ABSTRACT

Children growing up during the COVID-19 pandemic have seen unprecedented restructuring of their childhoods through lockdowns, virtual schooling and other public health measures. Theories of biographical disruption developed from individual experiences of life-altering diagnoses predict that unforeseen events such as the pandemic will restructure individual perceptions of their future life narrative. Such theories have been developed from adult experiences, however, with scholars suggesting that normalcy may be more salient to children’s experience of chronic illness. Children’s experiences might be expected to vary from those of adults’ due to their different structural position and younger life history which shifts children’s perceptions of temporality, normalcy and disruption. Empirical evidence from young people with chronic illness, meanwhile, describes diverse experiences of continuity and disruption, while the rhythms and interruptions of childhood chronic illness remain without an adequate explanatory framework. Aotearoa New Zealand’s zero-COVID approach presents a unique opportunity to understand children’s perceptions of disruption and continuity. I worked with 26 children aged 7–11 living in diverse locations in Auckland, developing a comic-based method to elicit children’s perspectives and co-construct narratives over virtual or in-person research visits. Juxtaposed with caregiver experiences and paediatric asthma research, I analyse children’s perspectives to suggest how children differently make sense of and accommodate crisis events. I argue that moving beyond biographical disruption to address the bio-psycho-social factors producing diverse ruptures, discontinuities and interferences will more completely represent children’s experiences of chronic illness and life crises.

摘要

在 COVID-19 大流行期间成长的儿童通过封锁、虚拟学校和其他公共卫生措施经历了前所未有的童年重组。从改变生活的诊断的个人经历发展而来的传记中断理论预测，诸如大流行之类的不可预见事件将重构个人对其未来生活叙事的看法。然而，此类理论是根据成人经验发展而来的，学者们认为，常态可能对儿童的慢性病经历更为重要。由于儿童不同的结构位置和较年轻的生活史，儿童的经历可能会与成人不同，这会改变儿童对暂时性、常态和混乱的看法。与此同时，来自患有慢性病的年轻人的经验证据，描述了连续性和中断的各种经历，而儿童慢性病的节奏和中断仍然没有足够的解释框架。Aotearoa New Zealand 的零 COVID 方法提供了一个独特的机会来了解儿童对中断和连续性的看法。我与生活在奥克兰不同地点的 26 名 7-11 岁的儿童一起工作，开发了一种基于漫画的方法，通过虚拟或面对面的研究访问来引出儿童的观点并共同构建故事。结合看护者经验和小儿哮喘研究，我分析了儿童的观点，以表明儿童如何以不同方式理解和适应危机事件。我认为超越传记中断来解决产生不同破裂的生物心理社会因素，