Laura has been co-facilitating a participatory action research project using photovoice with eight members of the ‘Mild’ Brain Injury Survivor Support Group in Framingham, MA. and two brain injury survivor co-facilitators (Barbara W. and Laura F.), with support from the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts BIA-MA and the Massachusetts State-Wide Head Injury Program . Action research in the tradition of Kurt Lewin involves scholar-practitioners integrating science and practice in a dynamic group and organizational setting. Photovoice is a type of action research and involves asking participants to represent their lives, point of view, and experience using photographs and narratives. This project is intended to provide an opportunity for the members of a brain injury survivor support group to reflect on living with brain injury and their progress in dealing with this major life change, raise awareness about brain injury, and help policymakers understand ways to support healing from brain injury.

The photography phase lasted 10 weeks, from September to November 2006. During this phase, participants took photographs and discussed them together as a group, wrote narratives for selected images, and held a trial exhibit of 50 photos and narratives, grouped into eight categories, including The Journey, Chaos, Challenges, and Hope for the Future. The three co-facilitators and eight participants are continuing their efforts in an outreach phase, beginning with development of a strategic outreach plan.

The group presented their exhibit at the annual conference of the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts in March 2007. They led a Photo Voice training Workshop for Massachusetts brain injury support group facilitators in May 2007. Additional exhibits and trainings are planned. Additional outreach possibilities raised during brainstorming sessions to date include posting the exhibit in public libraries in Massachusetts, offering continuing education seminars on the brain injury survivor’s perspective to health professionals, and publishing a book of the participant’s photographs, narratives, and research experience.

Brain Injury X-Posed Scientific Presentation Poster BIA-MA 2006 (24"x36") - (PDF) 375 Kilobytes

Acceptance Sample Exhibit Poster (1 of 9)  24"x36" - (PDF) 64 Kilobytes
 

The Journey: Maybe there will be a good view "It’s a muddy, rutty, hands-and-knees crawl up to the first rung of the ladder that begins to make some semblance of sense—and then you get to begin to really struggle. The climb does not and will not end. There is no final healed bone or mended tear of the skin to get over. Sometimes weekly, and sometimes daily there is a new step to attempt to get to your “new self”. You can’t even ever hope to get back to your “old self”. Oh well! Maybe there will be a good view on this journey that I hadn’t expected......"		Hope For The Future: New Identity "New Identity. New passion of gardening. First baby step was planting in containers so as to not fall into dirt because of imbalance. My garden has progressed as my new life has. Now I not only can plant in the ground, I dig up grass and now have three perennial gardens."
Challenge: Keys in the freezer "My thoughts no longer correspond to action. Thus, putting things in places that have no meaning: like keys in the freezer."		Challenge: Trying to run on ice "Imagine your automobile stuck in a snow bank. You hit the gas pedal and all the tire does is spin. Now imagine yourself trying to run on ice (without wearing a pair of skates). The faster you run, the more you get nowhere. These images parallel how each and every day of my life begins since I suffered my brain injury. I seem to spend a whole lot of time getting nothing accomplished."

*Note: For more information on this project please contact Laura by emailing her at laura@lslorenz.com, please include "Re: Brain Injury X-Posed The Survivor's View Project" in the subject line.
 

With funding from the EQUITY Project of the Government of South Africa and the US Agency for International Development, Laura facilitated a photovoice project with 16 youth, brought together through a local Mdantsane Township organization called the Youth Academy. The initiative provided an opportunity for youth to have a voice in their township as they took photographs and wrote essays about local issues, and developed an exhibit to inform local policy makers, including community groups, community volunteers, social workers, teachers, and government agencies.

Their exhibit of 80 photographs and narratives covering health and welfare, security, township life, education and training, economic opportunity, and community vision was posted at libraries in East London and Mdtansane Township, and in the regional capital. The largest category of photos was health and welfare. Photos and narratives in all categories addressed HIV/AIDS and demonstrated the devastating effects of the epidemic on South African youth.

“These pictures are proof of our membership in our communities,” said Khanyiso Sangotsha, one of the Youth Academy leaders who participated in the project. “By looking at them you can see clearly today that Mdantsane needs change.”
 

