Abstract
![CDATA[Despite the increasing body of research on children’s perspectives on well-being, few studies have included children with disability (1). This lacuna in child well-being literature has significant theoretical, methodological and policy implications. The importance of understanding what well-being means for children with disability can be underlined by certain factors in the contemporary social contexts of the lives of these children. Firstly, as a result of improved health care, more children are now surviving severe and chronic conditions, which in the past may have led to premature death (2). Secondly, the increasing delivery of services and education specific to children with disability embed experiences of well-being within complex social ecosystems (3). Many children live with health professionals as regular persons in their lives, while others never experience mainstream education or are socially isolated (4). While some children may prosper and manage these challenges, for others achieving a reasonable quality of life with disability can be difficult and problematic (2). There is a need to better understand these differences, and the immediate and longer-term limitations for children living with disability, in terms of ‘usual’ activities and experiences of childhood, associated with child well-being. Children with disability are often not included in child population research because of perceptions that they are different from children generally, and/or are incapable of contributing their views (1). Involving children with cognitive and communication difficulties can present methodological challenges for researchers, because multiple methods may be needed to enable participation and engagement (5). This paper presents the methodological approach to including 17 children with intellectual disability, aged 12–15 years, in qualitative child well-being research. This project was located in Australia and formed part of a multinational study on children’s understandings of wellbeing. Methods included participant observations, group and/or individual interviews, and task-oriented craft activities. We describe how we adjusted research activities, processes and communication strategies to suit the abilities and preferences of individual children. We discuss enablers for engagement and how we managed the challenges encountered in implementing this research approach at a school for children with disability. The paper concludes with a summary of lessons learned and next steps for this research.]]
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Book of Abstracts: Second International Scientific Conference on Child Maltreatment and Well-being (CMW 2019): Challenges across Borders, Research and Practices, Berlin, Germany, 21-22 March 2019 |
Publisher | Freie Universität Berlin |
Pages | 28-28 |
Number of pages | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Event | International Conference on Child Maltreatment and Well-being - Duration: 1 Jan 2019 → … |
Conference
Conference | International Conference on Child Maltreatment and Well-being |
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Period | 1/01/19 → … |
Keywords
- child welfare
- research
- children with mental disabilities