Enhancing empowerment in young adults during the COVID-19 era in Italy through the Photovoice technique

Nadia Rania; Ilaria Coppola; Marta Brucci; Laura Pinna

doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03635-5

Enhancing empowerment in young adults during the COVID-19 era in Italy through the Photovoice technique

Curr Psychol. 2022 Aug 31:1-14. doi: 10.1007/s12144-022-03635-5. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Nadia Rania¹, Ilaria Coppola¹, Marta Brucci¹, Laura Pinna¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Education Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 has led to increasingly stringent containment measures. After the first period of lockdown, there has been an easing of measures worldwide. However, this choice has helped bring about a second wave to be faced by many states. The present research was conducting during the period in which it was necessary for the population to find strategies for living with COVID-19. The proposed action research envisaged the use of Photovoice and, due to social distancing, was carried out online. A total of 250 young adults were involved with the aim of bringing out individual and community solutions for effective coexistence with COVID-19. The data, collected through a triangulation process, were analysed on the basis of grounded theory and the support of NVivo 12. The results highlight how online Photovoice is an effective tool for implementing individual and community empowerment and for identifying solutions to live with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Empowerment; Italy; Online Photovoice; Young adults.