Children’s and young people’s views of hospitalization: ‘It’s a scary place’

Abstract

Hospitalization remains a stressful experience for many children despite unrestricted parent participation and considerable improvements in hospital environments. This article reports on children and young people’s experiences of hospitalization. In-depth interviews were conducted with children and young people (n=17) aged seven to sixteen years from three hospitals in Ireland. Data were analysed with the assistance of qualitative analysis software. The children expressed a range of fears and anxieties that were collated into two main themes: fears of ward environment and hospital staff and fears about investigations and treatments. Health professionals should be aware of how children can feel threatened and fearful about many aspects of the hospitalization. It is important that preparatory procedures and preadmission programmes are made available for children. Nurses should promote a safe and supportive environment to help reduce children’s anxieties, increase their understanding and facilitate overall coping. Helping children to express their fears and concerns and responding to those concerns is essential for successful outcomes. Parents play a significant role in reassuring their children and providing security and normality. Therefore nurses should involve parents in the delivery of information so that they can help relieve children’s anxieties. Efforts should be directed towards reducing the need for hospitalization of children through increased use of day surgery and outpatient care and tertiary care only used as a last resort.

Ascertaining children’s wishes and feelings about hospital life

“…Although experiences of hospitalisation may vary from child to child, the research highlights particular areas of hospital life that concern many children. These areas include unfamiliar hospital environment; separation from family and friends; intrusive investigations; needles and blood tests; communication with healthcare professionals; and acknowledgement of children’s opinions (Carney et al 2003, Coad & Houston 2007, Coyne & Conlon 2007, Pelander & Leino-Kilpi 2010). The research suggests that children’s views are seldom elicited or considered in the development and implementation of hospital policies and the delivery of health services (Curtis et al 2004).…”

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

“…We acknowledge that the idea of friendship between clinicians and children may challenge clinicians’ assumptions on the nature of relationships. It is quite different from traditional doctor–patient relationship models,10 but research shows this is reality for many children 7 11 12. They speak favourably about professionals who they come to know as friends, especially during long-term care.…”

“…It is quite different from traditional doctor-patient relationship models,[10] but research shows this is reality for many children. [7,11,12] They speak favourably about professionals who they come to know as friends, especially during long-term care. Friendship helps children openup about concerns and engenders trust needed for asking more intimate questions or performing unpleasant examinations.…”

Constructing the Sick Child: The Cultural Politics of Children's Hospitals

“…The study on which this article draws took place over a period of 27 months (2005)(2006)(2007) and examined children's experiences and perceptions of the spatial aspects of hospitals. This particular focus on hospital space differed from socio-psychiatric studies exploring the effects of hospitalization on children, such as Stacey's (1970) early pioneering work on children's experiences of being separated from their families while in hospital (see also Hall and Stacey, 1979) and Coyne and Conlon's (2007) more recent nursing focus on the emotional aspects of children's experiences as hospital patients and their participation in healthcare decision-making (Coyne, 2011). It differed, too, from other previous hospital-based sociological research that is more disease or illness focused -for example, Bluebond-Langner's (1978) classic account of children with cancer, Alderson's (1993) work on children's decision-making in relation to having leg surgery or, more recently, Clark's (2003) account of children coping with chronic illness.…”