EcoMap

This paper presents findings from my doctoral research that explores the social networks of young people in foster care, within the United Kingdom (UK). The research draws on the theory of social capital as well as Goffman’s seminal work on stigma. This qualitative project is based on a total of twenty interviews with young people in foster care aged between twelve to fourteen years old. Each participant was interviewed on two separate occasions. Visual methods were employed, which included photo-elicitation techniques and an eco-mapping exercise.

During the first interview the eco-maps were completed with the participants and then they were left with digital cameras with the brief to take photographs, over the following two weeks, of things that were important to them.

The methods served as a useful way to empower the participants as it enabled them to be active in the data collection. This promoted a partnership approach to the research with the young people acting as photo-researchers. This paper considers the benefits of the methods used and presents some of the important data that was collected, which I argue without these visual methods, may have gone unobserved.

Understanding children and adolescents’ psychological well-being is a global imperative. Conducting this type of research in Romania, a country that underwent major transformations in the past two decades at a political, economic, and social level, is even more pressing. Both the family life and school system of the country have been subjected to significant changes (Mărginean, 2002; Robila, 2004; Schifirnet, 2007; Stanciulescu, 2010) and this raises the important questions of how children experience such changes and to what degree their life, education, and well-being are affected by them. This is particularly important since, an accurate identification of how the main actors of the school system in Romania (students and teachers) make sense of psychological well-being, is central for the development of healthy schools and communities, aligned with international standards for contemporary education.

This chapter explores the universe of actors, relations, and reactions that define psychological wellbeing among Romanian children and adolescents. Using a qualitative methodology based on ecomaps, interviews, and focus groups, this study followed a qualitative, emic approach, trying to bring children’s voices to the fore. Findings revealed a rich world of social relations in which Romanian participants are immersed, all contributing, to some extent, to their state of wellbeing. The four main categories of actors our participants referred to in their drawings and stories were: (a) members of the nuclear family, (b) members of the extended family, (c) teachers, and (d) friends. The chapter explores in detail the types of relationships, their supportive or stressful aspects, and children and adolescents’ reactions to stress and support developed in relation to these and other actors. It is hoped, therefore, that our study offers not only important practical information for psychologists, teachers, and parents in Romania but can also contribute to a better understanding of psychological wellbeing as a multifaceted, cultural construct.