Childhood vulnerability and children’s understandings of well-being
Swiss childhood study as part of the worldwide research on “Children’s Understandings of Well-Being – Global and Local Contexts” (cuwb.org)
At a glance
- Project leader : Dr. Marion Pomey
- Project team : Debora Lisa D'alessandri, Maria Dirren, Julia Kühn, Michele Pizzera, Carina Pohl, Prof. Daniel Stoecklin
- Project budget : CHF 384'000
- Project status : ongoing
- Funding partner : SNSF (SNF-Projektförderung / Projekt Nr. 188804)
- Project partner : INTEGRAS Fachverband Sozial- und Sonderpädagogik
- Contact person : Marion Pomey
Description
All people are vulnerable, but vulnerability is unequally distributed - some people are more vulnerable than others. What this means for children and youth and how they understand well-being is the goal of the qualitative SNF research project.
Background
Social work often deals with children and youth who are particularly vulnerable or have already been hurt. Yet few studies ask children themselves about their understanding of well-being and vulnerability. This obscures not only the diversity of childhoods, but also of life chances and opportunities to participate in society. Therefore, it is crucial to examine inequality factors and conditions of vulnerability, which are also reflected in concepts of well-being (see Andresen 2013; Bohne/Hunner-Kreisel 2016; Hunner-Kreisel/Kuhn 2010; Hunner-Kreisel/March 2018). The current state of research on childhood vulnerability points to societal, generational, institutional, and biographical conditions of vulnerability (cf. Pomey 2017, Pomey 2022 in ed.). It is now important to find out how childhood vulnerability is intertwined with the phenomenon of well-being. A sound understanding of vulnerability as well as of well-being - especially from the perspective of children and adolescents - is central to a social work that wants to protect and promote them. Taking children and young people's perspectives seriously means asking them how they understand and experience well-being, what is important for their well-being, and what makes them vulnerable.
Goals
The goal of the project, which is scheduled to run for at least four years (2021-2024), is to examine the perspective of children and adolescents in Switzerland who grow up in unequally precarious life situations. In other words, to interview children and adolescents who have had different biographical experiences of vulnerability about their views and experiences of well-being and vulnerability and to find out whether and to what extent their perspectives are the same or different.
Methods
The study chooses a socio-pedagogical and childhood-theoretical approach and is particularly interested in the field of child and youth welfare. Therefore, children and adolescents between 8-14 years of age in different service structures (youth clubs, community centers, day care structures, residential care) are recruited and invited to present their point of view using a variety of research methods. In addition to verbal data (interviews and focus groups), visual data (photographs, drawings, maps) will be collected and analyzed.
The Swiss research project is supported by the professional association Integras and is located in three language regions (Romandie, Ticino and German-speaking Switzerland) and is part of the worldwide research network on "Children's Understandings of Well-Being - Global and Local Contexts" (www.cuwb.org), in which more than 25 countries are involved (see Fattore/Fegter/Hunner-Kreisel 2021). The project is situated within the framework of international comparative qualitative studies that aim to examine how children understand well-being in a locally oriented, culturally contextualized, and multinational comparative manner (www.cuwb.org).
Further information
Publications
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Pizzera, Michele; Pomey, Marion,
2023.
Digital childhood : how digital media shapes well-being of children in residential care.
In:
17th International Conference of the European Scientific Association on Residential & Family Care for Children and Adolescents (EuSARF), Brighton, United Kingdom (online), 12-15 September 2023.
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Pomey, Marion; Pizzera, Michele,
2023.
Digitale Vulnerabilität : digitale Medien im stationären Kontext.
In:
Sozialpädagogisches Zentrum Gfellergut, Zürich, Schweiz, 28. März 2023.
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2023.
Forschungsethische Reflexionen zu Kindeswohlgefährdung.
In:
SGSA-SSTS Workshop "Forschungsethische Gratwanderungen der Adressat*innenforschung Sozialer Arbeit", St. Gallen, Schweiz, 23. Februar 2023.
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Pomey, Marion; Pizzera, Michele,
2022.
Das Wohlbefinden von Kindern in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe.
In:
Semaine internationale de l’éducation et de la formation, Lausanne, Switzerland, 12-16 September 2022.
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2022.
Wie geht es Kindern und Jugendlichen im Heim?.
integras.ch.
Available from: https://www.integras.ch/de/aktuelles/974-erste-zwischenergebnisse-snf-wie-geht-es-kindern-in-der-schweiz
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2022.
On the reproduction of the generational order in childhood research.
In:
CUWB emerging scholar networks workshop: Research translation and communication in qualitative research with children (virtual pre-conference to the ISCI conference), 23 May 2022.
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2021.
(Un-)Safety from the perspective of children.
In:
CUWB Emerging Scholars Network, online, 22 October 2021.
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Magyar-Haas, Veronika; Pohl, Carina,
2021.
Vulnerability and social programmes – Switzerland.
In:
Online Conference: Children Vulnerability and Public Policies, Universidad de Palermo, online, 22 October 2021.
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2021.
Children’s understandings of vulnerability and well-being.
In:
16th International Conference of the European Scientific Association on Residential & Family Care for Children and Adolescents (EuSARF), Zurich (online), 1-3 September 2021.
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2021.
Precarious moments of well-being.
In:
CUWB Network Webinar "Children’s Understandings of Well-Being in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic", online, 3-5 June 2021.