How children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis view participation and communication in healthcare encounters: a qualitative study

Exploring the emotional impact of pain on children and adolescents: A poetic meta-ethnography

Pain in early life can go unreported and untreated. We use poems to portray findings from a systematic review of qualitative research. The overall aim of the review was to distil essential experiences across pain conditions and contexts. This report, focusing on the emotional impact of pain, is one of a series of three analyses from one systematic review of qualitative research. We used meta-ethnography to synthesise research. We identified studies in English that explored acute and/or chronic child and/or adolescent pain experience. Findings were distilled into themes and poems co-created in English and Spanish. We included 189 reports (177 unique studies) incorporating 5875 people (at least 3484 reported as female). Most studies (93%) included participants aged 11-20 years (range 2-38). The studies explored acute (24% studies), chronic (75%), and acute/chronic (1%). We report seven themes: (1) Pain can be hard to bear; (2) Pain is scary; (3) Pain is constantly at the back of my mind: (4) Pain makes me feel like I am outside alone; (5) Pain makes school a hard fit; (6) Pain can hurt me deep inside; (7) Pain has changed me. Our themes highlight the emotional impact of pain across conditions and contexts. Art and science are both integral to leaps in understanding. The contribution of the Arts is their unique ability to reach audiences on an affective level, giving the potential to underpin compassionate care and policy. We invite readers to utilise these poems to start a conversation about young people's pain experiences. This systematic review was registered on the PROSPERO database (CRD42023429027). Ethical permissions are not required for an evidence synthesis. PERSPECTIVE: The voices of young people in pain are not always heard. This article presents themes, in poetic form, from a synthesis of 189 qualitative studies. Science and art are integral to leaps in understanding and inclusive arts-based research methods have the potential to underpin compassionate pain care for young people.

Healthcare professionals' understanding of children's rights: a systematic review of the empirical evidence-base

BACKGROUND

The concept of children's rights emerged during the 1980s and emphasised the role of children as active participants in matters which concern them.

AIM

This review aims to identify and synthesise the empirical evidence base on healthcare professionals' (HCPs) understanding of children's rights.

METHODS

Five electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, and the Web of Science) were systematically searched in May 2023. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to quality appraise full-text papers included in the review. A descriptive narrative synthesis of the studies' findings was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 15 relevant studies from 10 countries were identified and included in the review. The number of participants included ranged from 6 to 1048 for HCPs with a broad range of sampling methods. Based on the narrative synthesis of the included studies, three main themes were identified: (1) Barriers to implementing children's rights in healthcare, (2) Factors that contribute to children's rights implementation, and (3) Study instruments used to measure outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

HCPs require a better understanding of children's rights to implement these rights into practice. Listening to children, building trusting relationships with children, and continuing professional development of HCPs could help to address barriers to understanding children's rights. There is a pressing need for the development of a tool that is capable of tracking changes in the understanding of children's rights in healthcare environments as efforts to increase awareness become more widely recognised.

Factors that support children and young people to express their views and to have them heard in healthcare: An inductive qualitative content analysis

Despite development of healthcare charters supporting Article 12 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children and young people remain largely silenced in discussions about their healthcare. This article is based on the premise that children and young people should be able to exercise their right to express their views and be heard in all matters that affect their lives. This study examined children's and young people's experiences of expressing their views and having them heard in an Australian healthcare context. Using child-centred inquiry and 'draw, write, and tell' methods, data were collected from 20 children and young people. Five factors that supported children and young people to express their views and have their views heard were identified: time, relationships with health professionals, communication, teamwork, and family support. By paying attention to these factors, clinicians and others in health settings can better facilitate child-centred practices and support children and young people to express their views and have those views heard.

A meta-ethnography of how children and young people with chronic non-cancer pain and their families experience and understand their condition, pain services, and treatments

BACKGROUND

Chronic non-cancer pain in childhood is widespread, affecting 20% to 35% of children and young people worldwide. For a sizeable number of children, chronic non-cancer pain has considerable negative impacts on their lives and quality of life, and leads to increased use of healthcare services and medication. In many countries, there are few services for managing children's chronic non-cancer pain, with many services being inadequate. Fourteen Cochrane Reviews assessing the effects of pharmacological, psychological, psychosocial, dietary or physical activity interventions for managing children's chronic non-cancer pain identified a lack of high-quality evidence to inform pain management. To design and deliver services and interventions that meet the needs of patients and their families, we need to understand how children with chronic non-cancer pain and their families experience pain, their views of services and treatments for chronic pain, and which outcomes are important to them.

