Photo-Elicitation Interviewing to Capture Children's Perspectives on Family Routines

Abstract

Introduction: There is little occupational science research about the routines of typically developing school-aged children. Even less exists investigating these concepts from the child's perspective. This may partly be attributed to difficulties interviewing children, children's challenges with recall, disparities in language and communication, and power differences between children and researchers. Visual methodologies can mitigate these challenges while offering rich understandings of children's experiences. Objective: This study set out to uncover the occupations and family routines from the perspective of typically-developing school-aged children through the use of photo-elicitation interviewing (PEI) methodology. Methods: Children 7 to 12 years old were asked to take photographs of their occupations and routines over a 1-week period. These photographs were explored with the child during a subsequent interview. Findings: Three themes emerged from the data: how routines are established within a family unit and individual contributions related to orchestration and temporality; weekend versus weekday routines; and how PEI can be utilized to obtain rich data. Conclusion: The harmonious orchestration of routines is essential for establishing roles, and developing responsibilities and collaboration. PEI is a well-suited methodology for occupational science research with this population.

Keywords:

• Children
• Photo-elicitation
• Family routines