Researchers at Te Kura Tapuhi / The School of Nursing have been delving into the ethics of involving children in research, focusing on their rights to participate, issues around assent and consent, and how to activate children’s perspectives. Their work aims to ensure that children’s rights and needs are considered in research. The researchers emphasize the importance of ethically and effectively working with children to foreground their voices and produce robust evidence for child-friendly policies and practice. This involves balancing children’s rights to genuine participation with their rights to protection, requiring methodological flexibility and a collaborative ethical approach. Some examples are provided below:
Conducting Research with Children, Ethically and Effectively, to Inform Public Policy
In this book chapter co-authored by Professor Melody Smith, the authors reflect on a decade of urban-related research with children, highlighting the significance of relationship-building, supportive adults, and respectful, age-appropriate methods. These factors are crucial for ethically amplifying children’s voices and collecting robust data.
Perspectives of adult offspring of participants recruited to a randomised trial in pregnancy: a qualitative study
In this article co-authored by Dr Kim Ward, the research team explored young adults’ perspectives on their participation in a medical trial during childhood. The study found that participants were generally comfortable with parental consent for medical research, though autonomous child assent was challenging due to children’s susceptibility to suggestions. The outcomes assessed in the trial aligned well with the young adults’ interests, including health and developmental outcomes.
Conceptualization of Co-Creation, Co-Design and Co-Production with Children for Health-Promoting Physical Environments: A Systematic Search and Scoping Review
Dr Tiffany Williams led this scoping review of 36 peer-reviewed studies that used a co-creation, co-design or co-production process with children. Together with Dr Kim Ward and Professor Melody Smith, Tiffany examined conceptualizations of child participation and of “co” processes, highlighting the opportunity for developing and improving use of child participation models; how children and childhood are viewed by adults involved in the process matters; a need for more discriminate use of the terms co-creation, co-design and co-production with clear definitions; and confirming the flexibility of “co” processes. Based on these findings, the authors developed a reporting checklist for physical environment-focused studies using “co” processes with children.
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