The infant's voice - user participation and infants

In this project the main aim is to procure knowledge about the concept user participation applied on infants.

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In todays’ society users have a right to contribute to the services they receive and take part in. Likewise – the services are obliged to engage their users. The concept of user participation is though not straight forward when the users are infants. How can infants contribute on the services they take part in? To what extent is the concept perceived as relevant used on infants? What different kinds of thinking is this concept founded in?

The picture shows two parents holding an infant.
Photo: illustration image

A qualitative study through interviews

In this project we aim to gather data about this topic doing about 15 semi structured qualitative interviews with representatives with three groups that we suppose have an impact on the opinion about this concepts in the Norwegian society today – the applicability of the concept on user participation as an ideal in meeting and working with infants: 1) employees in services that implies meeting infants: health nurses, midwives and teachers in kindergartens, 2) employees in colleges and universities teaching representatives for these three groups about topics on infants, 3) employees at colleges and universities that teaches representatives for these three groups on the concept of use participation.

Investigators

Principal Investigator: Postdoc Sissel Merete Finholt-Pedersen

Co-researchers: Ass. Professor Eystein Victor Våpenstad, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN), Department of Psychology

Postdoc. Kristin Margrethe Briseid, University of Agder, The Department of Health and Nursing Science

Project period: 2021-