Abigail Knight | Institute of Education, University College London (original) (raw)

Papers by Abigail Knight

Transitions to Adulthood Through Recession, 2018

Health Education, 1998

A five‐month exploratory in‐depth study was conducted in two sites in England with young people a... more A five‐month exploratory in‐depth study was conducted in two sites in England with young people age 8‐17 years and adults with a professional or personal interest in health promotion within this age group. Over 90 young people and 40 adults, including parents, teachers, youth workers, health promotion officers, general practitioners and clinical staff, were interviewed. The study aimed to examine adults’ and young peoples’, sometimes differing, beliefs about health, illness and health promotion messages. The findings suggested that young people operate with an integrated concept of health and well‐being which affords high importance to social relations and social activities. Similarly, adults with a broad professional role in relation to young people tended to report that they did not favour a focus on specific health topics, such as drugs, smoking and sexual health, but would prefer to provide a more inclusive approach which takes account of the mental, emotional and social dimensi...

Child & Family Social Work, 2009

... Zuurmond and Patricia Potts ... We would also like to thank the members of our advisory panel... more ... Zuurmond and Patricia Potts ... We would also like to thank the members of our advisory panel, who contributed to the ongoing development of the research and were very generous with their time and expertise: Philippa Russell, Ute Navidi, Elizabeth Reid, Christine Lenehan ...

Adoption & Fostering, 2006

Previous research has shown that looked after children and young people are vulnerable to poor li... more Previous research has shown that looked after children and young people are vulnerable to poor life outcomes, including early pregnancy. Abigail Knight, Elaine Chase and Peter Aggleton discuss findings from a Department of Health-funded study on teenage pregnancy among young people in and leaving care. Using in-depth interviews, data were collected from 63 recently looked after young people aged 15 to 24 and from 78 associated professionals from a range of backgrounds, across four research sites. This paper focuses specifically on young people's experiences of foster care and the interface between foster care and the emotional influences surrounding pregnancy, opportunities for and challenges to learning about sex and relationships, and the provision of support during pregnancy and early parenthood. Findings suggest the need to provide foster carers with support, training and guidance concerning relevant and appropriate education for young people with regard to sex and relations...

for looked after children and children in need: achievements and challenges

This research study was carried out by the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, Un... more This research study was carried out by the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, between January and July 2008.The study was funded by The Back-Up Trust, an organisation working with spinally injured adults and children, as part of their Schools Project. The main purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of children and young people with a SCI in mainstream school. This was to inform The Back-Up Trust’s Schools Project, which has the aim of improving the quality of school provision for children with a spinal cord injury. The study asked young people, parents and carers about their positive and negative experiences. It also aimed to investigate schools’ experiences of working with young people with a SCI and the challenges and factors that help them work effectively with children with a SCI.

Journal of Poverty and Social Justice

This paper contributes to scholarship concerned with media representations of poverty by explorin... more This paper contributes to scholarship concerned with media representations of poverty by exploring newspaper coverage of food poverty as experienced by UK children and families. Our content analysis of six contrasting print newspapers from 2006-15 finds that reporting of children's and families' food poverty begins in 2011, peaks in 2014 and is dominated by articles about food banks. Narrative analysis identifies differences as well as similarities in the ways the problem is constructed in papers with different political stances as well as notable absences in the coverage, including the broader dimensions of food poverty and the views of children themselves.

BMJ

The end of the summer holidays will be a respite for children experiencing holiday hunger. But as... more The end of the summer holidays will be a respite for children experiencing holiday hunger. But as Rebecca O'Connell and colleagues explain, food poverty is a problem all year round

Children & Society, 2016

This article engages with the question of how theorisation of the social construction of childhoo... more This article engages with the question of how theorisation of the social construction of childhood can be applied across cultural contexts, taking China and Britain as examples. The paper draws on collaborative dialogue between scholars from the People's Republic of China and Britain, and literatures from both Anglophone and Mandarin sources. It takes forward emergent work on theorizing childhood from diverse global perspectives by focusing on the institutionalisation of childhood in these countries, with particular reference to language, conceptualisation, and legal frameworks relating to chronological age.

Sociological Research Online, 2015

By using examples from food and domestic life in England during 1950, this paper examines the use... more By using examples from food and domestic life in England during 1950, this paper examines the use of narrative archival sources as a methodological alternative to researching everyday food practices by traditional research methods, such as interviewing. Through the analysis of three diaries written for the Mass Observation Archive, and the everyday food practices expressed in these diaries, we consider the benefits and challenges of using narrative archival diary data to gain insights into food and eating during times of austerity. Before presenting and discussing the cases, we outline some of the challenges of researching food practices as a result of the muted, moral and mundane aspects of such practices. We then describe the study on which this paper is based, including a discussion of our methods and the reasons for using diaries and selecting our cases. Following this, we set the scene for understanding food and eating in 1950s Britain, such as contextual background about ratio...

The emotional wellbeing of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. Knight, Abigail a... more The emotional wellbeing of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. Knight, Abigail and Statham, June and Chase, Elaine (2008) The emotional wellbeing of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. ...

Transitions to Adulthood Through Recession, 2018

Health Education, 1998

A five‐month exploratory in‐depth study was conducted in two sites in England with young people a... more A five‐month exploratory in‐depth study was conducted in two sites in England with young people age 8‐17 years and adults with a professional or personal interest in health promotion within this age group. Over 90 young people and 40 adults, including parents, teachers, youth workers, health promotion officers, general practitioners and clinical staff, were interviewed. The study aimed to examine adults’ and young peoples’, sometimes differing, beliefs about health, illness and health promotion messages. The findings suggested that young people operate with an integrated concept of health and well‐being which affords high importance to social relations and social activities. Similarly, adults with a broad professional role in relation to young people tended to report that they did not favour a focus on specific health topics, such as drugs, smoking and sexual health, but would prefer to provide a more inclusive approach which takes account of the mental, emotional and social dimensi...

Child & Family Social Work, 2009

... Zuurmond and Patricia Potts ... We would also like to thank the members of our advisory panel... more ... Zuurmond and Patricia Potts ... We would also like to thank the members of our advisory panel, who contributed to the ongoing development of the research and were very generous with their time and expertise: Philippa Russell, Ute Navidi, Elizabeth Reid, Christine Lenehan ...

Adoption & Fostering, 2006

Previous research has shown that looked after children and young people are vulnerable to poor li... more Previous research has shown that looked after children and young people are vulnerable to poor life outcomes, including early pregnancy. Abigail Knight, Elaine Chase and Peter Aggleton discuss findings from a Department of Health-funded study on teenage pregnancy among young people in and leaving care. Using in-depth interviews, data were collected from 63 recently looked after young people aged 15 to 24 and from 78 associated professionals from a range of backgrounds, across four research sites. This paper focuses specifically on young people's experiences of foster care and the interface between foster care and the emotional influences surrounding pregnancy, opportunities for and challenges to learning about sex and relationships, and the provision of support during pregnancy and early parenthood. Findings suggest the need to provide foster carers with support, training and guidance concerning relevant and appropriate education for young people with regard to sex and relations...

for looked after children and children in need: achievements and challenges

This research study was carried out by the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, Un... more This research study was carried out by the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, between January and July 2008.The study was funded by The Back-Up Trust, an organisation working with spinally injured adults and children, as part of their Schools Project. The main purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of children and young people with a SCI in mainstream school. This was to inform The Back-Up Trust’s Schools Project, which has the aim of improving the quality of school provision for children with a spinal cord injury. The study asked young people, parents and carers about their positive and negative experiences. It also aimed to investigate schools’ experiences of working with young people with a SCI and the challenges and factors that help them work effectively with children with a SCI.

Journal of Poverty and Social Justice

This paper contributes to scholarship concerned with media representations of poverty by explorin... more This paper contributes to scholarship concerned with media representations of poverty by exploring newspaper coverage of food poverty as experienced by UK children and families. Our content analysis of six contrasting print newspapers from 2006-15 finds that reporting of children's and families' food poverty begins in 2011, peaks in 2014 and is dominated by articles about food banks. Narrative analysis identifies differences as well as similarities in the ways the problem is constructed in papers with different political stances as well as notable absences in the coverage, including the broader dimensions of food poverty and the views of children themselves.

BMJ

The end of the summer holidays will be a respite for children experiencing holiday hunger. But as... more The end of the summer holidays will be a respite for children experiencing holiday hunger. But as Rebecca O'Connell and colleagues explain, food poverty is a problem all year round

Children & Society, 2016

This article engages with the question of how theorisation of the social construction of childhoo... more This article engages with the question of how theorisation of the social construction of childhood can be applied across cultural contexts, taking China and Britain as examples. The paper draws on collaborative dialogue between scholars from the People's Republic of China and Britain, and literatures from both Anglophone and Mandarin sources. It takes forward emergent work on theorizing childhood from diverse global perspectives by focusing on the institutionalisation of childhood in these countries, with particular reference to language, conceptualisation, and legal frameworks relating to chronological age.

Sociological Research Online, 2015

By using examples from food and domestic life in England during 1950, this paper examines the use... more By using examples from food and domestic life in England during 1950, this paper examines the use of narrative archival sources as a methodological alternative to researching everyday food practices by traditional research methods, such as interviewing. Through the analysis of three diaries written for the Mass Observation Archive, and the everyday food practices expressed in these diaries, we consider the benefits and challenges of using narrative archival diary data to gain insights into food and eating during times of austerity. Before presenting and discussing the cases, we outline some of the challenges of researching food practices as a result of the muted, moral and mundane aspects of such practices. We then describe the study on which this paper is based, including a discussion of our methods and the reasons for using diaries and selecting our cases. Following this, we set the scene for understanding food and eating in 1950s Britain, such as contextual background about ratio...

The emotional wellbeing of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. Knight, Abigail a... more The emotional wellbeing of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. Knight, Abigail and Statham, June and Chase, Elaine (2008) The emotional wellbeing of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. ...