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Information booklet for children participating in the food, brands and healthy eating study. © Orla O Boyle, Reuse not permitted.
Source publication
Formal consent for children’s research participation legally resides with adults, and guidelines typically recommend consulting children about their participation only from 7 years of age. How can researchers support younger children’s informed decision-making about their research participation, particularly in larger-scale studies without extended...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... height and weight were measured. First, however, these activities were all described in a 12-page A5 size information booklet (Figure 4) which formed part of the information pack. We asked preschool managers, school principals, or individual class teachers to read these with the children to prepare them for our arrival. ...
Citations
... En la actualidad, la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos del Niño 12,13 es el principal instrumento que reconocer a NNA como sujeto de derecho, al considerarlos titular de derechos y habilitados para el ejercicio personal de dichos derechos, respetando el interés superior de la persona menor de 18 años. En base a lo anterior, el asentimiento sería el proceso en el cual se reconocería su autonomía progresiva en la toma de decisiones concerniente a su persona [14][15][16] . ...
... Respecto al formulario de asentimiento, se requiere de un formato, contexto y contenido de aplicación que sea claro y pertinente al participante. Como se planteó en los resultados, el uso de tecnologías innovadoras para la construcción de los formularios facilitaría el proceso de toma de decisión 15 . Weislede et al. 42 destacan que la combinación de medios visuales y audio multimedia mejoraran la comprensión de la información. ...
... Los contenidos del formulario deben señalar claramente la naturaleza de la intervención y sus implicancias, destacando no solo los riesgos referentes al daño físico secundario a dispositivos de investigación experimental, procedimientos o medicaciones, sino también, a aspectos psicosociales como angustia, coerción del entorno y pérdida de confianza 43 , pudiendo verse afectadas por las limitaciones educativas o barreras de idioma del NNA 45,53 . En cuanto al contexto, debe ser a través de una interacción individual entre el NNA e investigador, considerando el momento apropiado, donde se muestre amabilidad y respeto por el participante, relevando el desarrollo de un ambiente de confianza 15 , aunque esto signifique alterar la planificación y tiempos en el desarrollo del estudio. ...
Objetivo:
Analizar críticamente los factores involucrados en el proceso de asentimiento/consentimiento en niños(as) y adolescentes en la investigación.
Metodología:
Revisión integrativa de evidencia científica realizada entre abril a junio del 2023, de manuscritos publicados entre los años 2014 y 2023 en bases de datos Web of Science, PubMed, CUIDEN y CINAHL, usando los descriptores Process Assessment OR Assent AND Informed Consent AND Bioethics AND Minors OR Child OR Children AND Adolescent OR Teenage AND Pediatrics AND Research. Se encontraron 20 artículos primarios, cuyos resultados fueron sometidos a un análisis de contenido.
Resultado:
Se identificaron tres categorías: Consentimiento/asentimiento compartido; Factores propios del niño, niña y adolescente para dar asentimiento (edad del niño, niña y adolescente para dar asentimiento y autonomía del niño, niña y adolescente para dar el asentimiento) y Aspectos claves del proceso de asentimiento (Formato del formulario del asentimiento, Contenido de formulario de asentimiento y Contexto para aplicar el proceso de asentimiento).
Conclusiones:
El proceso de asentimiento es una herramienta clave para el cumplimiento legal y ético de los derechos de niños y adolescentes en la participación de estudios clínicos. Además de favorecer la participación en la toma de decisiones informada en conjunto con los padres, también, es una instancia donde se valoran sus competencias, capacidad de comprensión y autonomía del participante.
... In practice, this involved researchers sending an easy-read outline of the study in advance, with text and pictures, and names and pictures of the research team members, which parents/carers and children could review together. This offered an accessible and effective way to support study understanding (O'Farrelly & Tatlow-Golden, 2022), and helped to reduce any uncertainty and anxiety that child participants may experience in an unfamiliar situation. The same information was reviewed again with children in the first meeting through a short explanation of the project aims and scope, using accessible language, and with opportunities to ask questions (Jackson-Hollis, 2019). ...
... Obtaining fully informed assent is challenging when working with children, given the pervasive sociocultural context (Bourke & Loveridge, 2014). Sessions took place in school, where participants were used to conforming to instructions and may be primed to seek to please adults (Kirby, 2020;O'Farrelly & Tatlow-Golden, 2022). The challenges of obtaining informed assent were mitigated by maintaining an ongoing awareness of participant behaviour and engagement in the research. ...
