Integrating principles of inclusivity into research with minoritised young people

Insights from co-designed and peer-facilitated focus groups

Abstract

Our paper discusses possibilities to enhance inclusivity and to apply principles of participatory approaches within contexts that pose limits to their full application. We specifically discuss the value of enhancing inclusivity in research with minoritised young people on sensitive topics, where the need to avoid objectifying and pathologising the participants is of paramount importance. We demonstrate this with a case example drawn from a broader project focused on developing interventions into youth mental health in Finland. To show how we drew on participatory principles in the project, we track a process of co-developing and implementing a peer-facilitated focus group methodology with LGBTIQA+ young people. We employ the notion of multidirectional mentoring to describe our efforts to arrive at less hierarchical interactions within the co-development process among our diverse research team. This is followed by a description of how the focus group methodology was implemented. Finally, we reflect on the capacity of this methodology to avoid objectification, to create empowering experiences for the participants, and to yield multivocal data. We also discuss the limits to participation in research among minoritised youth on sensitive issues.