Participation and health - a research review of child participation in planning and decision-making

Effective child participation in child protection proceedings has proved difficult to achieve in Norway. Although participation is in principle accepted as a human right and something of benefit to children, when children's health is at stake there is a tendency to view participation in decision-making processes by children as potentially disruptive to their well-being. The purpose of this study is to review the research evidence for effects, positive or negative, of participation on health outcomes for children in care. A scoping review of major health and social work research databases was undertaken. Searches in five databases yielded 1830 studies of which 21 were finally included in this review. Studies were included if a relationship between health and participation was evident from the data presented, even if this was not the main objective in the study at hand. We conclude that when participation is successful, it may have beneficial side effects. Chief among these are that participation may improve children's safety, increase the success of care arrangements and increase feelings of well-being for children involved. Evidence for long-term effects of successful or failed participation attempts on subsequent health outcomes is however largely absent.