The use of creative qualitative research methods in psychology and other disciplines has increased over recent decades to address power imbalances within research and to centre the voices of participants. These considerations are particularly salient when conducting research with historically marginalized groups, including neurodivergent people. However, research foregrounding the first-person perspectives of neurodivergent children is still limited. In this paper, we discuss the application of creative qualitative research methods when conducting research with neurodivergent children with a range of communication and wider skill profiles. The benefits and challenges of each method are considered, drawing on examples from the first phase of an ongoing longitudinal study. Additional considerations for working ethically and respectfully with neurodivergent children are discussed. Readers are encouraged to consider how best to adapt their research protocols when working with neurodivergent children, in order to minimize research hierarchies, build positive relationships, and produce rich and meaningful data. K E Y W O R D S autism, children, creative methods, neurodiversity, qualitative research
This book provides a fresh perspective on recent debates around integrating STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education in early childhood.
The book offers inspiration and practical advice for educators and researchers. It suggests concrete ways to engage young children in STEAM learning activities and promote their development. With contributions from international experts, the book discusses how to develop age-appropriate STEAM learning activities for young children. Divided into four parts, the book covers a wide range of topics, including the perceptions and practices of STEAM education among early childhood teachers in different countries, the use of new pedagogies and technologies to promote equitable and accessible STEAM education, the role of teacher education and policy in reducing inequality in STEAM education, and how early STEAM education can promote social change and achieve sustainable development goals. The book highlights the importance of STEAM education in providing young children with the necessary skills to create a more sustainable and equitable world. Overall, this book provides an important contribution to help critique and improve how early childhood educators view and practice STEAM education across cultures. It proposes ideas for achieving sustainable development goals through high-quality early STEAM education.
The book appeals to early childhood educators and researchers, as it draws on cross-cultural viewpoints to critically examine how teachers understand and implement STEAM education across different cultures along with exploring how cultural values and goals shape early STEAM education.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes the importance of allowing children and adolescents to influence decisions that are important to them following their age and maturity. This paper explores the principles, practices, and implications around using parental versus child/adolescent consent when participating in social science research and policy development. Experiences from two studies are presented: The Confronting Obesity: Co‐creating policy with youth (CO‐CREATE) and the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children (HBSC) study, a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborative Cross‐National study . Although parental consent may be an important gatekeeper for protecting children and adolescents from potentially harmful research participation, it may also be considered an obstacle to the empowerment of children and adolescents in case they want to share their views and experiences directly. This paper argues that evaluation of possible harm should be left to ethics committees and that, if no harm related to the research participation processes is identified and the project has a clear perspective on collaborating with the target group, adolescents from the age of 12 years should be granted the legal capacity to give consent to participate in the research project. Collaboration with adolescents in the development of the research project is encouraged.
Children’s right to be heard is an issue raised in recent years in the Global North, which has also been acknowledged by Chinese researchers currently studying child development and education. However, Chinese researchers still often prefer the perspectives of adults in their research on young children, citing a lack of suitable methodologogy for collecting and interpreting young children’s voices. This article recognises the significance of including young children’s perspectives in research. It discusses how Western methodologies for listening to their perspectives, such as the Mosaic approach, can be adapted for use in Chinese socio-cultural contexts. By reflecting on the first author’s research on the lived experience of leftbehind young children in a Chinese rural area, the article explores the development and implementation of such a methodology. The research findings indicate that the Mosaic approach, alongside phenomenological interviews and other research tools, provided an effective approach that enabled achievement of the research aims. Flexibility and reciprocity in relationships were two key contributors to effectiveness of this approach to research in a Chinese context.
Das Verhältnis zwischen Forschenden und Beforschten ist wichtiger Gegenstand
forschungsethischer Diskussionen. Dies gilt auch in der Kindheitsforschung. Außen
vor bleiben indessen oftmals weitere involvierte Akteur/-innen wie beispielsweise
Sorgeberechtigte, die gleichzeitig als Gatekeeper/-innen eine zentrale Rolle für
den Forschungsprozess spielen. Der vorliegende Artikel soll als Diskussionsbeitrag
verstanden werden, indem entlang eines ethnographisch ausgerichteten Forschungsvorhabens die komplexe Gemengelage der teils konfligierenden Interessen unterschiedlich involvierter Akteur/-innen aufgezeigt wird. Dabei wird zum einen sichtbar, wie dies zum forschungsethischen Dilemma für Forschende werden kann: Wer ist wem wie (mehr) verpflichtet? Zum anderen zeigt sich, wie stark Kinder im Forschungsprozess von generationalen Bedingungen abhängig sind, auch wenn sie als Akteur/-innen konzipiert werden.
