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6/2020 – Evaluation in Social Work 1/2021 – ERIS Journal - Winter 2021 - Forced Migration and Minority Groups 2/2021 – 3/2021 – 4/2021 – ERIS Journal - Summer 2021 - Histories of social work

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Issues » 2018/6 - Assessment in Social Work »

Using Capability Approach in Child Well-being Assessment

Jitka Navrátilová

Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: This study aims to analyse the implications of the assessment of child well-being, whose definition and measurement bring a number of uncertainties in practice. In the text, I answer the question: “What implications of assessing child well-being do social workers bring with the use of the capability approach?” THEORETICAL BASE: When assessing child well-being, I draw on the capability approach formulated by Amartya Sen (1992, 1993, 1999) and later elaborated by Martha Nussbaum (1999, 2000, 2007). The presented text reflects the changing context of child well-being (Ben-Arieh, 2009) in confrontation with changing childhood (Corsaro, 2005; Ariès, 1962; Qvortrup, 1999), which involves the debate on the assessment of child well-being and its measurement. METHODS: This is presented as a theoretical study. OUTCOMES: The capability approach, which emphasizes child participation and works with personal, cultural, social and political influences, has proven to be an approach whose application provides a more realistic image of not only current but also future child well-being. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: Based on new findings on childhood in the context of post-modern conditions, it is clear that Nussbaum‘s dimensional approach to capabilities, in particular, can serve social workers as an appropriate tool for assessing child well-being.

Keywords:
capability approach, child well-being, assessment

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