Participatory video making for research and health promotion in remote Australian Aboriginal communities

This paper describes the participatory video (PV) method as a means of engaging children in remote Aboriginal communities as participants in health research. The PV method was piloted in two remote communities in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. There was widespread community acceptance of this approach and preliminary findings are discussed with reference to the key themes of perspectives on health, benefits to participants and benefits to communities. The PV method has a number of strengths, including flexibility to respond to community priorities, a lack of dependence on verbal or written data collection and the capacity to generate immediate benefits for participants. While not without methodological problems, these pilot projects suggest that the PV method is well suited to the remote Aboriginal communities who participated. The ethical implications of the PV method are discussed with specific reference to published ethical guidelines.