Understanding children’s perceptions of, and priorities for, healthy neighbourhoods in Aotearoa New Zealand: study protocol for a cross-sectional study

Abstract

IntroductionNeighbourhood environments can have significant and enduring impacts on children’s physical, psychological and social health. Environments can impact health through promoting or hindering physical activity, active travel, and healthy eating in addition to opportunities for social interaction, cognitive development, rest and relaxation. There is a paucity of research that has examined neighbourhood and health priorities, strengths and needs from the perspectives of the community, and even less that has focused on the perspectives of children within communities. The aim of this article is to describe the research protocol for a project to gather child-identified needs and strengths-based solutions for promoting child health and well-being in urban neighbourhood environments.Methods and analysisThis participatory research project is designed to partner with children in school settings in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand. An abundant communities approach will be used with children to identify needs and strengths related to neighbourhoods and health. Specific methods including collaborative, creative, play-based methods such as concept-mapping activities and co-creation of final dissemination material on the key messages are described. Plans for researcher reflections, data analysis and dissemination are also detailed.Ethics and disseminationThis research has been approved by the University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee. Results will be disseminated through child and researcher co-created output, a technical report and academic journal articles. By using evidence-based child-centred approaches to knowledge generation, we anticipate the research will generate new localised insights about children’s preferences and needs for healthy neighbourhoods which will be shared with stakeholders in planning and practice. The detailed session protocol including critical researcher reflections is shared in this manuscript for application, development and refinement in future research.

More-Than-Human: A Cross-Sectional Study Exploring Children’s Perceptions of Health and Health-Promoting Neighbourhoods in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…This research aimed to understand children’s perceptions of health and health-promoting neighbourhoods in NZ using participatory and child-centred methods [ 3 ]. We present a child-centred framework of twelve topics that were important to children aged 8 to 10 years ( Figure 2 ).…”

“…For decision makers, especially practitioners, the methods described in this article and the published session guide [ 3 ] provide a practical toolkit for exploring ideas with children. Policy makers are offered current perceptions from a sample of children in middle childhood in two geographically and ethnically diverse cities of NZ.…”

“…The cross-sectional Neighbourhoods and Health study was conducted with primary school-aged children (approximate ages 8 to 10 years) in NZ between June 2020 and August 2021. The published study protocol includes a detailed session guide that covers set-up, materials, activities, and timing for two data collection sessions at each school, along with the research team’s credentials [ 3 ]. Two to four researchers of a team of six were present at each data collection session.…”

“…The Neighbourhoods and Health study aimed to gather children’s current perceptions on health and wellbeing in urban neighbourhood environments in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter NZ), using participatory and child-centred approaches. The published study protocol includes a detailed session guide [ 3 ]. This research is situated within a children’s rights approach underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), of which Article 12 asserts that children have the right to express views and be given due weight in all matters affecting the child [ 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

Combining Outreach and Cross-sectional Research to Gather Children’s Soil Values in Aotearoa New Zealand: Protocol for the Mixed Methods Soilsafe Kids Program

“…Soilsafe Kids aims to understand what children know about soil and how they value it. This takes a child-centered approach [ 31 , 32 ] throughout our workshop series with 8 primary school classes in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Class sizes are planned for approximately 30 students, resulting in a convenience sample of ~240 participants.…”