Explore Participatory Research Methods in Children Post Intensive Care

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Explore the Effectiveness of Participatory Research Methods to Elicit Children’s experiences whilst on Intensive Care

  • IRAS ID

    306913

  • Contact name

    Donna Thomas

  • Contact email

    DThomas15@uclan.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University Central Lancashire

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 8 months, 30 days

  • Research summary

    The project aims to test the use of participatory research methods with children who are post intensive care (PIC). Research that treats children merely as respondents to heavily adult-framed research is likely to miss key aspects of their experiences, therefore their participation can raise research quality. It is paramount children are given the right tools to articulate their feelings and experiences by providing diverse methods, including drawing, storytelling, digital photography, participatory audio or video.

    The pilot study will identify whether participatory research methods are effective for exploring with children their physical, mental and emotional experiences, following intensive care treatment. Participatory research methods that use creative activities such as art, music, play, diaries/vlogs and mythical storytelling could offer affordances for children in post-intensive care to share cognitive, emotional and physical experiences. Informing medical and clinical research studies in the long-term. The pilot study would inform if/how participatory research methods could be used in further studies around PIC.

    Work Plan 1. Participatory Research Methods: Each participant will be invited to participate in individual research sessions. The script requires children to take part in up to 3 individual research sessions to ensure that participants can engage at their own pace.
    1. Experiences in hospital (this will allow children to represent their experiences of what happened to them, relationships with others in hospital and the hospital environment.
    2. Thoughts and feelings (this section will explore children’s inner experiences at the time of their procedures, before and after)
    3. Feelings in the Body (this section will facilitate children to explore their own bodies in terms of pain, discomfort and feeling well

    Interviews will be audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and supplemented by field notes. A thematic approach to data analysis will be adopted

  • REC name

    East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 2

  • REC reference

    22/ES/0015

  • Date of REC Opinion

    25 Apr 2022

  • REC opinion

    Unfavourable Opinion