Date: Thursday, August 28, 2025
We’re Anna Davidson Abella (Chair of the AEA BH TIG) and Linda Callejas, both Applied Anthropologists and faculty in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Much of our work involves evaluation of behavioral health initiatives using qualitative methods, and we’ve collaborated on several projects assessing child welfare interventions and other behavioral health programs.
One method we’ve found useful is the use of voice memos, which are brief, digitally recorded reflections on a particular topic, process, or event. Building on the use of participant diaries in anthropology and related disciplines, voice memos are gaining traction as a qualitative method for “assessing sense-making in periods of change and flux, and allowing the researcher to capture phenomena as they unfold” (Crozier & Cassell, 2016, p. 396; Monrouxe, 2009).
We’ve found voice memos especially useful in evaluating behavioral health programs and services from worker perspectives. For instance, we have each implemented this method with peer specialists in child welfare settings to understand the unique perspectives of these staff who work closely with families and help advocate for them. In both of our studies, peer specialists recorded voice memos for over one year, describing their interactions with families and their efforts to support them through their services. They recorded them on a weekly basis, and they typically lasted between 1-5 minutes. In one study they received simple prompts and in the other they were asked to provide more open reflections about their work with families.
Benefits of Voice Memos:
Limitations to Consider:
In both of our studies, we happened to be implementing the voice memos during the COVID-19 pandemic, so we were able to gain rich data on how workers and families in the child welfare system were affected by the many changes to services that occurred during that time. We also learned valuable information about the types of support and advocacy peer specialists provided, which greatly benefitted families but also highlighted the “emotional load” associated with their work. While voice memos provide evaluators with rich ethnographic data and an opportunity for peer specialists to reflect on their work with families, they may also identify opportunities for greater support from program leaders to lessen the emotional load of such work.
For more on methodological considerations and use of voice memos in longitudinal studies, see Crozier & Cassell (2016) and Monrouxe (2009).
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