people’s lives
– “made me think of the haappy memories from the
pictures”
Increase self esteem th
hrough accomplishment
--“making the cd, putting it toggether on the
computer…that
t
th t was good”
d”
--“getting it done and having fun
fu making it”
Way to strengthen relattionships, particularly
intergenerational ones
-- “I showed it to my mom annd it made her happy”
Young
g ppeople
p alm
most always
y share
their stories with peers, and often
share
h th
them with
ith family
f il members,
b
mentors,, or other adults
“Showing
Showing the movie…[I]
movie [I] ju
ust wanted to see what people
thought of it, [and I] was happy about what they
thought,
g nervous about itt though”
g
“My family thought it was cool and fun to watch, it
made him (Dad) feel happpy”
Gain perspective ab
bout how their lives
are special as theyy are shared on the
WWW (www.proj
(
ojectlifealaska.org)
j tlif l k
)
“It shows my life, and that
we don't live in igloos
anymore. [Also, it lets
others]
th ] see how
h muchh
time I spend with my
friends
friends”
“It shows how I love to take
pictures, how we did and
the way it is: we have
snow andd th
they have
h
hot
h t
weather. I think they'd
learn something about
[my village]
Questions / Comments
Digital Story
y Evaluation
Questions Re: Digiital Stories as Data
(1) Wh
Whatt can we learn
l
from
f m analyzing
l i the
th digital
di it l
stories as data?
(2) Are the preliminary fin
ndings from the analysis
useful for developing pro
ogramming for young
people?
Method: All 200+ DS were assigned descriptive attributes:
Attribute
Value
Definition
Gender M
F
Y
O
Y
N
Male
F
Female
l
Younger than 14
Older than 14
Y
Yes, uses Inupiaq name
I
i
No, does not use Inupiaq name
General date story was
General date story was produced
Suicide in community up to six months prior to film
to six months prior to film production
No suicide in community up to six months prior
up to six months prior One of the twelve villages
Age I
Inupiaq Name
i N
Date of Production
Date of Production
Post‐suicide Context Location
PS
NPS
Stories by Attributes
Attribute
Gender *
Age Inupiaq Name
Inupiaq Name
Post‐suicide Context
Female Male
Younger Older
No does no
No, does no
ot use Inupiaq
ot use Inupiaq name Ye , u e Inupiaq name
Yes, uses In
upiaq a e
Not post‐su
uicide context Post‐suicidee context
Percentage
g
71%
27%
72%
28%
75%
21%
%
76%
24%
S i b A ib
Stories by Attributes (C i
(Continued)
d)
Music **
Music Theme Pop and R
Pop
and R
R&B
R&B Rock and Heavy Metal
Rap and H
Rap and H
Hop‐hop
Hop
hop Emotive y and Religious
g
Country a
Other Mu
usic Tribal
Family an
nd friends Other Theemes
Events 34%
28%
22%
11%
10%
2%
1%
91%
26%
21%
Selected Stories to Analyze
Anal e
• From the 200 stories,, 60 were flagged as
“noteworthy” by reseearchers, and 30 were
selected to:
– demonstrate themes, issues, and perspectives,
– be representative,
– have perspectives froom girls and boys, in both age
groups, and from all of the villages.
MAIN FIINDINGS
Findings
Fi
di
are groupedd under
d
four broad headings:
(1)identity,
( )
(2)relationships,
p
(3)achievement, and
(4)youth suicide (discussion).
Preliminary
y Findings
• Self-representation was oveerwhelmingly positive!
• Relationships—Vast
p
majori
j ityy focused on peers,
p
, few
depicted elders or other aduult role models. Girls
represented more of family (babies and toddlers),
while
hil boys
b
representedd morre off ffriends.
i d
• Culture was seen in more nuuanced forms than is
t i ll talked
typically
t lk d about
b t in
i the
the community.
it Borrowing
B
i
from many popular forms too create “Inupiaq-ness”.
Preliminary Find
dings (continued)
Masculinities and Femininities-Sites of achievement
• Boys have spaces of achievement that include more
h bbi
hobbies—sports,
riding
idi thin
hings well,
ll etc.—things
hi
that
h are
not necessarily the kind of achievements
a
that are valued
by the dominant society
society. Hu
unting was part of these,
these but
must have access ($).
(i e
• Girls included practical skillls and academics (i.e.
childcare and graduation)—
—gender roles that are
naturalized and necessaryy annd pperhaps
p easier to achieve.
What did you
y notice?
• Representative
– Masculinities
– Femininities
– Relationships
R l i hi
– Spaces of Achievem
ment
– Culture
Digital Stories Related
R
to Suicide
• What can we learn
about suicide
prevention through the
digital
g
stories of ppeer
survivors?
• Jot down some of
what you notice and
might utilize for
prevention.
Acknowledgem
ments & Thanks
•
•
•
•
•
Maniilaq Association
g Provost,, Project
j Liffe Director
George
Youth digital storytellers
g
, Aline Gubbrium,, and Nancy
y Rich
Kristen Eglinton,
Substance Abuse and Mentaal Health AdministrationGarret Lee Smith Suicide Prrevention Fundingg