University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Health Promot Pract. 2021 Nov;22(6):747-749. doi: 10.1177/1524839921990005. Epub 2021 Feb 20.
Youth engagement in substance use research is critical to the understanding of correlates that lead to detrimental health and social outcomes for adolescents. In addition to the documented challenges related to youth recruitment for substance use research, Latinx youth living on the U.S.-Mexico border may be difficult for researchers to engage in substance use research because they could face retributory harm if they identify their experiences to any entity perceived as an authority (e.g., researchers). Empirical findings that posit viable strategies to engage marginalized youth in substance use research are lacking. Participatory approaches show promise in increasing participation of historically underrepresented youth in research. Building on previously published work on our youth participatory action research mixed-methods study, this article discusses the youth-led participatory approach used to (1) develop and pilot test a culturally, regionally, and linguistically tailored substance use instrument and (2) engage 445 Latinx youth to participate in a cross-sectional study to assess epidemiological patterns of youth substance use on the U.S.-Mexico border. We share lessons learned related to the youth-led instrument design, youth-led recruitment strategy, and assuring participant confidentiality.
青少年参与物质使用研究对于了解导致青少年健康和社会不良后果的相关因素至关重要。除了与青少年物质使用研究招募相关的已记录挑战外，生活在美国-墨西哥边境的拉丁裔青少年可能难以让研究人员参与物质使用研究，因为如果他们向任何被视为权威的实体（例如研究人员）识别自己的经历，他们可能会面临报复性伤害。缺乏实证研究结果提出可行的策略来吸引边缘化青少年参与物质使用研究。参与式方法显示出增加历史上代表性不足的青少年参与研究的潜力。本文基于我们之前关于青少年参与式行动研究混合方法研究的已发表工作，讨论了青少年主导的参与式方法，该方法用于：（1）制定和试点测试一种文化、地区和语言上适合的物质使用工具；（2） 招募 445 名拉丁裔青少年参与横断面研究，以评估美国-墨西哥边境青少年物质使用的流行模式。我们分享了与青少年主导的仪器设计、青少年主导的招募策略以及确保参与者机密性相关的经验教训。
