Intergenerational photovoice projects: optimizing this mechanism for influencing health promotion policies and strengthening relationships.

Intergenerational photovoice groups are promising for promoting health through the topic that is explored and through group dynamics that can foster healthy relationships and communication. To investigate the potential benefits of intergenerational photovoice projects, photovoice groups were conducted in urban Minnesota, United States, and in rural Morelos, Mexico, between 2009 and 2012 with Mexican-origin adults and their adolescent relatives. Seven photovoice groups of adult-adolescent dyads met for eight sessions and developed exhibits highlighting their views on health and migration and made policy recommendations, using messages conveyed through their words and photographs. Informal process evaluation and focus groups were used to elicit feedback about photovoice project participation. Photovoice project themes were descriptively analyzed. Focus group evaluation data were thematically summarized, and facilitator reflections were descriptively summarized to identify factors associated with intergenerational photovoice groups. Seventy-five participants were recruited. Photovoice themes represented effects of migration on health, family, and well-being. The following two evaluative themes were identified: (a) participant sentiments about the benefits of photovoice participation and (b) facilitator observations of intergenerational photovoice group benefits and challenges. Participants described opportunities to learn new things and barriers to healthy relationships that the project was eliminating by providing them with time to work together. Used in health promotion, photovoice is a valuable tool that contributes to understanding the complex underlying factors influencing behaviors and health.

Paternal absence and international migration: stressors and compensators associated with the mental health of Mexican teenagers of rural origin.

Mexico-U.S. migration creates situations that may cause psychological distress. The purpose of this research project was to study the impact of father's physical absence due to international migration (FPAIM) on adolescent offspring of rural immigrants from Zacatecas, Mexico. Stressors and compensators were studied from the adolescent's perspective and were analyzed using a stress-mediator-consequences theoretical framework. Qualitative (n = 24) and quantitative (n = 310) methodologies were used with a nonrandom sample of adolescents. Results show that the FPAIM is an ambivalent experience for adolescents that has positive and negative elements. Though migrants' children seem to be more vulnerable to psychosocial stress than are the offspring of nonmigrants, gender, not father's absence, appears to be the most important risk factor for psychological distress.

Consideraciones éticas en intervenciones comunitarias: la pertinencia del consentimiento informado / Ethical considerations in community interventions: the pertinence of informed consent

Ethics, understood as the study of moral norms in terms of its assumptions, origins, and changes over time, systematizes similarities and differences between various moral codes. It therefore serves as a meeting point between different perspectives, through dialogue, a fundamental characteristic of this discipline. One of its derivations, as applied ethics, is bioethics, defined by Van Rensselaer Potter as "New knowledge that provides knowledge on how to use knowledge for the good of society". Although bioethics emerged in the 1970s under the imperative of medical discourse, its development as a discipline reflecting human behavior surrounding health has permitted the combination of various types of knowledge, including the contribution of social sciences in this field. Thus bioethics deals with the dilemmas that may arise in social studies on health (such as addictions, violence and migrations). The aims of this manuscript are to systematize and explain some of the implications of the pertinence and adaptation of informed consent (IC) in a bi-national Mexico-United States study on mental health and migration. It also provides elements of analysis for the detection of ethical dilemmas in these community interventions in mental health in Mexico. It therefore attempts to answer the following questions: Within the context of bi-national research, how does one deal with the principle of autonomy and the notion of "voluntariness" included in the requirement of informed consent, in public mental health interventions in Mexican rural communities? Is it possible to respect the way participants in the host country make decisions while at the same time, meeting the demands of the ethics committee of the sponsor country? In order to arrive at the elements of analysis, the authors briefly explain the conceptualization of the terms ethics and bioethics, and explore some of the postulates put forward in both North American (principalism and casuism) ...

A pesar de que la bioética surge en la década de 1970, bajo el imperativo del discurso biomédico, su desarrollo como disciplina que reflexiona sobre el comportamiento humano en torno a la salud ha permitido la reunión de varios saberes, entre ellos, la aportación de las ciencias sociales en dicho campo. De esta forma, la bioética se ocupa de los dilemas que pueden presentarse en los estudios sociales sobre salud (adicciones, violencia, migraciones), incluso en aquellos que, por cuestiones de interés común, son de tipo binacional o multicéntrico. Los objetivos de este artículo son sistematizar y exponer algunas implicaciones de la pertinencia y adecuación del consentimiento informado (CI) en un estudio binacional México-Estados Unidos sobre salud mental y migración. Además, se aportan elementos de análisis para la detección de dilemas éticos en estas intervenciones comunitarias en salud mental en México. De esta forma, se intenta responder a las siguientes preguntas: En el contexto de una investigación binacional, ¿cómo encarar el principio de autonomía y la noción de "voluntariedad", insertos en el requerimiento de un consentimiento informado, en intervenciones de salud mental pública en comunidades rurales mexicanas? ¿Es posible respetar la manera en que los participantes del país anfitrión toman decisiones y cubrir, al mismo tiempo, las exigencias del comité de ética del país patrocinador? Para allegarse los elementos de análisis, se expone someramente la conceptualización de los vocablos ética y bioética, y se abordan algunos postulados planteados tanto de la bioética norteamericana como de la europea, además de aproximarnos a otras posturas bioéticas. Por otro lado, se revisan los principales aportes de los diversos códigos, declaraciones e informes internacionales, incluidas las recomendaciones de la Comisión Nacional de Bioética de México, que norman el proceso del consentimiento informado (CI) en investigación social. El CI es un "proceso social que, a través de un intercambio activo y respetuoso, brinda información sobre la investigación en forma comprensible para el sujeto, permite cerciorarse de que la entienda y tenga opción de preguntar y recibir respuestas a sus dudas, brinde oportunidad para negarse a participar o manifestar voluntad de colaborar y pueda expresarla oralmente o firmar un formulario, sin haber sido sometido a coerción, intimidación ni a influencias o incentivos indebidos". En este sentido, el proceso de consentimiento informado (PCI) protege la libertad de elección del individuo y el respeto de su autonomía. Por ello, también se debe considerar el contexto de desarrollo de grupos culturales diversos al del investigador, sus tradiciones en cuanto a comunicación y decisión, y se deben respetar estos procedimientos. En la investigación social, como en ninguna otra, la puesta en práctica de la normatividad del PCI es muy variada, debido a que se trabaja con sectores dispuestos a participar (prostitutas, usuarios de drogas, primo-delincuentes, etc.) a condición de no firmar ningún consentimiento escrito, lo que otorga prioridad a la calidad de la relación establecida y no sólo al formato. Este documento expone la reflexión sobre algunos dilemas éticos que se presentaron durante una investigación social cuyo objetivo fue identificar los malestares emocionales asociados a la migración internacional México-EUA y la utilización de servicios de salud mental. Específicamente, el análisis ético se centra en la información recabada en el trabajo de campo por medio de la técnica observación participante, en una comunidad rural en el estado de Michoacán.