Central Queensland University
Central Queensland University was awarded $200,000 in grant funding as part of the Queensland Government youth research grants to help stimulate interest in research that reflects the needs and views of young Queenslanders.
Thirty-eight young people participated in a research project focused on improving health and justice messaging for young people in Central Queensland.
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Over a two week period, CQU university ran a youth research project in regional central Queensland called No Dramas. Led by myself and a team of actors, we were guided by youth researchers to find out what information that youth actually wanted to hear about the issues that concern them regarding youth health and youth justice. And they told us exactly how they wanted to access the information which enabled us to work together with them to develop short form informational videos that would be released on TikTok and online social media.
I think the first workshop went pretty good. Everyone was engaging, giving us input into the improv scenarios we were doing.
I guess for us, I think it was good that we found that how well we work together and how well we can jell and how much we do know about what we're talking about and being vulnerable in ourselves. They let us into their world and they started letting out a lot of info that what we need to kind of represent them.
These youth participants were very clear about how they seek and respond to short form videos, mainly on TikToks. Young people mostly find that information through technology, using voice to text to search clips on TikTok and other features that are on smartphones. The number of views, likes, comments, saves and shares on these clips will actually tell us which ones are more popular and what we can look at creating in the future. They're more likely to watch a lot more of the funnier TikTok videos.
I think that was one of the best examples of like listening to what they had to say, which was when they see cops, they run. We were like, what kind of format can we put in? And they were like, oh, we play games called GTA and things like that. So we like combined them running into GTA whilst putting the educational facts in of stop. Making it funny and relatable, but still giving the info.
Over this two week period in this youth research project, I think we really were able to engage with these young people on these issues that surround and concern us. This opportunity to work together has really empowered us in this communication that is for us and by us.
Summary of Central Queensland University's research project
Wellbeing and health
No Dramas: participatory action research using applied theatre in regional Queensland to enable youth-led communication on health and justice priorities
No Dramas is a participatory action research project aimed at improving health and justice messaging for young people in Central Queensland. The project focused on developing communication processes and information sources that align with young people's needs and priorities. It explored the complex experiences, needs, and priorities of Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people in the region.
The project identified social media as an under-utilised resource for the delivery of health and justice information to young people, particularly short-form videos on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. No Dramas adopted a participatory action research methodology that supported stakeholders—young people and the organisations and individuals that support them—to engage on equal footing with the research. The project's primary outputs are informational videos on substance abuse, police interactions, and bullying, designed to communicate empowering health and justice information to young people.