Evidano is an AI-powered qualitative data analysis platform that helps researchers analyze interviews, open-ended surveys, and documents. According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) PLoS One, photovoice has been applied since January 1997 to capture community perspectives on greenspaces and health. According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) PLoS One, this scoping review protocol was received on April 29, 2026, accepted on July 16, 2026, and published on August 4, 2026.
Key Takeaways
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) PLoS One, a scoping review will map photovoice studies that connect greenspaces to community health and follow methods from January 1997 through the present. "The objective of this scoping review is to characterize the extent and nature of the available research on photovoice studies examining how greenspaces influence community health, " wrote Ejike et al. in August 2026.
- The PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) plans searches across nine bibliographic databases and two grey literature sources, as listed in the Methods section, beginning from January 1997.
- The PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) specifies that screening and extraction will be done in duplicate using Covidence, with methodological confidence assessed by JBI and GRADE tools.
- The PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) explicitly aims to compare arid versus non-arid contexts and to chart community-driven advocacy emerging from photovoice projects.
What the PLoS One protocol did and why it matters
Answer: The PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) defines a scoping review designed to catalog photovoice studies linking greenspaces and health and to identify community actions arising from those projects.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) the review will include primary photovoice studies with human participants in any setting, exclude quantitative-only work, and apply no language restrictions.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) the review chooses a scoping design because photovoice methods and reported outcomes are heterogeneous and best suited to descriptive mapping rather than effectiveness synthesis.
"Photovoice enables individuals to document and reflect on their lived environments, " wrote Ejike et al. in the Introduction to explain why participant-produced images reveal community priorities.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) the authors will use the JBI Critical Appraisal Tools for contextual quality assessment and GRADE to assess the body of evidence.
Findings snapshot
| Date / Metric | Value reported in protocol | Implication for synthesis |
|---|---|---|
| Received / Accepted / Published | Received April 29, 2026; Accepted July 16, 2026; Published August 4, 2026 | Shows recent uptake and peer-review timeline for the protocol |
| Timeframe of included studies | January 1997 to present (as of protocol publication in August 2026) | Captures the full photovoice era since Wang & Burris 1997 |
| Databases searched | Nine databases listed (e.g., PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ERIC, AMED, CINAHL, Embase, ProQuest Dissertations, Web of Science) | Enables broad cross-disciplinary retrieval |
| Grey literature sources | Google Scholar and broad Google search of first 200 hits | Intended to reduce publication bias and include community reports |
| Quality appraisal approach | JBI Critical Appraisal Tools and GRADE | Allows description of methodological rigor without excluding studies |
Implications for qualitative researchers and urban planners
Answer: The PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) signals that photovoice greenspace studies can reveal context-specific health meanings that standard surveys often miss.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) researchers should expect variation by climate: the protocol highlights a specific gap in arid-region studies and plans to compare arid versus non-arid findings.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) practitioners and planners can use synthesized photovoice evidence to support community-driven design and advocacy since the protocol explicitly aims to map advocacy and policy outcomes arising from projects.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) including grey literature and non-English studies is important for capturing LMIC perspectives and avoiding a high-income country bias.
How Evidano helps: turning photovoice collections into rigorous synthesis
Problem: Image-rich participatory data are hard to code at scale
Answer: Evidano automates ingestion and organization of mixed media so teams can code images, captions, and transcripts together.
Evidano is an AI-powered qualitative data analysis platform that helps researchers analyze interviews, open-ended surveys, and documents, and Evidano supports image and text pairing, thematic coding, and exportable codebooks to accelerate synthesis.
Problem: Duplicate screening and extraction are time consuming
Answer: Evidano reduces manual screening and supports collaborative review workflows that mirror duplicate screening procedures.
According to JBI and PRISMA best practice cited in the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026), duplicate screening and transparent reporting are key; Evidano supports exportable reports and audit trails to document inclusion decisions.
Problem: Comparing contexts (arid vs non-arid) across many small studies is tedious
Answer: Evidano provides cross-segment and frequency analyses that let teams compare themes by environment, geography, and participant subgroup.
Evidano's thematic and cross-segment analyses let researchers tabulate occurrences of themes like 'access', 'water use', or 'social cohesion' across study subgroups to follow the comparative aims laid out in the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026).
Problem: Community advocacy outcomes are dispersed across reports
Answer: Evidano's AI chat over documents and extractive summaries speed identification of reported advocacy actions and policy impacts.
Evidano can ingest grey literature and community reports, which aligns with the PLoS One protocol's (Ejike et al., 2026) inclusion of non–peer-reviewed photovoice outputs to capture advocacy pathways.
Related resources
Learn more about relevant features on the Evidano features page: Evidano features.
FAQ: photovoice greenspace studies
What is a photovoice greenspace study and how does it inform health research?
Answer: A photovoice greenspace study is a participatory qualitative project where community members take photos of green environments and engage in dialogue to interpret meanings, and the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) frames photovoice as a method for capturing lived experience.
According to Wang and Burris (1997) as cited in the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026), photovoice combines photography with critical dialogue to surface community priorities that numeric measures can miss.
Which time span and sources should a reviewer include when mapping photovoice studies?
Answer: Include studies from January 1997 onward and search both bibliographic databases and grey literature as recommended by the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026).
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) the search strategy lists nine bibliographic databases plus Google Scholar and a broad Google screen of the first 200 hits to capture grey reports.
How can teams compare arid and non-arid photovoice findings?
Answer: Compare coded themes and reported outcomes across environmental strata and use cross-segment frequency counts, an approach the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) plans to adopt.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) mapping by context (arid vs non-arid) helps show differences in vegetation, water concerns, and community priorities.
Can AI tools preserve participatory research ethics when analyzing photovoice data?
Answer: Yes, AI platforms can preserve ethics by supporting PII redaction, consent tagging, and secure access, and the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) emphasizes ethical reporting and community involvement.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) ethical considerations in photovoice include participant consent for image use and respectful dissemination; AI workflows must document consent and restrict sharing accordingly.
Conclusion & Next Steps
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) mapping photovoice greenspace studies from January 1997 through August 4, 2026 will reveal how communities describe health, access, and advocacy related to green spaces.
According to the PLoS One protocol (Ejike et al., 2026) reviewers should include grey literature and perform duplicate extraction and quality appraisal to provide transparent syntheses that inform policy and planning.
If your team collects images, captions, transcripts, or community reports and needs to scale thematic mapping and cross-context comparisons, Evidano can ingest mixed media, support collaborative coding, and produce reproducible summaries; see Evidano features for details.
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