Exploring children's perspectives of well-being and safety

Abstract

The concepts of well-being and safety are grounded in social policy and political frameworks influencing how children experience and ascribe meaning in their lives. Contemporary knowledge in the field of children's well-being and safety largely extends from an adult-centric perspective. From this stance, emphasis focuses on understanding children's well-being and safety from developmental outcomes. More recent research however identifies well-being and safety by the lived experiences and feelings expressed directly by children. Although these studies have highlighted the importance of safety to a child's overall sense of well-being, children's direct perspectives of their well-being and safety in Australia have rarely been explored. Through qualitative methodology this study focused on understanding children's perspectives of safety in the wider context of their own well-being. Participants included 42 children aged 6 to 17 years who lived in a region south west of Sydney's central business district in New South Wales, Australia. Child focused participatory methods included creative art activities, photography, sandplay, focus groups and individual interviews. Reflective field notes were scribed following each fieldwork session in addition to research-peer debriefing sessions. Focus groups and individual interviews were transcribed assisting thematic analysis of the data. Through individual, peer-topeer and participant-to-researcher interactions, children co-constructed the meaning of well-being and safety through dialogue and creative mediums. Key themes emerging from narratives shared by children included Agency, Relatedness and Innate Needs in describing what well-being and safety means for them. Children described their understanding of well-being and safety and moreover the above identified key themes, as interwoven concepts which were often experienced together. Through this understanding, children shared importance that well-being and safety are experienced as co-existing concepts which influence each other. This study provided an opportunity for children to collaboratively share their thoughts and discuss ideas of these concepts among peers, contributing to a child focused co-construction of conceptual development. In presenting findings from this study, I aim to position children's views centrally in the reconstruction and reconsideration of social policy and political frameworks that affect the lives of children.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English