TWU Health Studies: Showcase: Shelby Garner and Mary Ann Faucher

Showcase on Health Studies Doctoral Alum and Doctoral Student

Mary Ann Faucher, TWU PhD alum and Shelby Garner, TWU doctoral student

Shelby Garner, MSN, RN, CNE (current TWU Health Studies PhD student) & Mary Ann Faucher, CNM, MPH, PhD (TWU Health Studies alum 2002) were recently awarded a $5000 grant from Baylor University's Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Achievement Program to conduct a Photovoice study. The study is entitled "The Use of Photovoice to Illustrate Challenges and Supports of Caregivers of the Elderly: A Qualitative Participatory Study". The study will begin in begin in the Fall of 2012 and will culminate in an art exhibition to display the participant photo's and research findings in the Spring of 2013. The researchers will also be mentoring four undergraduate students from the Louise Herrington School of Nursing throughout the research process.

Photovoice is a type of qualitative research, using photographs taken by participants,usually those with limited power, to illustrate their environment and experiences and to express their thoughts about them (University of Kansas, 2011). According to Ornelas et al. (2009) the goals of photovoice are to promote acritical conversation and awareness about select population’s important issues through photographs and to provide a platform for the presentation of people’s experiences through their own pictures and language. The purpose of this research project is to collaborate with undergraduate nursing students to identify challenges and support systems utilized by caregivers of the elderly. The study participants, caregivers of the elderly, will be given disposable digital cameras to record their experiences and will answer brief open ended questions related to their thoughts about each picture in small focus group settings. The photographs will be selected, contextualized, and coded by participants to identify challenges and supports experienced by the caregivers. After project completion, study participants will be invited to present an art exhibition in which their photographs will be displayed to a target audience that has the capability of implementing policy change to support the caregiver role. The project will include collaboration with four undergraduate nursing research fellows who will assist with participant training, interviews, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of results.