Children's best and worst experiences during hospitalisation
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Published on: July 30, 2009
Tiina Pelander1, Helena Leino-Kilpi
1Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. tiina.pelander@turkuamk.fi
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nursing Research
- Child Psychology in Healthcare Settings
Background:
- Previous pediatric nursing research has largely overlooked children's perspectives.
- Parental opinions are often collected but may not accurately reflect children's experiences.
- Understanding children's views is crucial for improving pediatric care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To document the best and worst hospital experiences from the viewpoint of school-aged children.
- To gather insights into children's subjective experiences during hospitalization.
Main Methods:
- Sentence completion was used for data collection.
- Content analysis was applied to code responses and identify key themes.
- 388 Finnish children aged 7-11 years from university hospitals participated.
Main Results:
- Positive experiences centered on people, activities (especially entertainment), environment, and outcomes.
- Negative experiences involved people, feelings, activities, and the hospital environment.
- Children reported illness symptoms, separation, and unpleasant procedures as worst experiences.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric care requires enhancement by incorporating children's positive experiences to mitigate negative ones.
- Children's perspectives should inform strategic planning, purchasing, and facility design in healthcare.
- Involving children in their healthcare, respecting their rights, can reduce stress and improve outcomes.
Unlabelled:
THE STUDY RATIONALE: In earlier research on paediatric nursing care, children's views have received only scant attention. As a rule, it is the parents' opinions that are solicited, but these are not necessarily accurate representations of what children think.
Aim:
To describe school-age children's best and worst experiences during hospitalisation.
Methodological Design And Justification:
Data were collected by using sentence completion. Using the method of content analysis, the answers were coded and main and subcategories identified. A total of 388 Finnish children aged 7-11 years from all Finnish university hospitals (n = 5) who stayed at least overnight at paediatric or surgical wards (n = 23) were included in the study.
Results:
Children's best experiences were related to people, their characteristics, activities, environment and outcomes. Especially entertainment activities and objects were mentioned among best experiences. The worst experiences were related to people, feelings, activities and environment. As patients, children felt symptoms of illness and separation in an environment where someone conducted physical care and treatment activities, especially procedures perceived as unpleasant.
Conclusions:
Paediatric care should be improved especially by taking into account children's best experiences and by utilising them to minimise or eliminate worst experiences. Children's own views should be used in strategic planning, purchasing, space design and other key initiatives. Children are more likely to be less stressed if their views are taken into consideration and they are allowed to take part in their health care in accordance with their rights.
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