Understanding child and youth migrant wellbeing: Reflections from a systematic literature review in the Western Pacific region

Abstract

One of the key social determinants of health that can impact children and young people is migration. Advances in health research have seen a shift away from a biomedical model of health to understanding health as a multifactorial, holistic state - mentally, physically, and socially. The aim of this article is to illustrate how different methods (i.e., adult-centric, child/youth-centered) and frameworks (i.e., biomedical, strengths-based) can impact on research findings in childhood research. Drawing on findings from a systematic review, we examine the approaches taken in eleven studies investigating the health and wellbeing of young migrants in the Western Pacific region. The systematic review highlighted a range of methods (quantitative surveys, drawings, photo novellas) that were used to capture child/youth perspectives, and identify contextual factors beyond immediate biomedical factors that impacted their wellbeing. Adult-centric biomedical approaches were limited in understanding these broader environmental contexts, yet these approaches were prevalent in this body of literature. We highlight the importance of developing more strengths-based approaches and child/youth-centered methods to gain a comprehensive understanding of social and physical environments that child and youth migrants draw upon to support their wellbeing.