Children’s and adolescents’ experiences of healthcare professionals: scoping review protocol

Abstract

Background: Children and adolescents form a distinct patient group, whose experiences are relatively underrepresented in research. Surveys have shown that healthcare professionals (HCPs) do not always communicate with them well, leaving children and adolescents under-involved and unsure who to ask when concerned. Recent qualitative studies have recognised that HCPs have a major influence on children's and adolescents' experiences, where poorer interactions can lead to fear, missed appointments and potentially a worse clinical outcome. Little is known about how children and adolescents experience the HCPs who play such an integral role in their healthcare. This review aims to explore children's and adolescents' lived experience of HCPs, so that a deeper understanding of the interactions between them can equip HCPs to provide care that better aligns with patients' needs. Method: This study will use scoping review methodology to map the existing published literature comprehensively and systematically, following a six-step framework. It will extract children's and adolescents' experiences, in the form of direct quotations, and thematically analyse them. The consultation exercise with children and adolescents will gather additional insights. Findings will consist of descriptions of each theme along with exemplar quotations and consultation comments. Discussion: This scoping review is unique, as it will present children's and adolescents' lived experiences of HCPs, from synthesis of their direct quotations. Findings will assist HCPs to tailor their interpersonal skills to meet patients' needs so that better healthcare can be provided. This study will have implications for clinical educators, policy makers and guideline developers and provide suggestions for further research.

How do children and adolescents experience healthcare professionals? Scoping review and interpretive synthesis

“…The research followed a published protocol (accessible at https:// rdcu. be/ b2FFk), 40 which proposed to supplement traditional scoping review procedures with on July 18, 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.…”

Fifteen-minute consultation: Guide to communicating with children and young people

“…We have published some additional ingredients in the form of a philosophically-guided analysis of more than 600 verbatim quotations from children. [6][7][8] The article you are reading translates that rich qualitative synthesis, collated from patients aged 5-18 years, into generic principles (in the form of steps and strategies), applicable across the paediatric age range. We provide, also, concrete examples to showcase how you may exercise each step.…”

School-going transgender youths’ experiences at health care facilities: a systematic scoping review protocol

“…However, to the best of our knowledge, the last scoping review conducted on transgender youths' experiences of health and social care was conducted between 2006 and 2016 [34]. This is while many transgender youth still experience extreme human rights violations, gender-based violence and transphobia and are often refused medical care due to their gender identity [35,36]. Such adverse experiences have social, educational, health, psychological, and societal implications which not only impacts the individual but also their families, societies, and health systems globally [37].…”