BODYTALK

During the school years, many children become increasingly aware of their bodies and how they look compared with others. Concerns about body and appearance can affect children’s well-being. School health nurses meet with children throughout their school years and therefore have an important opportunity to talk with them about their bodies. However, there is a lack of concrete tools to support these conversations.

In this project, we are developing and testing BODYTALK, a visual, dialogue-based tool for school health nurses and children in the middle years of primary and lower secondary school. The tool is being co-developed with children, parents, school health nurses, designers, and researchers.

BODYTALK is being tested by school health nurses in their conversations with children in Viborg Municipality to explore how the tool works in practice. In addition, children test the material itself while we use eye-tracking to examine which parts of the material attract their attention. The children’s facial expressions are recorded using a camera, which may provide further insight into how they respond to the material.

Interviews are also conducted with children, parents, and school health nurses about their experiences and perspectives on BODYTALK. By combining these different methods, we aim to gain a more nuanced understanding of how BODYTALK is experienced and used, and what could be improved. The findings will be used to further develop BODYTALK and provide a foundation for future studies.