Dr Matt Carey and Ms Kathrin Paal are leading a participatory project aimed at reimagining the role of children as social actors in their healthcare. This initiative involves student children’s nurses and children’s nursing lecturers in a series of focus groups and creative workshops designed to shift perspectives and highlight the importance of listening to children’s voices, particularly those who are pre- and non-verbal.
Using creative, arts-based methods, this project will explore how children and young people can communicate their preferences, opinions, and needs to researchers and healthcare professionals. The design and delivery of creative workshops will be developed with the expertise of Kumi Oda from the School of Art, Design, and Architecture. Participants will contribute to the development of evidence-based recommendations for embedding child-specific competencies into nursing curricula, supporting nursing students and lecturers in recognising children as active agents and experts in their healthcare.
The project’s findings will demonstrate the transformative potential of involving children meaningfully in research and healthcare decisions, offering a pathway to more inclusive, child-centred practices.
