Food Practices of Young People in Residential Care. A mixed methods study

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Matthias Richter; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Schröer; Professorin Dr. Vicki Täubig
• Subject Area: Educational Research on Socialization, Welfare and Professionalism
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390859187

Young people are socialised and educated through eating. When young people live in public institutions, organising food and everyday dealing with young people's food is a key aspect of pedagogical and therapeutic work. So far, however, there has been little research into how young people's food practices are affected by the different ways that food is organised in residential institutions. International research approaches (such as the "food practices approach" used by Punch) are rarely integrated into the research in Germany. Until now, research has concentrated on analysing young people's nutritional behaviour or eating routines in families. As yet there have been no robust findings on the food practices of young people in residential care for young people with and without disabilities or on the organisation of eating in such pedagogical contexts.The proposed research project will use a mixed-methods approach to investigate the food practices of young people living in residential care, and how young people's eating is produced organisationally in these institutions. As well as a systematic review of the international state of the research, the research design will take the following two approaches:- A standardised survey questionnaire will be used to create a descriptive analysis of young people's nutrition and eating forms and how they are organised in residential institutions. The central focus will be on who eats what, where, when, how and with whom, and on attitudes to and the organisation of eating.- A qualitative investigation (participant observation, documentary analysis, interviews with young people and professionals) will centre on analysing young people's food practices. Particular attention will be paid to forms of eating which are "incidental" or spontaneously organised. The documentary analysis and the expert interviews will also focus on what food and eating mean to organisations, and how they interpret it; the interviews with young people will focus on the meanings ascribed to their food and eating practices.This investigation will make a fundamental contribution to research on everyday pedagogical approaches in publicly run residential institutions, and on the socialisation of food among young people. Studying the international research, it can be seen that there has been almost no thorough research on the everyday conditions of growing up in residential institutions. The applicants have been working together closely for years, and have a wide range of expertise to offer the project thanks to their different approaches (coming from medical sociology, research into youth and socialisation, and research on child and youth welfare). Our intensive cooperation with Samantha Punch, an international pioneer in this research field, should also be mentioned.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants