Addressing the Right for Children and Adolescents to Participate in Research

Background and Purpose

In recent years, research on child abuse and neglect has expanded to include a consideration of the consequences of children’s exposure to gender based violence, resulting in a depth of empirical knowledge about the impact on children, from the children’s own perspective. This knowledge is critical for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers who in one way or the other, influence vicimized children’s lives. We need children’s knowledge about their own lives, but children also have a right to make their voices heard in matters that concern them. This reflects a commitment to honoring the principle of ‘listening to the voice of the child’, demanded by UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). However, while participation is one of the categories of the UNCRC, protection is another. Article 36, for example, describes how the “States Parties shall protect the child against all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child's welfare”. This includes every form of potential harm, including harm from participating in research.

Methods
This presentation will be a methodological discussion, drawing on the authors’ own empirical research, focusing on some of the challenges that researchers struggle with when conducting research on/with children exposed to gender based violence. The discussion will take its starting point in the two central concepts of participation and protection, as outlined in the UNCRC.

Results
There are a number of ethical challenges that may prevent the child from participating in research, such as an adult-driven consent process and the understanding that research may re-traumatize children. In many countries, along with the children’s consent, a (most often) parent or caretaker must also consent. That means that regardless of the issue, the voice of the adult is superior to the voice of the child who is 15, 16 or 18 years old (depending on the regulations in that specific country). Furthermore, beliefs that research interviews may re-traumatize children exposed to gender based violence, have little support in the literature. Yet, the concept of re-traumatization is an often debated concern that risk leading to silencing children and adolescents and excluding them from participating in issues that concern them and their lives.

Conclusions and Implications
Children and adolescents have an undisputable right to be protected against any form of harm, including potential harm caused by participating in research. However, combining the category of ‘children’ with ‘victimization’ and with the issue of gender based violence which can be understood as ‘sensitive topics’, may evoke tensions and challenges that could lead to a dangerous lack of evidence. Myths and misconceptions must not compromise children and adolescents participation in research. Instead, research needs to start from a position that accepts the uniqueness of each child and their lived experiences and to commit to practice that values and prioritises the right of children to use their voices to participate in research, which is, after all, about them.