Examining Illness through Pediatric Poetry and Prose: A Mixed Methods Study.

Area of Science:

• Medical Sociology
• Child Health
• Narrative Medicine

Background:

• Hospitalized children with significant illnesses often have unique communication needs.
• Narrative interventions can provide valuable insights into their experiences.
• Understanding patient-generated texts is crucial for holistic care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the linguistic and narrative features of texts by hospitalized pediatric patients.
• To explore if these texts align with health outcome improvement strategies.
• To classify patient stories using established illness narrative frameworks.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods retrospective study design.
• Interpretive theoretical analysis of patient-generated texts (poetry and prose).
• Linguistic analysis to identify specific textual characteristics.

Main Results:

• Hospital-generated texts exhibit linguistic traits associated with health outcome improvement.
• Pediatric illness narratives can be categorized using Frank's illness narrative types.
• Patient stories offer authentic insights into their lives and relationships, irrespective of formal narrative structure.

Conclusions:

• Pediatric patient narratives are valuable sources of insight into their experiences and relationships.
• Narrative interventions can facilitate understanding of pediatric patients' worlds.
• The linguistic and narrative analysis of these texts can inform caregiving and support.