Health care professionals’ perspective on children’s participation in health care situations: encounters in mutuality and alienation

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Encounters between health care professionals, parents and children in health care services for children are complex as these encounters involve the various perspective and understanding of each person involved. The aim of the study is to describe health care professionals’ understanding of significant encounters with children and parents to uncover the meaning of participation.

Method: A qualitative descriptive design was applied. The health care professionals’ narratives (n = 35) of their significant encounters with children were interpreted from the perspective of participation. A phenomenological-hermeneutical approach was used in the analysis.

Results: The findings show children’s participation as a dynamic movement in mutuality and alienation which can vary within a situation or between different situations involving the same persons. The movement can occur in mutuality and or in alienation depending on what or towards whom the persons direct themselves. Understanding participation as a movement in health care situations is useful in supporting children’s opportunities to participate from their own perspective and deal with health care examinations.

Conclusion: The outcome of a situation can never be predicted. Still, professionals can be aware of their actions in encounters with children.

KEYWORDS:

• Children
• encounters
• health care professional
• health care situations
• participation
• phenomenological-hermeneutical approach

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all participating health care professionals for kindly sharing their experiences on encounters with children and their parents.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Inheritance Fund under Grant [2011/155].

Notes on contributors

Maria Harder

Maria Harder is a Public health nurse and a senior lecturer in caring science and primary health care on the advanced nursing program at Mälardalen university, Sweden. Her research interests concern child perspective and children’s perspective as well as children’s rights in health care settings.

Maja Söderbäck

Maja Söderbäck is an Associate professor in Caring sciences and a Paediatric nurse working with education and research at the School of health care and social welfare at Mälardalen university, Sweden. Her research interests is in children and family nursing and of children’s rights in health care settings.

Albertine Ranheim

Albertine Ranheim is a Public health nurse and a lecturer within caring science and primary health care on the advanced nursing program at Karolinska Institutet. Research topics of interest lies within caring science with an ecological and integrative perspective.