Smith, Melody, Spencer, Grace, Fouché, Christa, and Hoare, Karen (2021) Understanding child and youth migrant wellbeing: Reflections from a systematic literature review in the Western Pacific region. Wellbeing, Space and Society, 2. 100053.

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Abstract

One of the key social determinants of health that can impact children and young people is migration. Advances in health research have seen a shift away from a biomedical model of health to understanding health as a multifactorial, holistic state - mentally, physically, and socially. The aim of this article is to illustrate how different methods (i.e., adult-centric, child/youth-centered) and frameworks (i.e., biomedical, strengths-based) can impact on research findings in childhood research. Drawing on findings from a systematic review, we examine the approaches taken in eleven studies investigating the health and wellbeing of young migrants in the Western Pacific region. The systematic review highlighted a range of methods (quantitative surveys, drawings, photo novellas) that were used to capture child/youth perspectives, and identify contextual factors beyond immediate biomedical factors that impacted their wellbeing. Adult-centric biomedical approaches were limited in understanding these broader environmental contexts, yet these approaches were prevalent in this body of literature. We highlight the importance of developing more strengths-based approaches and child/youth-centered methods to gain a comprehensive understanding of social and physical environments that child and youth migrants draw upon to support their wellbeing.

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