Understanding Nurturant Environments Through Childrens Eyes

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Understanding Nurturant Environments Through
Childrens Eyes

• Jayne Pivik, Ph.D., University of British
  Columbia
• Nurturant Environments Research, Reflection and
  Practice
• January 31, 2008, Vancouver, B.C.

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Objectives

• Context for acquiring child participation
  strategies to identify well-being
• Describe different ways of identifying nurturant
  environments with children
• cognitive mapping, interviews, photo
  essaying/voice, community asset mapping, focus
  groups, tours,
• Summarize young childrens results of
  environmental features that are nurturant or
  promote well-being.

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Purpose of the Study

• Identify those community factors which impact
  child/youth well-being from the perspective of
  its children.

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The community
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MethodSample

• Total sample 82 children/youth (4 15 years)

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Cognitive mapping

• Cognitive maps are a type of mental processing by
  which an individual can acquire, code, store,
  recall, and decode information about the relative
  locations and attributes of phenomena in their
  everyday or spatial environment.

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Cognitive mappingHouse level
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Cognitive mapping Pictorial map of region
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Cognitive mappingStreet level
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Cognitive mapping Neighborhood level
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Cognitive mapping Road map of community
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Cognitive mapping
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Individual interviews

• Discussion of maps
• Three questions
• Why is this community good for kids?
• -Why is it not good for kids?
• -What changes would you make?

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Why is the island GOOD for kids? Interview- K-2
(n59)

• Physical environment (42)
• Lots of nature
• Lots of trees for forts
• Not a lot of toxic stuff
• Not too crowded or busy
• Not much traffic
• Can play on street
• Can fly kites
• Can go fishing
• Trails to ride bike

• Resources (27)
• Good schools
• Lots of fun things to do
• Toy store
• Swings at school
• Festivals
• Social environment (17)
• No robbers
• Know almost everyone
• Good people
• Lots of friends
• Safe- physical and social factors (8)

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Negative featuresInterviews- K-Grade 2 (n27)

• There is nothing wrong (19)
• Misc. (15)
• Climbing trees and falling down
• Climbing on roofs
• Boring
• Lack of Resources (7)

• Social (30)
• People who do drugs
• People who smoke
• People who are not nice to kids
• Physical environment (29)
• Roads are too busy
• The cougar
• Traffic on road
• Pollution smoking, cars, motorcycles
• Loud noises from builders

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Solutions Interviews- K-Grade 2 (n18)

• Resources (44)
• Build a public swimming pool
• Make more parks to play in
• Build more climbing structures
• More toys for kids
• Physical (35)
• Put in street lights/crossing
• Take the cougar back to where it is supposed to
  be.
• Not as many cars
• Put "slow down signs
• Plant more trees

• Social (17)
• Be nice to people so they will be nice back
• Tell mom before going with stranger
• Stop people from doing drugs
• Misc. (4)
• Give out free Slurpees
• Lock up poison (alcohol, cigarettes)

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Focus groups
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Photo essaying/PhotoVoice

• Children describe what is important to them and
  then depict the most salient issue with a
  photograph.
• or
• Photographs can be used to elicit conversations
  about specific topics.

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Photo essaying

• Bowen Island is special because Opa is on it. It
  is not polluted here and it feels safe. Its a
  fun place and you usually play outside all day
  long in the summer. There arent as many people
  as Vancouver. Its home to me, its beautiful and
  I love it!
• Picture of Opa
  Tobin Sparling, 7 yrs.

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Photo essaying

• Bowen Island it important to me because all my
  friends live on Bowen Island. The school bus
  reminds me of my friends at my school who go on
  the bus.
• Taliesh van Lidth de Jeude Roemer, 5 yrs

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• My favorite thing on Bowen is going to the
  park. My favorite thing at the park is riding my
  bike and my scooter.
• Riding my scooter at BICS Akshay
  Goodrich , 4 yrs.

