Key challenge | Mitigation strategies |
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Negative assumptions about the ability of children with disabilities to understand and communicate can lead to their exclusion from evidence generation activities (this is a particular challenge for children with communication and intellectual impairments). | Verifying the participants’ level of understanding and how they express themselves best can assist with understanding individual children’s ability to participate and how methods should be adapted for them. Inclusive evidence generation approaches tailored to the individual’s needs can support children with disabilities to participate. Such approaches may include:
Sufficient time should be given to children with disabilities to allow them to participate at a pace that suits them. |
Children with disabilities are under-represented in the evidence generation process. | To ensure that children with disabilities are fairly represented in evidence generation activities, researchers can:
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Children with disabilities with particular characteristics can be over-enrolled in evidence generation activities (leading to research fatigue). | Recruitment strategies should be alert to the potential for over-enrolment and approach with caution the recruitment of children who have participated in multiple studies (‘the usual suspects’). Organizations of people with disabilities and parents’ groups can provide knowledge to help avoid the over-enrolment of specific individual children with disabilities in research, sometimes to the exclusion of others. |
Restrictive or inflexible methodologies can be exclusionary and affect how a child with disabilities is portrayed. | Researchers must adopt inclusive evidence generation processes and a flexible approach that uses a range of methods and accepts diverse responses and contributions. Child-friendly and child-led approaches can reduce the risk of methodological bias. Different types and styles of participation should be accepted and supported. |