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Family-based activity settings of children in a low-income African context
Sadna Balton1,2, Kitty Uys3, Erna Alant1,4
1Center for Alternate and Augmentative Communication, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Insights
Children in low-income African settings engage in diverse activities shaped by their environment and caregiver views. Understanding these culturally relevant activity settings is key for child development research and interventions.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- African Context Studies
- Cultural Psychology
Background:
- Critique of Euro-American developmental norms in Africa.
- Importance of family activity settings for contextual understanding.
- Alignment of activity settings with strengths-based, family-centered practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- Describe typical activity settings for young children in Soweto, South Africa.
- Focus on low-income African contexts.
- Inform culturally relevant developmental research.
Main Methods:
- Descriptive research design.
- Structured interviews with 90 caregivers.
- Focus on children aged 3-5 years and 11 months.
Main Results:
- Children participate in a wide range of activities.
- Participation levels vary significantly.
- Activity types are influenced by context and caregiver perceptions.
Conclusions:
- Highlights the need to understand children's activities within the family context.
- Emphasizes culturally specific developmental pathways.
- Supports context-informed intervention strategies.
Background:
There has been an overwhelming call to improve the understanding of how children develop within an African context as Euro-American definitions of competence have been uncritically adopted as the norm for children in Africa. The activities that children engage in within the family setting are seen as important to understand how children develop within context. The use of activity settings is closely aligned with a strengths-based perspective of family-centred practice and contributes to improved sustainability of intervention.
Objectives:
This study that was conducted in Soweto, South Africa, aims to describe activity settings that typically developing young children in low-income African contexts participate in.
Method:
A descriptive design using structured interviews was utilised to obtain information about activity settings that children aged 3-5 years and 11 months engaged in. Structured interviews with 90 caregivers were conducted.
Results:
Findings show that children participate in a variety of activities with varied participation levels. The types of activities are dependent on the context and perceptions of caregivers.
Conclusion:
These findings draw attention to understanding activities that children engage in within the family context.
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