An introduction to concept mapping as a participatory public health research method.

In this article, the authors introduce concept mapping as a useful participatory research method for public health researchers interested in generating hypotheses and developing theory. The authors first provide an overview of concept mapping, which combines qualitative approaches with quantitative analytical tools to produce visual displays of the relationship between ideas. Then, they present an illustrative research application of the method to the exploration of women's perceptions of the relationship between residential neighborhood factors and intimate partner violence experiences. They give attention to the data collection and analysis procedures and to demonstrating the intricacies of using concept mapping for public health research purposes. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of the unique contributions and challenges associated with concept mapping.

Neighborhood influences and intimate partner violence: does geographic setting matter?

Intimate partner violence is one health-related outcome that has received growing attention from those interested in the role of neighborhood context. A limitation of existing contextual health research is its' failure to look beyond urban settings. Because suburban and rural areas have received so little attention, it is not clear whether data generated from urban samples can be generalized to non-urban geographic settings. We began to explore this issue using concept mapping, a participatory, mixed method approach. Data from 37 urban and 24 suburban women are used to explore and compare perceptions of neighborhood characteristics related to intimate partner violence. While several similarities exist between the perceptions of participants residing in urban and suburban areas, some differences were uncovered. These results provide valuable information regarding the perceived relationship between neighborhood context and intimate partner violence and suggest future avenues for research interested in examining the role of geographic setting.