ABSTRACT
AimsRural communities and children are underrepresented in research. It is imperative that researchers engage with these populations, whether it be to disseminate findings or inform the research agenda. Post-pandemic, ensuring these communities are not forgotten is even more essential. Children may have more resistance to the virus but have had to endure the economic and social impact of the lockdowns. Art is used as a pressure-free way to engage children and elicit their experiences, feelings, and concerns.1 Therefore, we conducted a drawing activity with children living in rural areas to explore the pandemic from the child’s perspective. This examines how we worked with communities to use the arts to allow children who experience marginalisation to voice their feelings/opinions.MethodsPartnerships were built with local Indian community researchers and charities before commencing the work. The researchers understood the local context and spoke the primary local language. With the help of local teachers, the community researchers recruited 20 children from rural villages in Dungarpur to take part in the activity in a school hall. Trained community researchers explained the activity in the regional language, with translators who could speak the local dialect where necessary. Written consent was taken from both the parents and children, with agreement that the drawings could be freely used as part of exhibitions and presentations. Everyone wore masks and kept a minimum of 1 metre apart (the local guidance at the time) and hand sanitizer was readily available. Children were briefed on the project and, after some ice-breaker games, were asked to depict their experiences of the pandemic. The pictures were collected, scanned, and uploaded to our website as part of a global virtual exhibition on the arts and public health. The online event included talks from international scientists, artists, NGOs, and journalists.ResultsThe children’s drawings illustrated that they were worried about the global impact of the pandemic;felt isolated;feared for their parents’ job security;concerned about getting behind at school;and showed understanding of COVID safety precautions. Some depicted experiences of food insecurity. Others took a more positive approach, illustrating how happy they were about spending more time with their families. Presenting these images at the online exhibition raised awareness of the topic and stimulated discussion, potentially encouraging the multidisciplinary and influential attendees to pursue the research further or translate our approach to a different subject area. Additionally, it gave rural Indian communities a platform to voice their concernsConclusionThe engagement exercise allowed us to gauge the concerns of a marginalised community during the pandemic. Local partnerships and community collaborations were key to conducting this work. It allowed us to conduct an engagement activity that could be tailored to other contexts and which gave us a much-needed insight into the challenges that children in rural India have faced during the pandemic. This helped set research priorities and inform the discussion with policymakers, funders, and academics about key issues we need to address for children to rebuild their lives post pandemic.ReferenceChildren in Focus, J. Boyden.