Factors that support children and young people to express their views and to have them heard in healthcare: An inductive qualitative content analysis.
Clare Davies, Donna Waters, Jennifer Fraser
PMID 38832575WHAT IT FOUND
Twenty children aged 7 to 18 said being heard depended on staff making time, building trusting relationships, using understandable words, including them in team meetings, and family support.
Key findings
01Children described five supports that helped them express their views and be heard: time, relationships, communication, teamwork, and family support.
02Children said nurses were especially important because they spent more time with them and built trusting relationships.
03Children wanted information in language they understood and staff to check consent rather than assume they were okay.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Findings come from 20 children and young people in Sydney, so they are not generalisable to all settings or countries. Children under 7 were excluded, and the paper gives different counts for participants over 11 (n = 11 and n = 18), so younger children's experiences are unclear. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, seriously ill children, and non-English-speaking children were excluded, so their experiences are not represented. This is a qualitative content analysis of experiences, not an intervention study, so it does not show that the named factors improve care outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the five factors as proven ways to increase children's participation. They are themes from 20 children, and the study did not measure whether these actions changed health outcomes.