Rethinking children’s public health: the development of an assets model

Abstract

It has been suggested that asset based strategies could provide an opportunity to rethink the approach to public health; however, this may not be a viable option unless there is clear recognition of specific individual assets. Although there has been some consideration of assets within a child health context, this is limited and previous studies have not sought to identify assets from the perspective of the child.This paper reports on a study that drew on an ethnographic approach, using a photoelicitation method, to facilitate the mapping of children's internal and external assets from the viewpoint of children themselves. Two primary schools in the South-East of England were used to recruit 20 year five children (aged 9-11 years of age). The participants, 10 boys and 10 girls, were given disposable cameras and asked to take photographs of the activities that they enjoyed. The children's photographs were used as prompts during individual semi-structured interviews.A constant comparative analysis facilitated the mapping of the children's assets as the children described them; this process revealed one overall stabilising asset ('My Family') as well as eight internal and three external assets. All of the assets are presented within an original model, 'I'm good': the children's asset wheel [CAW], which was developed from the findings. It is suggested that the CAW could complement previous asset based work to facilitate the re-thinking of approaches to the enhancement of children's public health.

Re-assessing vulnerability to foodborne illness: pathways and practices

“…Our approach is consistent with several recent papers in this journal (e.g. Evans, 2011;Muntaner, Lynch, & Smith, 2000;Whiting, Kendall, & Wills, 2013) which have taken an assets-based approach to public health, emphasising the social capital that people have at their disposal, as opposed to a deficit approach which assumes that the public suffer from a deficient understanding of health-related issues. It also complements the work of other authors who have taken a practice-based approach to food-related health issues (e.g.…”

Making sense of assets: what can an assets based approach offer public health?

“…Given the existing attention to young people in the assets field a notable gap is the child's own perspective on how they understand the assets in their lives. Whiting, Wills and Kendall (2013) in this special section attend to the child's own perspective on the assets they perceive as fundamentally important in promotion of their well-being and happiness, thereby demonstrating how children are credible social actors and how their understanding of the assets in their lives can offer significant insights for policy. The search for which assets can modify a person's response to a hazardous environment including social and economic inequalities (Lindstrom and Eriksson 2010) is explored in Bull, Mittlemark and Kanyeka's (2013) the study concerned with the life of women in the Global South.…”

What is Asset-Based Community Development and How Might It Improve the Health of People With Long-Term Conditions? A Realist Synthesis

“…Foot & Hopkins, 2010; Morgan & Ziglio, 2007; Morgan et al, 2010). For example, empowered individuals, tangible physical resources, and strong social networks can all play significant roles to improve health outcomes (Bull et al, 2013; Morgan & Ziglio, 2007; Rütten et al, 2009; Whiting, Kendall, & Wills, 2013). However, it appears that ABCD relies heavily on the skills and motivation of the individuals of the population of interest and, therefore, ABCD is only likely to gain momentum through engagement with the target population.…”