Children’s participatory needs in injury prevention : Reflections on supporting children’s right to invite and comfort in discussing sensitive topics

Background: Child-centred approaches in injury prevention emphasize the importance of practicing bi-directional communications and de-centring researcher-child power relations to support children’s participation in research. To date, however, a dearth of scholarship offers methodological reflections on how to bolster children’s feelings of comfort in discussing sensitive topics such as their injury experiences. Goal: Drawing from lessons we learned working with children in a low- to mid-income neighborhood in [Blinded], Canada, we discuss the ways in which our strategies to support their participation succeeded in, and at times fell short of, supporting their participatory needs. Discussion: Our discussions focus attention on two important areas for consideration in future injury prevention studies: (1) Children’s inclusion in research and the demand for them to share experience; and (2) supporting children’s right to invite and comfort in discussing sensitive topics such as injury experiences. We discuss the benefits of making research fun for children and being sensitive to their needs at preliminary recruitment and data collection stages. Implications: These discussions can strengthen researchers’ work with children by helping them to reflect on strategies that can bolster their desire to participate and feel comfortable sharing perspectives.