Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Oct;25(10):1372-82.
doi: 10.1177/1049732315583282. Epub 2015 Apr 22.

Using Instagram as a Modified Application of Photovoice for Storytelling and Sharing in Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes

Joyce P Yi-Frazier  1 , Katherine Cochrane  2 , Connor Mitrovich  2 , Michael Pascual  2 , Emil Buscaino  2 , Lauren Eaton  2 , Neil Panlasigui  2 , Bailey Clopp  2 , Faisal Malik  2
Affiliations

Using Instagram as a Modified Application of Photovoice for Storytelling and Sharing in Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes

Joyce P Yi-Frazier et al. Qual Health Res. 2015 Oct.

Abstract

Photovoice is a research method developed to help communities share images as a tool for discussion of key issues. Although this may be useful to promote healthy behavior, using Photovoice in adolescents has been logistically challenging. Given adolescents' engagement in social media, our study explored the feasibility of using a photo-sharing mobile phone application, Instagram, to accomplish the principles of Photovoice. Twenty adolescents 14 to 18 years old with type 1 diabetes were asked to use Instagram to post any diabetes-related photo for 3 weeks. Individual interviews and a focus group were also offered, and recruitment and retention statistics were tracked. Of those approached (n = 47), 43% agreed to participate. Twelve were actively engaged. Shared photos were most likely to fall into the categories of diabetes care, humor, or food. Engaged participants universally reported the project to be a positive experience; however, there were technological and personal factors to consider for widespread implementation.

Keywords: United States, Northwest; concept development; diabetes, adolescents / youth, at risk; feasibility study; photography / photovoice; qualitative; technology, use in research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example photos and captions from “diabetes care” category, as posted on Instagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Example photos and captions from “humor” category, as posted on Instagram.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Example photos and captions from “food” category, as posted on Instagram.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Example photos and captions from “exercise/sports” category, as posted on Instagram.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Example photos and captions from “life with diabetes” category, as posted on Instagram.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Example photos and captions from “type 1 vs. type 2” category, as posted on Instagram.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Example photos and captions from “talking with others who don’t have diabetes” category, as posted on Instagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alexander SA, Frohlich KL, Fusco C. Problematizing “play-for-health” discourses through children’s photo-elicited narratives. Qualitative Health Research. 2014;24:1329–1341. - PubMed
    1. Bandura A. Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall; 1977.
    1. Bandura A. Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall; 1986.
    1. Bandura A. Health promotion from the perspective of social cognitive theory. Psychology & Health. 1998;13:623–649.
    1. Birmaher B, Ryan ND, Williamson DE, Brent DA, Kaufman J, Dahl RE, Nelson B. Childhood and adolescent depression: A review of the past 10 years. Part I. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 1996;35:1427–1439. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources