Study Design
Eliciting discussions about topics such as risk taking and future orientation with young adolescents can be challenging. The purpose of this article was to provide examples of three strategies we used to engage young adolescents in discussions surrounding their environment and future aspirations and to demonstrate the quality and utility of the data garnered from these activities. The information collected from the adolescents informed the creation of authentic story lines and character development for our HIV prevention videogame. We conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with young adolescents aged 10 to 15 years and employed three novel methods: Storytelling Using Graphic Illustration, My Life, and Photo Feedback Project. The activities provided youth the opportunity to describe, or show us, elements in their lives that were important to them in an engaging, creative way.
What We Found
These methods helped provide a thorough understanding of the adolescents’ experiences and perspectives regarding their environment and future aspirations, which we translated into active components of our videogame intervention. Our approach to eliciting this information was an essential step in the development of our intervention for HIV prevention. We believe these three activities are effective tools for eliciting meaningful data from young adolescents for the development of health interventions.