Participatory Dissemination With Adolescent Boys in South Africa: Co-Creating a Stop-Motion Music Video

Participatory dissemination is an emerging methodological approach that engages research participants as co-creators of research communication. This paper presents a youth-led participatory dissemination process that was part of a qualitative study on adolescent boys’ mental health and masculinity in Alexandra, South Africa. Following semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, a member-checking workshop was conducted to validate interpretations and invite participants to propose dissemination strategies. Youth participants selected music and film as their preferred methods of communication and worked with a local researcher-musician and video producer to translate key research findings into a song and music video. Youth participants then co-produced a mixed-media stop-motion music video through participatory visual methods, contributing to storyboarding, illustration, animation, and direction. The creative outputs were disseminated through a youth-led community screening, generating public dialogue about mental health. Findings demonstrate that participatory dissemination can transform research findings into emotionally resonant and culturally relevant forms that extend beyond academic audiences. While partnership with professional artists improved production quality, there were missed opportunities for further skills transfer to support youth in future creative or research initiatives. This study contributes to the growing field of creative participatory methods and demonstrates the value of engaging youth as co-producers of research communication and dissemination.