Meaningfully Engaging Homeless Youth in Research

Abstract

Meaningfully engaging young people in decisions that affect them benefits not only those youth but also the adults and agencies that support them, as well as the wider community. Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is an approach to facilitate youth engagement in research which has been increasingly implemented to enable young people to collaborate and influence decisions in areas where their voices are commonly excluded. This chapter offers examples of youth engagement projects and YPAR initiatives with vulnerable youth. It then focuses on an effective approach to engaging homeless youth in research, includes a discussion of the challenges and benefits of doing so, and offers some lessons learned for future projects wishing to engage homeless young people in the participatory action research process.