‘Nothing about us without us’: researching sexual and reproductive health with priority populations

Judith A. Dean, Olivia Hollingdrake, James A. Fowler and Sarah Warzywoda

Chapter 20 in Handbook of Sensitive Research in the Social Sciences, 2025, pp 281-299 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, we discuss conducting a qualitative exploration of sexual and reproductive health-related topics with priority populations, highlighting the benefits of doing this using community-led and/or based participatory approaches. Sexual and reproductive health research is often referred to as sensitive research because it involves the exploration of people's ‘lived experience’ and topics that may be personal, emotionally charged or compromising. Qualitative methodologies can be used to gather nuanced information safely and effectively about people's attitudes, perceptions, experiences and actions related to sexual behaviours and wider sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing from the perspective and context of participants’ own experiences. But to do so, we argue in this chapter that individuals and communities with ‘lived experience’ of the topic or phenomenon being explored in our research need to be leading or, at a minimum, meaningfully involved throughout the research process—Nothing about us without us’.

Keywords: Sexual and reproductive health; Priority populations; Community-based participatory research; Researcher reflexivity and positionality; Insider-outsider status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035315222
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