30 Promoting Child and Youth Rights Literacy and the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) for Equity-deserving Populations: A Multi-Partner, Mixed Methods Pilot Study

Abstract

Abstract Background The UNCRC outlines the rights of children and youth to develop their greatest potential. These rights provide a framework for a child-centred approach in paediatric clinical practice and are associated with improved patient outcomes and experiences. While these rights are increasingly acknowledged globally, more work is needed within clinical settings to adopt this rights-based approach. A pilot survey was developed in partnership with an equity-deserving urban youth recreation centre and youth with chronic health conditions from a provincial paediatric tertiary care teaching hospital’s Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) regarding their knowledge of, and access to, the UNCRC. Objectives 1) To identify urban community youth knowledge of, and access to, UNCRC; 2) To identify and compare YAC knowledge of, and access to, UNCRC. Design/Methods Ethics approval was obtained. A survey developed to facilitate UNCRC discussions was presented to the urban community youth, iteratively from 2020 to 2021. Participants were recruited using convenience snowball sampling. Zoom dialogues between the research team and YAC members were held to adapt the survey to YAC context. The survey was completed by YAC members on Qualtrics from May to August 2022. Demographic information and survey results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results 57 participants completed the survey, including 18 youth, 16 caregivers, and 11 staff members from the community, and 11 youth and 1 staff member from YAC. The median ages of urban and YAC youth were 16.4 years and 23 years respectively. Prior to the study, 70% of youth participants did not know, or only sort of knew that the UNCRC existed. Both urban youth and YAC reported that children aged 0 to10 and 11 to 14 have the most access to article 31 (rest and play). However, urban youth reported that 15 to24-year-olds have the most access to article 24 (health and health services), whereas YAC reported article 12 (respect for children’s views) for this age group. Both youth groups reported that children and youth of all ages have the least access to articles 28 and 29 (education), article 12 (respect for children’s views), and article 23 (support for children with disabilities). Conclusion A lack of knowledge of the UNCRC was prevalent in youth from both an urban community and tertiary care hospital, indicating a need for increased dialogue among this community, clinicians, and the healthcare system. These results will also inform patient advocacy communities on gaps in knowledge and access to empower advocacy around child rights.