Good morning. I am the director of a program called PASOs, which works to increase perinatal health awareness and access to care among Latino communities in South Carolina. I facilitate a prenatal class in Spanish for Latinas that covers a large variety of topics related to perinatal, women's and child health and I began using photonovels as part of my curriculum about a year and a half ago. The demographics of the women in the classes vary, but many of them are newer immigrants, speak more Spanish than English, and over 50% have a 6th grade education or less. When using the photonovel, I ask women (and/or men) in the class to take on the roles of the characters, and they seem to enjoy doing so. After each page, we stop and discuss the contents, which invariably leads to a tangential discussion around a related topic. The women have expressed to me that they like the photonovels because they can see themselves in the situations described, because the characters "look like them and talk like them" and because they're fun. I appreciate the photonovel format because it allows the women to really teach themselves, without too much involvement from the facilitator. 

Julie Smithwick-Leone, LMSW
Program Director- PASOs Program
South Carolina Public Health Institute
2221 Devine Street, Suite 216 
Columbia, SC 29208
(803) 777-5466 office
(803) 312-1723 cell