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Bowen Island is important to me because I live
here. I took a picture of an old carit is
broken. Bowen Island was different a long time
ago and the car is from a long time ago. It is
down off the trail. Trees are on it. I dont know
who owned it. Maybe a man owned it, he should
have called a tow truck. I like looking at the
old car when I take my dog Molly for a
walk. Picture of old car Kevin
Harding, 4 yrs.
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Community Asset Mapping

• Community asset mapping is an inventory of
  available skills, services and capacities of
  people, community associations and institutions,
  physical structures, natural resources, and
  businesses (Berkowitz Wadud, 2003 Kretzmann
  McKnight, 1993 Mannes, Roehlkepartain, Benson,
  2005).

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Asset MappingFavorite place in community
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Asset mappingWhere do you spend time with
friends?

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Asset mappingWhere do you spend time with
friends?

• Early K-Grade 2 (n18)
• School (41)
• Neighborhood (29)
• Home (12)
• Artisan Square (6)
• Friends house (6)
• Nature (6)
• Middle- 3-5 (n24)
• Home (25)
• Nature/trials/forest (13)
• Artisan Square (25)
• Pool/beach (13)
• School (8)
• Neighborhood (8)
• Friends house (8)

• Older - 6-9 (n31)
• School (29)
• Pool/beach (23)
• Village center (16)
• Home (13)
• Artisan Square (13)
• Teen centre (3)
• Friends house (3)

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Asset mappingWhere do you spend time after
school?
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Asset mappingWhat are your after-school
activities?

• Early (K-2)
• Playground (n2)
• Sword fighting with sticks
• School (n2)
• Neighborhood friend (n3)
• Cove
• Play on computer at home
• Day care
• Tae Kwon Do (n2)
• Dance class
• Piano lessons
• Swimming at grandpa's pool
• BICS playing roller hockey
• Home
• Middle (3-5)
• Play video games
• Bowmart diner (n3)
• Play in forest (n2)
• Dance class (n2)

• Go to karate
• Home (n2)
• Learn Japanese
• BICS gym
• Tae Kwon Do (n3)
• Play date
• Tutoring
• BICS field for soccer
• Tir Na Nog-acting classes
• BICS tennis court
• Older (6-9)
• Home (n5)
• Dance class (n13)
• Piano lessons (n4)
• Tae Kwon Do (n5)
• Play Ultimate Frisbee (n5)
• Singing lessons
• Cove
• Friend's house

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Asset mappingWhere would you go in an emergency?
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Tours

• Child serves as a tour guide describing those
  aspects of the environment that impact them.

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Nurturant environments

• Consistently across all of the different methods,
  ALL of the children and youth identified the
  following as nurturant aspects of the community
  
• A high sense of safety,
• Caring people, lack of crime, not too much
  traffic or crowded
• The positive influence of the natural
  environment,
• Lack of crowding, pollution, calming/quiet,
  beauty of forests, oceans
• A close-knit community
• Caring and friendly, people look out for each
  other, small size where most people are familiar.
• Available resources
• places to play, fun things to do

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Summary

• Children in both the younger and middle groups
  recommended traffic calming measures and street
  lights. Put up slow down signs.
• Send the cougar away

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Summary

• All children reported wanting more recreational
  opportunities such as a public swimming pool, a
  recreational centre, and more organized sports.
• .

• The younger and middle groups also wanted more
  play structures and parks

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SummaryProcess-Methods

• With regard to content, similarities and
  differences were found across ages and between
  the different approaches employed. For example,
  one childs cognitive map contained many natural
  elements such as trees, deer and water but when
  asked about how the physical environment impacts
  kids,

• he discussed the issue of speeding cars and no
  sidewalks.
• The range of approaches appeared to allow
  children to participate according to their
  strengths and abilities. Difficulties completing
  the exercises were noted for those children who
  lived in more than one dwelling/neighbourhood due
  to parental separation.

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Take home message

• Children as young as 3 years are capable of
  identifying aspects of the environment that
  promote well-being.
• Using a variety of different methods allows
  children of different ages and abilities to
  participate.
• Children's participation in activities/services
  that impact them is supported by The UN
  Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

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Questions?

• Contact information
• Dr. Jayne Pivik
• The Child Project
• Human Early Learning Partnership
• University of British Columbia
• jayne.pivik_at_ubc.ca