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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Carla E. Stokes, PhD, MPH, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, PO Box 312114, Atlanta, GA 31131, 404-639-1901, carla_stokes@yahoo.com

In recent years, adolescents from diverse backgrounds have developed creative ways to utilize home pages, blogs, and online communities to participate in youth culture, explore sexuality and relationships, and navigate developmental tasks. The increasing popularity of new media technology among adolescents presents a window of opportunity for conducting qualitative public health research. Although public health researchers are increasingly utilizing the Internet to provide health information, administer health-related interventions, and collect epidemiological data, there is considerable debate among scholars and Institutional Review Boards regarding ethical and legal guidelines for online research with minors. Adolescent health researchers conducting qualitative research online face complicated methodological, ethical, and legal dilemmas pertaining to the role of the researcher, informed consent, parental consent, privacy, confidentiality, validity, electronic data security, intellectual property, and disclosure of illegal, distressing, or health-compromising information. Moreover, researchers may violate adolescent cyberculture norms as well as the privacy and human rights of participants through the implementation and dissemination of online research by unintentionally disclosing the identity of participants, exposing youth to harassment and unwanted adult surveillance, and infringing on intellectual property rights. This presentation will provide an overview of adolescent cyberculture, highlight lessons learned from the author's qualitative study of sexuality, hip hop, and self-definition in 216 home pages constructed by black adolescent girls in an online community (“NevaEvaLand”), and review interrelated methodological, ethical, and legal considerations described in related studies.

Learning Objectives: