Children's perspectives on the wicked problem of child poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand: a wearable camera study.

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Child poverty is a wicked problem and a key determinant of health, but research on child poverty has relied largely on self-report methods and reports from parents or caregivers. In this study we aimed to assess aspects of child poverty using data collected by children using wearable cameras. The Kids'Cam Project recruited 168 randomly selected children aged 11-13 from 16 randomly selected schools in the Wellington Region of Aotearoa New Zealand. Each child wore a wearable camera for four consecutive days, recording an image every seven seconds. We used negative binomial regression models to compare measures of household resources, harms, behaviours and built environment characteristics between children living in low socio-economic deprivation households (n=52) and children living in high socio-economic deprivation households (n=26). Compared with children living in conditions of low socio-economic deprivation, children living in conditions of high socio-economic deprivation captured significantly fewer types of fruit (RR=0.46), vegetables (RR=0.25), educational materials (RR = 0.49) and physical activity equipment (RR = 0.66) on camera. However, they lived in homes with more structural deficiencies (RR=4.50) and mould (no mould was observed in low socio-economic deprivation households). They were also less likely to live in households with fixed heating (RR=0.27) and home computers (RR=0.45), and more likely to consume non-core food outside home (RR=1.94). The children in this study show that children in poverty face disadvantages across many aspects of their lives. Comprehensive policies are urgently needed to address the complex problem of child poverty.