Abstract
Outdoor play is one of the tools of health and wellbeing promotion especially useful in work with young children. The B-Challenged project promotes outdoor play and healthy eating behaviours in children aged 6–12 through participatory action research (PAR) involving children from deprived urban neighbourhood as co-researchers. This international project is coordinated by Amsterdam UMC. In Poland it targets children from one of the Warsaw district with high rates of socio-economic problems. The project has three phases: (1) creation of action team of 12 children from the local socio-therapeutic center and baseline assessment of children’s needs, hopes and attitudes towards the project; (2) In depth analysis of needs and opportunities through regular meetings with the action team (building relationships, storytelling, photovoice) (3) Causal loop diagrams to co-design and plan the implementation of community-based interventions (ongoing). The picture of children’s outdoor activities emerging from the data collected so far indicates the importance of peer and sibling interaction. The maps of their neighborhood highlighted spots they found attractive. The key factors encouraging children to play outdoor is the opportunity to meet peers there. Among the obstacles were the inadequacy of these outdoor recreation spaces for slightly older children, litter left by adults, including beer bottles, but also the presence of drunk people or people consuming alcohol, despite the ban, in places intended for children to play. The PAR procedure involving child co-researchers, although demanding and time-consuming, is useful in projects aimed at implementing lifestyle changes in children.
Presenters
Martyna BójkoSpecialist, Children and Youth Health Center, Institiute of Mother and Child, Mazowieckie, Poland Katarzyna Okulicz Kozaryn
Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Institute of Mother and Child, Poland
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Health Promotion and Education
KEYWORDS
Children's participatory action research, Children's outdoor play
