Examining Children’s Experiences of Visiting Their Pediatrician: Insights into Communication, Actions, and Emotions

ABSTRACT

The way children experience a medical visit lays the groundwork for their health education and fosters trust and comfort in healthcare relationships. This study employed a retrospective and narrative-based design to analyze how children perceived their experiences of visits to their doctor, how they describe their emotions, and how they portray the different relationships within the doctor-caregiver-patient triad. Three hundred fifty students (50.75% female, 8–13 years, Mage = 10.5, SD = 5.93, 77.95% from primary school) completed a booklet comprising different narrative activities. The booklet underwent quantitative content analysis according to gender and school level. Children reported that the doctors primarily addressed their caregivers when asking for and delivering health-related information, while their role was mostly passive. Meeting with friendly doctors and being in a welcoming environment were associated with a positive medical experience, while negative emotions and encounters with unsympathetic practitioners contributed to negative experiences. Most respondents wanted to talk privately with their doctors at their next visit. Some examples and practices are discussed to enable healthcare practitioners to create an environment where children are heard and valued, and their involvement during consultation processes is enhanced.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the children for allowing them to use their narratives and opinions to better inform adults, and to the schools and teachers who allowed them to conduct this research. We also would like to acknowledge all participating headteachers and teachers from the following Italian schools that took part in this study: Istituto Comprensivo Statale Panicale-Piegaro-Paciano, Tavernelle (PG), Italy; 1° Circolo Didattico “San Filippo”, Città di Castello (PG), Italy. We thank Francesca Lukacevic, Sara Quarchioni, Teresa Piersigilli, Solange Fonseca de Araujo, Lorena Riccioli and Maria Cherubina Delicati for their assistance with transcribing and coding all the children’s answers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The original dataset and related codebook (in Italian and FileMaker format) will be made available upon reasonable request by the corresponding author.

Ethics and consent

All schools and parents gave informed consent for inclusion before participating in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved on May 18 2020 by the Ethics Committee of the University of Perugia, Italy under identification code n. 44700.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.