Co-producing and navigating consent in participatory research with young people

Date05 September 2019
Published date05 September 2019
Pages205-216
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-02-2019-0007
AuthorElsie Whittington
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Vulnerable groups,Children's services,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Children/youth,Parents,Education,Early childhood education,Home culture,Social/physical development
Co-producing and navigating consent in
participatory research with young people
Elsie Whittington
Abstract
Purpose Research within the fields of youth sexuality and safeguarding, and ethical governance more
broadly, has traditionally prioritised risk aversion over the rights of young people to participate in and shape
research. This excludes younger people from setting agendas and directly communicating their lived
experience to those in power. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach This paper describes and draws upon findings from an innovative two
year participatory action research study exploring sexual consent with young people through embedded and
participatory research across seven sites. The project was designed with young people and practised
non-traditional approaches to research consent. As well as co-producing research data, the findings
highlight how methods of co-enquiry and being explicit about the research consent process enabled young
people to develop competence that can be applied in other contexts.
Findings The paper addresses ethical tensions between young peoples rights to participation and
protection. It argues that alongside robust safeguarding procedures, there is equal need to develop robust
participation and engagement strategies with an explicit focus on young peoples competence, agency and
rights to participate regardless of the perceived sensitivity of the topic.
Originality/value The paper concludes with proposals for future youth-centred research practice. These
relate to research design, ethical governance processes around risk and sensitive topics, emphasis on
working collaboratively with young people and practitioners, a greater focus on children and young peoples
rights including Gillick competence and fluid models of consent. In doing so, it presents an essential point of
reference for those seeking to co-produce research with young people in the UK and beyond.
Keywords Consent, Negotiation, Gillick, Childrens rights, Participation, Ethics
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
For safeguarding, educational agendas and policy and practice to relate better to the people they
seek to affect, it is essential that research in these areas actively involve children and young people.
There are a host of practical and ethical challenges that could arise from this. Many topics that are
part of, or related to, safeguarding are considered sensitive and, in research terms, viewed as high-
risk, especially if they are to be discussed with young people. While ethical considerations are
undoubtedly important, age-specific power imbalances mean that younger researchers and children
and young people are rarely able to set the agenda and directly communicate their lived experience
to those in power (Allen, 2008; Cammarota and Fine, 2008; Tisdall, 2017). Their rights to participate
in decisions that may affect them are routinely under prioritised and, in some instances, stifled by
protective policies or practices, which seek to avoid, rather than manage, risk (Tisdall, 2017).
The following papers methodological focus reflects on some ethical tensions associated with
modelling and celebrating youth agency in a participatory research context. The study
committed to ensuring that the research questions and methods were shaped by young people,
who chose to explore the topic of sexual consent.
Whilst exploring sexual consent participants in this study consistently implied sexual consent
was: fluid,constantly renegotiated,communicated, verbally and non-verbally,voluntary,
mutualand withdrawable. The terms they used to describe sexual consent unsurprisingly
Received 1 February 2019
Revised 30 June 2019
Accepted 12 July 2019
The author would like to thank all
the participants who collaborated
in this research and the input,
support and advice of practitioners
at each site. Thanks also to the
reviewers and the editors for their
generous and constructive
feedback and Jenny Lloyd. The
research was co-funded by Brook
and The Centre for Innovation and
Research in Childhood and Youth
at the University of Sussex. Both
organisations were incredibly
supportive in enabling a youth-
centred and participatory
approach.
Elsie Whittington is based at
the Department of Sociology,
Manchester Metropolitan
University, Manchester, UK.
DOI 10.1108/JCS-02-2019-0007 VOL. 14 NO. 3 2019, pp. 205-216, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660
j
JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES
j
PAG E 20 5

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT