Participatory Methods in Youth Homelessness and Neurodiversity Research

One of the key tenets that underpins how we work at EYHC is the Amplification of Youth Voice. We believe that the voices of young people who have lived through homelessness should not only be heard but instead, it is these voices that should be actively driving the changes to policy and practice needed to end youth homelessness

In line with our values as an organisation, we wanted to make sure that our latest research: ‘Impossible to Navigate – Youth Homelessness through the Lens of Neurodiversity’ actively involved young people throughout its process.  

To help us achieve our aim, we decided to conduct the study using participatory research methods which included the involvement of neurodivergent young people with lived experiences of youth homelessness as peer researchers.

Notes on Participatory and Peer Research

In traditional social research there is a clear divide between the researcher and the research subjects. Participatory research, however, aims to address these power dynamics by actively involving members of the studied community in the research process and amplifying their voices. It recognises the value of lived experience and empowers those affected by social issues to use their personal knowledge to uncover truths about the social world with the purpose of taking action and transforming it.

Peer research is a type of participatory research, whereby people with lived experience, ‘peers’, are trained in research methods and can subsequently design and conduct research projects. This is the approach that we took to our study.

Using Participatory Methods and Peer Research to Explore Youth Homelessness and Neurodiversity

For our research, we recruited a group of neurodivergent young people with lived experiences of youth homelessness to be involved as peer researchers. Below are the steps that we took to implement participatory approaches into our project:

Recruitment:

To recruit the peer researchers, we reached out to our members of the EYHC coalition and partner agencies to share recruitment posters and information packs with young people they supported. As a result of the recruitment drive, five young people signed up, out of which four were neurodivergent and had lived experiences of youth homelessness. One of the young people dropped out at the start due to personal reasons and the remainder continued with the project.

Training sessions:

In the first stage of the study, we organised weekly training sessions where young people learnt about foundations of conducting research. The topics included:

-      Foundations of research and peer research

-      Introduction to quantitative and qualitative research methods

-      Interviewing skills workshop, reflexivity and ethics

-      Introduction to data analysis

We aimed to make the training as accessible and engaging as possible through a mixture of discussions, workshop style sessions and individual and group activities.

The purpose of the training was to empower young people with the right knowledge and skills to be able to be meaningfully involved in the research process.

This is what the peer researchers said about the research training:

“I've learnt loads”.

“Same, it was really good”.

“I found it really like accessible and, and again, interactive and, sort of just, really like fun as well”.

“It was really engaging, but it wasn't heavy. Cause obviously with research you could have done always and hours of absolute waffle about just things that you could argue we need to know. But you sort of stuck to the basics then built on them. And it was, I think it was really accessible”.

“I think as well, when something's your background, I think it's really easy to get sort of caught up in the whole academic intellectual side of it…I think it was really important that um, you were asking questions like. 'Does anyone know what this is?'”

Conducting research

The peer researchers undertook various tasks whilst conducting the research that involved:

Data collection tools: The young people co-produced interview guides and surveys questions. Their involvement ensured that:

o   The terminology around neurodiversity reflected the preferences of neurodivergent people

o   The language used was youth-friendly and accessible

o   The questions were relevant to young people

Interviews: The peer researchers helped to interview other young people during in depth interviews. This helped to create a more relaxed dynamic during the interviews, with other young people being more inclined to share information with their peers

Data analysis: The group took part in a workshop to discuss the research findings and emerging key themes

Consulting: The young people were consulted on multiple issues pertaining to the report, its dissemination and subsequent action

Other opportunities

As part of their involvement, some of the peer researchers were given further opportunities to share their voice and opinions, and in partnership with our partners at the Children’s Commissioner’s Office, they were able to speak to Welsh Government’s Cabinet on the cost of living crisis. Our peer researchers have also played a key role in presenting our research findings to Youth Homelessness Coordinators and other practitioners.

Impact on the Peer Researchers

“I've considered for the first time in my life, actually moving to Cardiff, like, so I'm gonna be part of another project. It's a youth music project. And I think I only really, I wouldn't have applied for that without having this, I wouldn't have felt the confidence. I wouldn't have felt like I was sort of like adequate or experienced enough, or really worth it actually without having done this.

Yeah, so I think it's opened up so many new opportunities for me that I'd never would've envisaged. And I now know that I could do research again and say, I have this experience.

And as well, like when you're making connections with people, like they sort of ask you, what's your thing? What do you do? And I never really have much to say, but I can say this now. And it's just been like so important for me”.

“I'm seriously considering getting a job working in youth homelessness and or research.

So I think that's just a quick sort of answer, but it shows how effective this has been.

Cause I've always been curious. I've always wanted to change things, but I've never had to do it in this way. There's been some projects where you can sort of say your opinion or you can campaign, or you can advocate, but this is, it's different because we were involved in the research from step one and we are going to be until the very end”.

*A peer researcher led blog, on their involvement, is forthcoming, to be published following the launch of the research.

As can be seen from the above examples, the use of participatory methods and peer researchers has not only hugely benefited the research project through the value and expertise of lived experience but has also been of great benefit to young people themselves, who developed their knowledge, skills and confidence and were empowered to pursue further opportunities. Whilst not without its challenges, participatory research methods can have a transformative effect on both the research and the community members involved. As practitioners working within youth system we should endeavour to challenge persisting power dynamics and use strength based approaches to empower the young people affected by homelessness to use their voices for positive change.