Jeni Harden

Can't Talk, Won't Talk?: Methodological Issues in Researching Children

In this paper we explore some current issues in, what has come to be called, the new sociology of childhood and how these relate to the process of researching childrens lives in general, and to our own research in particular. We discuss the developmental model of childhood, before going on to explore ideas about children as, on the one hand, inhabiting a relatively autonomous realm and, on the other as part of the same social world as adults but with different sets of competencies. The implications of these differing positions for researching children will be assessed prior to a discussion of the design of our current research, on children and risk, and the wider implications of our reflections on the research process.

Good Sitting, Looking and Listening: The Regulation of Young Children's Emotions in the Classroom

Increasing attention has been given in schools in recent years to emotions as part of childrens development and as core to their learning. Yet limited attention has been paid to emotions in childhood research. Based on findings from an ethnographic study within a Scottish school with children aged 6–7 years, this article explores the construction and negotiation of emotions as a part of childrens classroom experience. Childrens bodies and emotions are highly controlled in the classroom but despite this control, children actively construct emotions in their everyday lives.

Challenges of optimizing glycaemic control in children with Type 1 diabetes: a qualitative study of parents' experiences and views

To explore the difficulties parents encounter in trying to achieve clinically recommended blood glucose levels and how they could be better supported to optimize their childs glycaemic control.

'If you're gonna die, you're gonna die': Young adults' perceptions of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

Objectives To explore the views and experiences of young adults with epilepsy on the risks associated with, and information giving in relation to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Methods In-depth interviews with 27 young adults (aged 18–29 years) with epilepsy. Results Participants reported everyday experiences of seeking to control the risk of seizure occurrence or injury from seizures. In contrast, SUDEP was reported in more fatalistic terms as a risk that was considered to be largely unpreventable. Participants stated that information on SUDEP should be given to those with epilepsy, in a consultation, at or soon after the diagnosis, though clinical judgement on patients’ readiness was considered important in timing decisions. Many had a limited, sometimes incorrect understanding of SUDEP, yet were satisfied with the information they had received. Very few engaged in independent information seeking on SUDEP, and many deliberately avoided searching for further information. Discussion Our findings suggest that SUDEP was bracketed off from other aspects of participants’ epilepsy, in terms of the meanings attributed to it, perceptions of risk status and ways of coping. SUDEP is a case through which to consider how people give meaning to information about risk of sudden death related to chronic conditions.

Hopes for the Future: Parents' and Children's Narratives of Children's Future Employment Orientations

‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ is a question often asked of children yet little is known about how children and their parents think about their future in terms of employment. This paper, based on qualitative longitudinal research with 14 families, explores childrens and parents’ narratives about childrens employment futures, illuminating the values, social relations and structures through which such narratives are formed. The paper reflects on the extent to which childrens present lives are future orientated and the ways this future orientation manifests itself in everyday life. The findings highlight the hopes expressed by parents and the nature of parental influence in shaping their childrens futures. While childrens futures were not developed as precise plans, there were many ways in which they were being ‘planned’. Choices were expanded or narrowed and trajectories mapped out through parents’ and childrens hopes, dreams and assumptions for what the future would hold. This ‘planning’ was framed by the families’ individualised biographies and their socio-economic position.

Which non-technical skills do junior doctors require to prescribe safely? A systematic review

Prescribing errors are a major source of avoidable morbidity and mortality. Junior doctors write most in‐hospital prescriptions and are the least experienced members of the healthcare team. This puts them at high risk of error and makes them attractive targets for interventions to improve prescription safety. Error analysis has shown a background of complex environments with multiple contributory conditions. Similar conditions in other high risk industries, such as aviation, have led to an increased understanding of so‐called human factors and the use of non‐technical skills (NTS) training to try to reduce error. To date no research has examined the NTS required for safe prescribing.

Children's experiences of managing Type 1 diabetes in everyday life: a thematic synthesis of qualitative studies

To explore the everyday experiences of children (aged ≤ 12 years) with Type 1 diabetes to identify factors that help or hinder diabetes self‐management practices.

Self‐management of first trimester medical termination of pregnancy: a qualitative study of women's experiences

To explore the experiences of women in Scotland who return home to complete medical termination of pregnancy (TOP) ≤63 days of gestation, after being administered with mifepristone and misoprostol at an NHS TOP clinic.

Low income mothers’ food practices with young children: A qualitative longitudinal study

Objective: Young children living in socioeconomically deprived areas of Scotland have an increased risk of becoming overweight or obese. To enhance understanding of the wider contexts within which family food practices are developed, this study examined the experiences of low-income mothers with young children. Design: Qualitative longitudinal design. Setting: The Lothians, Scotland. Method: Two waves of individual interviews were conducted with 13 mothers at two time points within an 18-month period. All the mothers lived in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas in Eastern Scotland, and had at least one child aged 6 years and under. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted, through which the data were analysed both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Findings: Women experienced socioeconomic challenges which limited the financial and emotional resources, and the time they were able to commit to healthy eating practices. For some, change and instability were part of their lives, over which they had little control. Despite insecure socioeconomic contexts, women positioned themselves as expert mothers, evidenced through their strategies in dealing with the problem of ‘fussy eaters’ and their challenges of ‘expert’ advice. Conclusion: This research demonstrates the significance of the broader difficulties that living in poverty presents to mothers, beyond the issue of cost, and which preventive health interventions should address.

Risk as a relational phenomenon: a cross-cultural analysis of parents’ understandings of child food allergy and risk management

Western culture can be seen as permeated by risk-consciousness. In particular, parents are under scrutiny in their roles as risk managers. In this article, we address parental experiences of children more at risk than other children, children with food allergy, and the management of allergy risk in everyday life. Drawing on a notion of risk as ‘situated’ in local everyday life, we argue that a further exploration of parental understandings of child food allergy risk would benefit from an analysis of studies across different local contexts. In this article, we draw on a secondary qualitative cross-cultural analysis of interview data from several studies of parents in Sweden and Scotland through 2006–2010, which focused on parents’ understandings of the nature of food allergy and the children’s management of the allergy risk. We found some common themes in the different data sets. First, parents depicted food allergy as life-threatening, a ‘death risk’ lurking in the background, more or less constantly present in different everyday situations, amounting to an existential condition in parenting. Second, they talked about food allergy risk as a relational phenomenon, meaning that the risk emerged in the encounter between the young person’s individual competence to manage allergy risk and the understandings of allergy risk in others – thus depending on contexts and interaction between several actors. Finally, the analysis showed that unpredictability and risk in constant flux are the prominent aspects of living with food allergy. We also discussed the ways risk and trust are related, as well as how the involvement of others can be seen as both a risk and a safeguard.