Abstract
The aim of this paper was to describe the meaning of wellbeing for children and youth with disabilities from their perspective.
Twenty children and young people with a range of disabilities including, cerebral palsy, autism, Aspergers syndrome, Down
syndrome, mild to moderate intellectual disability and vision impairment, participated in five focus groups and one interview.
Groups were facilitated by at least two experienced professionals, including one scribe who recorded the discussions within
the groups and took field notes on contextual information. Open coding was used to initially name and categorise data. Constant
comparison methods were then used to compare codes and categories to advance the conceptual understanding. Six themes of the
meaning of wellbeing emerged from the data describing participation, the importance of good friends, family factors, anxiety
relating to performance at school, coping strategies/resilience, and personal growth and development. The concept of wellbeing
from the child’s perspective was described as feeling supported, included and respected, as well as feeling valued and capable.
Ideas raised by children and young people have highlighted gaps within current indicator sets of children’s wellbeing. These
include reciprocal respect within relationships, coping strategies, feeling valued and having a positive sense of self. Children
and young people can provide valuable input into research, regardless of impairment.
Twenty children and young people with a range of disabilities including, cerebral palsy, autism, Aspergers syndrome, Down
syndrome, mild to moderate intellectual disability and vision impairment, participated in five focus groups and one interview.
Groups were facilitated by at least two experienced professionals, including one scribe who recorded the discussions within
the groups and took field notes on contextual information. Open coding was used to initially name and categorise data. Constant
comparison methods were then used to compare codes and categories to advance the conceptual understanding. Six themes of the
meaning of wellbeing emerged from the data describing participation, the importance of good friends, family factors, anxiety
relating to performance at school, coping strategies/resilience, and personal growth and development. The concept of wellbeing
from the child’s perspective was described as feeling supported, included and respected, as well as feeling valued and capable.
Ideas raised by children and young people have highlighted gaps within current indicator sets of children’s wellbeing. These
include reciprocal respect within relationships, coping strategies, feeling valued and having a positive sense of self. Children
and young people can provide valuable input into research, regardless of impairment.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-17
- DOI 10.1007/s12187-011-9134-2
- Authors
- K.-R. Foley, School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
- A. M. Blackmore, The Centre for Cerebral Palsy, Perth, Australia
- S. Girdler, School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
- M. O’Donnell, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- R. Glauert, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- G. Llewellyn, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- H. Leonard, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- Journal Child Indicators Research
- Online ISSN 1874-8988
- Print ISSN 1874-897X