Ethical Use and Impact of Participatory Approaches to Research in Post-Disaster Environments: An Australian Bushfire Case Study
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Date
2018-06-11
Authors
Gibbs, Lisa
Block, Karen
MacDougall, Colin James
Harms, Louise
Baker, Elyse
Richardson, John
Ireton, Greg
Gallagher, H Colin
Bryant, Richard
Lusher, Dean
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Hindawi
Rights
Copyright © 2018 L. Gibbs et al.
Rights Holder
L. Gibbs et al.
Abstract
This paper presents a case study of Beyond Bushfires, a large, multisite, mixed method study of the psychosocial impacts of major bushfires in Victoria, Australia. A participatory approach was employed throughout the study which was led by a team of academic investigators in partnership with service providers and government representatives and used on-site visits and multiple methods of communication with communities across the state to inform decision-making throughout the study. The ethics and impacts of conducting and adapting the approach within a post-disaster context will be discussed in reference to theories and models of participatory health research. The challenges of balancing local interests with state-wide implications will also be explored in the description of the methods of engagement and the study processes and outcomes. Beyond Bushfires demonstrates the feasibility of incorporating participatory methods in large, post-disaster research studies and achieving rigorous findings and multilevel impacts, while recognising the potential for some of the empowering aspects of the participatory experience to be reduced by the scaled-up approach.
Description
Copyright © 2018 L. Gibbs et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords
Survey methods, Ethics, Post-disaster environments, Psychosocial impacts, Participatory health research
Citation
L. Gibbs, K. Block, C. MacDougall, et al., “Ethical Use and Impact of Participatory Approaches to Research in Post-Disaster Environments: An Australian Bushfire Case Study,” BioMed Research International, vol. 2018, Article ID 5621609, 11 pages, 2018. doi:10.1155/2018/5621609