The use of peer interviews in exploring the mental health and wellbeing of primary school aged children

Citation

Burton C, Abebe B, O’Neill M, Themessl-Huber M, Lauder W & Roxburgh M (2008) The use of peer interviews in exploring the mental health and wellbeing of primary school aged children. RCN Annual International Nursing Research Conference 2008, Liverpool, 08.04.2008-11.04.2008. http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/155407/final_outline_programme.pdf

Abstract
Background: A recent UNICEF report (2007) suggested that out of 21 countries measured, the health and wellbeing of children in the UK ranks in the bottom third. The current study employed a peer research method to gain understanding about issues pertaining to the mental health and wellbeing of children. The use of a peer interview approach enabled children's specific experiences, needs and insights to be articulated more fully (Hart and Tyrer, 2006), the rationale being that children would be more at ease to talk about their emotions with their peers than with adults. Method: 37 children from 3 local primary schools took part in peer interview training. Over the course of three weeks, peer interviewers carried out interviews with other children in the school on the emotions of happiness (n=126), sadness (n=57) and worry (n=34). Questionnaires asked children about a variety of aspects of these emotions. Findings: Findings show that children preferred to talk about happiness, rather than sadness or worry and that there were significant age (p less than 0.05) and gender (p less than 0.05) differences across a number of variables. Peer interviewing children reported a sense of prestige in their role and the importance of the developing focus group relationships over the course of the study was clear. Teachers reported that they the peer interviewing method helpful in fostering positive interactions in the playground. Discussion: The findings suggest that not only is peer interviewing effective in gaining insights of children's experiences of mental health and wellbeing, they may be less willing to discuss negative emotions. In addition, the data indicate that emotional experiences may differ between gender and across developmental stage. Such findings have important implications for how the health and wellbeing of children is understood and perceived and consequently, how this impacts on the development and application of approaches and interventions.