The Perspective of the Hospitalized School-Aged Child on the Sharing of Information by Healthcare Professionals

Communication is a right of children, a pillar of the philosophy of Child-Centered Care and health advocacy, and a priority for research. Despite the widespread recognition that developmentally appropriate information has a positive effect on children’s healthcare experience, their information needs remain unmet. Giving voice to the child’s experience is vital for transforming this scenario. In our study, we aimed to understand the perspective of hospitalized children regarding the sharing of information by healthcare professionals. A descriptive, qualitative study was developed, grounded in the philosophy of Child-Centered Care. Thirty school-aged children, hospitalized in a pediatric inpatient unit at an university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, participated in the study. Data collection occurred between July 2023 and May 2024 through semi-structured individual interviews, analyzed using Inductive Thematic Analysis and Lexical Analysis. Four themes emerged: 1) Family members: source of information, support, and comfort; 2) Individual information needs; 3) Barriers to understanding information; and 4) Identifying encouraging information. In summary, for children, the sharing of information by healthcare professionals is permeated by barriers that hinder their understanding, requiring them to turn to family members to decode messages, as they often feel shy about directing questions to the healthcare professionals. During hospitalization, children identify information shared by the team, such as the possibility of attending the playroom and the pedagogy room, as powerful in alleviating boredom, promoting cheerfulness, and supporting learning.

沟通是儿童的一项基本权利，亦是儿童中心照护（Child-Centered Care）理念与健康倡导的核心支柱，同时也是研究的优先议题。尽管学界已普遍认可，契合儿童发展阶段的信息能够改善儿童的就医体验，但儿童的信息需求仍未得到充分满足。让儿童的心声得以传递，对扭转这一现状至关重要。本研究旨在探究住院儿童对医疗专业人员信息告知行为的看法。本研究采用基于儿童中心照护（Child-Centered Care）理念的描述性质性研究设计，共纳入30名学龄儿童受试者，他们均在巴西圣保罗某大学医院的儿科住院病房接受治疗。数据采集工作于2023年7月至2024年5月期间开展，通过半结构化个人访谈法完成数据收集，并采用归纳式主题分析（Inductive Thematic Analysis）与词汇分析（Lexical Analysis）进行数据分析。最终提炼出四大研究主题：1）家庭成员：信息来源、支持与慰藉；2）个体信息需求；3）信息理解障碍；4）积极信息的识别。综上，对儿童而言，医疗专业人员的信息告知行为往往存在诸多阻碍其理解的障碍，儿童常因羞于向医疗专业人员提出疑问，只能转而向家庭成员寻求信息解码。在住院期间，儿童认为医疗团队分享的部分信息——例如可使用游戏室与教学活动室的相关通知——能够有效缓解住院期间的无聊感、提振情绪并助力学习。