How Can Children Tell Us About Their Wellbeing

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HowCanChildrenTellUsAboutTheirWellbeing?ExploringthePotentialofParticipatoryResearchApproacheswithinYoungLives

GinaCrivelloÆLauraCamfieldÆMartinWoodhead

Accepted:13August2008/Publishedonline:16September2008ÓSpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2008

Abstract‘Wellbeing’isakeyconceptinthestudyofchildren’slivesovertime,givenitspotentialtolinktheobjective,subjective,andinter-subjectivedimensionsoftheirexperi-encesinwaysthatareholistic,contextualizedandlongitudinal.ForthisreasonwellbeingisoneofthecoreconceptsusedbyYoungLives,a15-yearproject(2000–2015)thatfollowsthelivesof12,000childrengrowingupinthecontextofpovertyinEthiopia,Peru,VietnamandAndhraPradesh(India)(seehttp://www.younglives.org.uk).ThispaperexaminesaselectionofmethodsbeingusedbyYoungLivestocaptureaspectsofchildwellbeinginthecontextofarangeofchildren’slifeexperiencesrelatedtopoverty,specificrisksandprotectiveprocesses.Itdrawsonareviewoftheliteratureonchild-focusedmethodsandonrecentexperiencespilotingthreecorequalitativemethodsinthefourstudycountries.Thepaperreportsthedevelopmentofamethodologythatischild-centred,butalsoacknowl-edgesthateverychildisembeddedwithinanetworkofsocialandeconomicrelationships.

KeywordsChildrenÁYouthÁWellbeingÁQualitativemethodsÁParticipatoryapproachÁYounglives

1IntroductionThispaperexploresstepstakenwithinYoungLivestodevelopaqualitativechild-focusedandparticipatoryresearchmethodologytocapturelocalunderstandingsofchildpoverty,asexperiencedbychildren,theircaregiversandcommunitiesinthestudycountries.Tothisaim,weprovideareviewofparticipatorychild-focusedresearchapproachesandprovidecriticalreflectionsfromourteams’recentexperiencesimplementingaselectionofmethods

G.Crivello(&)ÁL.CamfieldYoungLives,DepartmentofInternationalDevelopment,UniversityofOxford,QueenElizabethHouse,3MansfieldRoad,OX13TBOxford,UKe-mail:gina.crivello@qeh.ox.ac.uk

M.WoodheadChildandYouthStudiesGroup,TheOpenUniversity,MiltonKeynesMK76AA,UK

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SocIndicRes(2009)90:51–72DOI10.1007/s11205-008-9312-xtoresearchaspectsofchildwellbeing.‘Wellbeing’and‘transitions’arethemainthemesofYoungLivesqualitativeresearch,exploredthroughthefollowingresearchquestions:

Whatdochildrenandtheircarersincontextsofpovertyunderstandbychild‘wellbeing’andhowdotheirviewscompareandchangeovertime?Whatarethekeymomentsandmarkersofchangeduringchildhood(i.e.childhoodtransitions),andhowaretheyexperiencedbychildrenincontextsofpoverty?

Placingchildren’swellbeingatthecoreofqualitativeresearchmovesbeyondtraditionalpovertyresearchagendas,offeringafocusforinterdisciplinaryenquirycentredonchil-dren’s(andcaregivers’)experiences,perspectivesandaspirations.Capturingchildren’s‘standpoints’1incontextsofpovertyisalsorespectfuloftheirdiversitiesandtheir

capacitiestothink,feel,andaspirebeyond‘survival’(Ben-Arieh2005).Thisisnottounderestimatethedifficultieschildrenface,butinsteadpromotesaholisticviewoftheirexperiencesofbothwellbeingandadversitythatcouldbeusedtoinformmoreeffectiveandintegratedinterventions.Whilechildhoodismarkedbydiversity,children’slivesanddevelopmentdosharesomecommonfeatures,notablythattheysharealargelymar-ginalisedstructuralpositioninrelationtoadults,althoughthisgeneralisationbreaksdownatanindividuallevel(Alanen2001;AldersonandGoodey1996;Boyden2006;BoydenandEnnew1997;James2007;JonesandSumner2007;Harperetal.2003;Mayall1994,2002;Punch2002b;WoodheadandFaulkner2008).Childrenareoftenthemostaffectedbyadversecircumstancesbecauseoftheirrelativeimmaturityandtheirlackofsocialpower(BoydenandMann2005,p.3).Theyhavefrequentlybeenamongsttheleastvisiblegroupsinsocialresearch.Child-focusedresearchpositionschildrenatthecentrearoundwhichkeyresearchquestions,descriptions,interpretationsandanalysesaremade.Involvingchildrenatdifferentpointsinthisprocessaffirmschildrenascompetentsocialactors,the‘expertsintheirownlives’,andthereforevalidsourcesofdata(Langsted1994).Thisinvolvesrecognisingtheiragencyandvulnerabilities,aswellastheirpotentialforresilienceinthefaceofadversity(BoydenandMann2005;Schoon2006;Ungar2005).YoungLivesisamajorinternationalprojectonchildpoverty(2000–2015)fundedbytheUKDepartmentforInternationalDevelopment(DFID)tofollowthelivesof12,000childrengrowingupincontextsofpovertyinEthiopia,AndhraPradesh(India),PeruandVietnam.Itseekstoimproveourunderstandingofthecauses,dynamicsandconsequencesofchildpoverty,andhowspecificpoliciesaffectchildren’swellbeing.YoungLiveswasinitiatedasa‘millenniumstudy’andrecruited8,000childrenbornattheturnofthemillennium(2000/2001),alongwith4,000childrenwhowere8-yearsoldatthetime(born1994).Togethertheycomprisethetwostudy‘cohorts’who,alongwiththeircaregivers,areparticipatingeveryfewyearsinadata-gatheringsurveythatcollectsinformationondiverseaspectsoftheirlivesandlivelihoods.Thefirstsurveyroundtookplacein2002andprovidedessentialbaselineinformationaboutYoungLiveschildren,theirhouseholdsandtheircommunities.Separatesurveyinstrumentsareadministeredtooldercohortchildren,theircaregiversandcommunitymembers.Thecompletionofthesecondroundofdatacollectionin2006–2007andsubsequentroundsscheduledeveryfewyearsthroughto2015willtrackchangesinchildren’scircumstancesandenablelongitudinalanalyses.Thequalitativecomponenthasonlyrecentlybeenintroduced(2007)andwasdesignedtobeanintegratedsub-study,usingqualitativeresearchmethodstoexploreingreater