Drawing mattering into practice with comic strip dialogues

Mattering is increasingly recognized as central to young people’s well-being, participation, and development. Although research links mattering to positive outcomes, less is known about how it is enacted in everyday interactions. This study addresses this gap by examining students’ perspectives on comic strip dialogues as a participatory method (Røkkum, 2023). It draws on professional skills training in which second-year social work students conducted the method with young people. The data consists of 56 reflection notes, analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis with an abductive approach. Mattering was explored through the dual dimensions of feeling valued and adding value. Findings show that mattering emerged through small, situated practices such as allowing children to take the lead, tolerating silence, withholding premature interpretation, and attending to material conditions. From the students’ perspectives, drawing functioned as a relational mediator that supported voice and self-determination, while mattering appeared fragile and easily disrupted by interactional and contextual constraints.