Caregivers' Experience of Bronchiolitis Explanations: A Qualitative Phenomenological Interview Study

Bronchiolitis is a common pathology that presents with a wide range of severity, and, because its treatment is supportive, counseling caregivers is often challenging. This study sought to understand the real-time experience of caregivers receiving explanations after their child was diagnosed with bronchiolitis in the pediatric ED.

Caregivers were interviewed in the ED at a pediatric quaternary care hospital. Interviews were conducted after participants received the medical explanation from an attending physician. Interviews followed the phenomenological framework, an approach that seeks to understand the essence of an experience. Interviews were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis to identify common themes.

Interviews were conducted with 20 participants, including mothers (75%), fathers (15%), and grandmothers (10%) of patients. Two theme categories were identified: disease experience, which described the experience of caring and seeking care for a sick child, and worthiness, which described a sense of deservedness and fairness with which participants expressed desire and expectation for their child's care.

Participants' experience of the medical explanation extended beyond information transmission. Several experiential themes echoed previous studies' findings, including themes around medical terminology, fear, and caregiver identity. To provide effective explanations, providers should consider caregivers' needs beyond medical information. By positing that communication is the co-creation of meaning, and not simply linear transmission, coordinated management of meaning is a communication theory that provides a framework for the complexity of participants' experience. Future studies might explore the source of participants' sense of worthiness and nontraditional communication frameworks to enhance parents/caregivers' experience.