Children’s perceptions of hospitalisation Theresa Pengelly Senior Lecturer in Child Health University of Worcester

Why do we need to know?  Traditionally children have been regarded as lacking the social and cognitive as lacking the social and cognitive competence to make informed decisions competence to make informed decisions about their lives about their lives Coad and Houston( 2006) Coad and Houston( 2006)

Why do we need to know?  UN Convention Rights of Child (1989)  Children Act (1989 & 2004)  NHS Plan (2000)  National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services(2004) for Children, Young People and Maternity Services(2004)  Every Child Matters (2004)

Gaining the child’s viewpoint of the ideal qualities of a child health nurse  Six children age 8 – 10 years  Recent surgical experience (in patient)  No significant previous healthcare experience experience Aim was to contribute towards a more balanced representation (Coad &Houston 2006) 2006)

Research Question  What are the ideal qualities of a child health nurse? health nurse?  Qualitative Approach  Phenomenology  Bracketing

Data Collection  Sample : six children age 8-10 yrs who had surgery  Recruited from Ward  Child’s Home  Draw and Write and Semi Structured Interviews  Pilot Study ( Allmark 2002)

Ethical Issues  Ethical and R&D approval  Informed Consent  Child and Parent Information Sheets  Use of Stickers and Certificates( Laws et al 2003) al 2003)  Thank you letters child and parent

Draw and Write technique  The child is asked to draw a picture related to a specific topic with either the child or researcher writing down specific ideas(Bradding and Horstman 1999)  Topic: The ideal child health nurse Limitations (Backett-Milburn,McKie 1999)

Data Analysis  Thematic analysis  Modified version of Van Kaam(1966)  Drawings described  Use of data as theme titles(Miller 2003)

Results- Seven Themes  They say really nice things (6)  Happy (5)  Comes quickly(3)  Asked what food or drink I wanted (3)  Special(3)  Beautiful (1)  Polite (1)

They say really nice things  She asked if I wanted to her to come down with me and I said yes and she down with me and I said yes and she said to look at the posters, they are said to look at the posters, they are really cool aren’t they and I said yeah really cool aren’t they and I said yeah it actually had all my favourite cartoons it actually had all my favourite cartoons and all of that” Child 1(f 9 years) and all of that” Child 1(f 9 years)

Happy  They tried to make me laugh and one nurse put a plaster on my teddy nurse put a plaster on my teddy just to make me happy just to make me happy ( Child 3 m 10 years) ( Child 3 m 10 years)

Comes Quickly  When I ask for tablets, when my leg is hurting they get it right away Child 4 ( f 10 years) ( f 10 years)

Asks what food and drink I wanted  I told my Mum that I was hungry and thirsty so the nurse came in to give me some pain relief and Mum asked for some crisps and a drink and I had cheese and onion flavour and I really thought that was good ( child 1 f 9years) was good ( child 1 f 9years)

Special Special  She was special when we went in she was there and she was there nearly she was there and she was there nearly all the time, and it felt really good all the time, and it felt really good Child 6(m 8 years) Child 6(m 8 years)

Beautiful  Cos, she had nice hair and she always went to me and beautiful means nice, kind, fancy and beautiful Child 6 (m 8 years)

Polite  Like when you pressed the button again, they were real kind as well, they talked they were real kind as well, they talked so polite child 5 (m 10 years) so polite child 5 (m 10 years)

Implications for Practice  Each child is an individual so there is not a blueprint for a child health nurses is not a blueprint for a child health nurses behaviour/attitude behaviour/attitude  Findings indicate that we need to be aware of the impact of behaviour, appearance and attitudes when caring for a child

Ideas for further development To focus further research on exploring the child’s viewpoint of how child health professionals gain a rapport with a child. “having a good connection” “having a good connection” Fleitas (1997) Fleitas (1997)