Multidimensional Measurement of Children's Subjective Experience of Social Work Intervention: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT Children's subjective experiences are frequently overshadowed by adult narratives, making them invisible in discussions regarding their lives and needs in social work interventions. This oversight highlights the inadequacy of measurement approaches used to capture children's feelings. The current systematic review of English‐language studies aims to thoroughly identify, synthesize and analyse the existing empirical research on the measurement tools of children's subjective experience in social work interventions. We retrieved 3025 studies from four databases and other resources, ultimately selecting 12 studies that met prespecified eligibility criteria after a comprehensive screening process. This review predominantly identifies global and domain‐specific measurement tools for children's subjective experience, providing a foundation for practice. Global measurement tools include the ‘Assert’ strategy, Q‐methodology and multidimensional subjective outcome scales. Domain‐specific measurements encompass dimensions such as satisfaction, perceived social support and usefulness. Given the variability and tendency towards convergence of subjective outcomes, global tools have emerged as an interpretive approach for collecting subjective views. These measurement results have significantly complemented evidence on the effectiveness of social work interventions, despite challenges in selecting appropriate measurement intervals and implementing guidelines.