Township Life – Ubomi Belokishi "This is a bad situation. The streets are always muddy even on sunny days. There are insects which bring illness to people. Cars cannot enter in this community. These roads need renovation. If the municipality would contribute gravel, the community would fill in the holes themselves."  –Luyazola		Township Life – Ubomi Belokishi "This young man has a sister, his own blood, who has tested positive for HIV. He decided not to eat the food she cooked, not even to use the spoon or the coffee mug she used, because he thought he could be infected with AIDS. We need to inform people about the normal life they can live with an HIV positive person."  –Nokwanda
Township Life – Ubomi Belokishi "This is good looking art on the wall near a taxi route. If you are passing by you stop and look because it’s beautiful. As youth of Mdantsane we are showing people that we have talents. Art like this can attract tourists to come here to Mdantsane. It is good to know that we have people who care about our culture and our community."  –Nomahlubi		Health and Welfare -- Ezempilo neze Ntlalontle "This picture is a good thing because it is good to have fresh vegetables. These people are unemployed and are growing their own food because there are no jobs. It is good to plant vegetables for eating and selling."  –Celine

*Note: For more information on this project please contact Laura by emailing her at laura@lslorenz.com, please include "Re: Mdantsane Township, South Africa Project" in the subject line.
 

As part of an independent study while pursuing a Master of Education in Instructional Design at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Laura designed and led a pilot photovoice project with five girls aged 11 to 17 years through Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell. The participating girls took photographs of their community—both its positive and negative aspects—and shared their point of view through exhibits at Lowell City Hall, Pollard Memorial Library, the Brush Gallery, and Middlesex Community College. The decision makers they reached included family, friends, neighbors, peers, teachers, community leaders, foundations, and elected officials.

The pilot project won a national Girls Inc Program Award in 2001, and in 2002 Girls Inc of Greater Lowell applied for and won a Strengthening Families Program grant, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, to develop a photovoice curriculum guide. The Photovoice: Girls Vision, Girls Voices curriculum is now a national Girls Inc program, and Girls Inc affiliates throughout the US and Canada carry out numerous photovoice projects each year. Girls Inc of Greater Lowell continues to lead photovoice projects and share the methodology with other Lowell youth through outreach programs at local middle schools.

“I took photos of my family, my friends, my community, and many other problems and resources,” said Jennifer Sanchez, a photovoice participant and Girls Inc member for six years. “For example, I took a picture of bagged trash. This is a resource—everyone should bag their trash instead of polluting the environment. Taking pictures for photovoice, I found that there was a lack of caring in my community and lots of pollution. I found that taking pictures and showing them to our community could really make a difference.”
 

"This is one of the many cracks in our dance floor at the high school. Cracks like this are unsafe and can cause major injuries. Our dance teacher has made numerous complaints to the school about this problem. I hope that including this photo will get the floor fixed and that my dance teacher does not get in trouble, because this was my idea." –Kerry, age 17, Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell, 2001		"My family is everything to me. This is a picture of my aunt and my baby sister. My aunt is very special to me because she is very cool and teaches me things about life. She is a role model and she is like another mother. I love my Mom just the same, they are both very cool. My baby is very special to me because she is premature and she is so precious. When I look at her I see myself as being a role mode. She makes me smile when I’m down."—Jessica, age 14, Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell, 2001
"This is a picture of a fire truck. It’s one of our resources. Fire fighters save lives. If fires just kept going and no one did anything about them, then they would kill a lot of people. People depend on fire fighters." –Gina, age 13, Girls Inc of Greater Lowell, 2002		"This is a picture of a broken bubbler at my school. They would always try to have people come in and try to fix our bubblers, but they never came. This is one of about 6 bubblers in my school, and the bad thing is that 2 more of them are also broken. So we can almost never use the bubblers unless we travel all the way across the school." –Yaileen, age 11, Girls Inc of Greater Lowell, 2002

*Note: For more information on this project please contact Laura by emailing her at laura@lslorenz.com, please include "Re: Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell Project" in the subject line.
 

Members of the Framingham Brain Injury Survivor Photovoice Group at Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital’s Stroke Awareness Day, May 21, 2009. Also present were Harvard School of Public Health Fellow Miwako Hosoda, PhD, and Japanese stroke survivor Rio Takahashi. Pictured here from (left to right) are Dr. Hosoda, Scott Davis, Kathleen Decenzo, Judy Szczeblowski, Rio Takahashi, Peggi Robart, and Dr. Laura Lorenz, all holding artworks created by Japanese stroke survivors who have participated in research with Dr. Hosoda.