Visual Cards exploring Vulnerability and Well-Being – Engaging in Dialogue with Children and Youth

Description

Children and adolescents in residential child and youth care services experience a wide range of feelings of well-being and vulnerability. These experiences are often situation- and context-dependent and closely linked to social relationships and institutional frameworks.

The project builds on the findings of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)-funded research project “Childhood Vulnerability and Children’s Understandings of Well-Being” (2021–2025), which examined children’s and adolescents’ perspectives on well-being and vulnerability. Both concepts are closely interconnected and can be analytically framed along the dimensions of agency, safety, and belonging.

The project’s goal is to develop a scientifically sound yet practical tool that supports professionals in engaging with children and adolescents on topics such as social relationships, places and spaces, leisure time, digital environments, and sensitive topics like sexuality. The visual cards make it easier to express experiences and feelings for which the right words are sometimes lacking.

The project follows a participatory approach. Children and adolescents are actively involved in the development, design, and testing of the visual cards. Their experiences, perspectives, and feedback form a central foundation of the development process.

The development of these visual cards is a way for the project to contribute to the advancement of participatory methods in residential child and youth services.

Key data

Further documents and links