Year: 2026
Type: review
Abstract: This thesis is a narrative review that focuses on children’s well-being. The study aims to explore how children’s well-being is studied through children’s own voices or child-centred qualitative methods. The thesis addresses three research questions: (1) how is early childhood children’s wellbeing conceptualised in qualitative research? (2) what qualitative methods are employed to explore children’s understanding of well-being? (3) what common themes emerge from qualitative findings on children’s well-being research? To answer the research questions, a narrative review of qualitative studies on children’s wellbeing was conducted. The review consists of ten studies involving children under the age of eight. The results show that the conceptualisation of well-being varied across the studies and that authors rarely provided clear definitions. The methods employed to explore children’s understanding of well-being also varied, with none clearly dominant one; however, a combination of methods appeared to be used when possible. Finally, the findings pointed to the importance of relationships with close ones, everyday activities, including play, and broader contexts and environments in children’s well-being. Overall, this suggests that children’s well-being is multidimensional and is expressed through children’s relationships, everyday activities, and broader contexts.
Source: Doria (University of Helsinki)
Author: Mydlowska, Marta Magdalena
Institution: Åbo Akademi University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7163731704