P4PLAY: RESEARCHING PEOPLE, PLACE, POLICY and PRACTICE for PLAY from the LENS of OCCUPATIONAL SCIENCE. Examining policy processes to facilitate play

Poster presented at Playful Planet Conference, 7-8 July 2021 https://www.playfulplanet.org.uk/play2021, describing play as an occupational right for all children, how research can inform policy, and the importance of the cooperation with policy organisations, as in the two projects presented, to strenghten the relevance of the research questions and the quality of the research process and therefore the usability of the outcomes. 

POLICY PROJECT 1:  Applying children’s right to share their view in (re)desiging a public playspace

Children’s right to share their views on matters that affect them, is challenged in its operationalisation. Involving children, in particular seldom heard children, in decision-making processes about public playspaces in the municipalities makes sense as play is fundamental to all children and the importance of taking children’s perceptions into account has been reported before.

This project aims to understand the barriers and facilitators for using strategies for children’s participation in (re)design of public playspaces and to explore what children with disabilities need for participation.

Involving children in (re)designing a public playspace supports the creation of inclusive playgrounds, but moreover generates opportunities for children to take part in democratic processes and being an active citizen.  

POLICY PROJECT 2: Identifying and exploring multiple outcomes associated with enacting children’s play policy

The occupation of play cannot be understood as a linear, unidimensional phenomenon. Many variables and drivers, from the individual and societal context, influence play.
There is potential to use occupational theories to influence play-focused-policy development and application as a way of addressing entrenched problems that limit health and well-being. Doing this requires the ability to examine and understand complex relationships between actions, people and contexts.

This project aims to review methodological approaches to investigating complex systemic issues associated with play and play deprivation, and outcomes associated with community level actions to facilitate play.

It further aims to develop and apply a methodology that enables a complex systems perspective on exploring policy processes associated with facilitating play to identify areas for development.