Tuesday, October 7, 2014 at 12:15 p.m.
Neville Scarfe Building, Room 2415
Title: Long-term Participants’ Experience of a Youth Media Program: A Retrospectively Constructed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Research Supervisor: Dr. Jenna Shapka
Committee Member: Dr. Sterett Mercer
Departmental Examiner: Dr. Laurie Ford
ABSTRACT
This study explored long-term participants’ experiences of involvement in YouthMADE, a BC-based youth media program with a social justice education component. Three emerging adults who had been involved in YouthMADE since adolescence participated in semi-structured interviews about their program experience. Results support existing research on benefits of youth engagement and participation in youth media programs, but also highlight complexities and challenges involved in the experience. Participant accounts describe the YouthMADE experience as transformative, in terms of self-exploration, learning, and in development of activism and a sense of community within the program. Findings highlight importance of supporting and empowering participants within such programs and necessity for further research on the lived experiences of youth media programs from alternate perspectives.