“Young Women My Age Really Need Boosts Like This”: Exploring Improv as a Facilitator of Wellness Among Young Women of Color

This project qualitatively examined the potential of scenic improvisation (“improv”) for engaging young women of color as a possible means of promoting and enhancing health and wellness outcomes in this often-overlooked population. Seven young women of color (ages 15–18), accessing virtual after-school programming, participated in a three-session professionally facilitated improv workshop series. Participants provided insights through in-depth pre- and postproject qualitative interviews about their experiences. Participants indicated that improv boosted their self-esteem and strengthened their social connections. Participants were enthusiastic about accessing further improv opportunities, noting that improv should be embedded into other youth-serving programs and health-promotion efforts, as such approaches were deemed as particularly needed among young women of color. Inclusion of improv activities in intervention and prevention efforts would benefit from additional exploration as ways by which health and wellness programs and supports might be innovated and tailored to the specific needs and preferences of young women of color.