OBJECTIVES

1. To synthesise qualitative studies that examine the experiences and perceptions of children with chronic non-cancer pain and their families regarding chronic non-cancer pain, treatments and services to inform the design and delivery of health and social care services, interventions and future research. 2. To explore whether our review findings help to explain the results of Cochrane Reviews of intervention effects of treatments for children's chronic non-cancer pain. 3. To determine if programme theories and outcomes of interventions match children and their families' views of desired treatments and outcomes. 4. To use our findings to inform the selection and design of patient-reported outcome measures for use in chronic non-cancer pain studies and interventions and care provision to children and their families. The review questions are: 1. How do children with chronic non-cancer pain and their families conceptualise chronic pain? 2. How do children with chronic non-cancer pain and their families live with chronic pain? 3. What do children with chronic non-cancer pain and their families think of how health and social care services respond to and manage their child's chronic pain? 4. What do children with chronic non-cancer pain and their families conceptualise as 'good' chronic pain management and what do they want to achieve from chronic pain management interventions and services?

SEARCH METHODS

Review strategy: we comprehensively searched 12 bibliographic databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycInfo and grey literature sources, and conducted supplementary searches in 2020. We updated the database searches in September 2022.

SELECTION CRITERIA

To identify published and unpublished qualitative research with children aged 3 months to 18 years with chronic non-cancer pain and their families focusing on their perceptions, experiences and views of chronic pain, services and treatments. The final inclusion criteria were agreed with a patient and public involvement group of children and young people with chronic non-cancer pain and their families.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We conducted a qualitative evidence synthesis using meta-ethnography, a seven-phase, systematic, interpretive, inductive methodology that takes into account the contexts and meanings of the original studies. We assessed the richness of eligible studies and purposively sampled rich studies ensuring they addressed the review questions. Cochrane Qualitative Methods Implementation Group guidance guided sampling. We assessed the methodological limitations of studies using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool. We extracted data on study aims, focus, characteristics and conceptual findings from study reports using NVivo software. We compared these study data to determine how the studies related to one another and grouped studies by pain conditions for synthesis. We used meta-ethnography to synthesise each group of studies separately before synthesising them all together. Analysis and interpretation of studies involved children with chronic non-cancer pain and their families and has resulted in theory to inform service design and delivery. Sampling, organising studies for synthesis, and analysis and interpretation involved our patient and public involvement group who contributed throughout the conduct of the review. We used the GRADE-CERQual (Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research) approach to assess our confidence in each review finding. We used a matrix approach to integrate our findings with existing Cochrane Reviews on treatment effectiveness for children's chronic non-cancer pain.

MAIN RESULTS

We synthesised 43 studies sampled from 170 eligible studies reported in 182 publications. Included studies involved 633 participants. GRADE-CERQual assessments of findings were mostly high (n = 21, 58%) or moderate (n = 12, 33%) confidence with three (8%) low or very low confidence. Poorly managed, moderate or severe chronic non-cancer pain had profound adverse impacts on family dynamics and relationships; family members' emotions, well-being, autonomy and sense of self-identity; parenting strategies; friendships and socialising; children's education and future employment prospects; and parental employment. Most children and parents understood chronic non-cancer pain as having an underlying biological cause and wanted curative treatment. However, families had difficulties seeking and obtaining support from health services to manage their child's pain and its impacts. Children and parents felt that healthcare professionals did not always listen to their experiences and expertise, or believe the child's pain. Some families repeatedly visited health services seeking a diagnosis and cure. Over time, some children and families gave up hope of effective treatment. Outcomes measured within trials and Cochrane Reviews of intervention effects did not include some outcomes of importance to children and families, including impacts of pain on the whole family and absence of pain. Cochrane Reviews have mainly neglected a holistic biopsychosocial approach, which specifies the interrelatedness of biological, psychological and social aspects of illness, when selecting outcome measures and considering how chronic pain management interventions work.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

We had high or moderate confidence in the evidence contributing to most review findings. Further research, especially into families' experiences of treatments and services, could strengthen the evidence for low or very low confidence findings. Future research should also explore families' experiences in low- to middle-income contexts; of pain treatments including opioid use in children, which remains controversial; and of social care services. We need development and testing of family-centred interventions and services acceptable to families. Future trials of children's chronic non-cancer pain interventions should include family-centred outcomes.

Children and adolescents living with HIV: participatory health care proposal

OBJECTIVE

To present a proposal for participatory health care based on the Human Rights of children and adolescents living with HIV.

METHOD

Qualitative study with participatory approach that used the Sensitive Creative Method. The participants were 16 health professionals from three Specialized Care Services in southern Brazil. Data were submitted to Discourse Analysis in the French current.

RESULTS

The first thematic category highlighted the perspectives on the right to participation as a new meaning in the science of care. The second category revealed the construction of a participatory care proposal by health professionals, that can be implemented in the daily practice of teamsin six moments.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The implementation has the potential to promote the legitimacy of the right to participation and, consequently, the qualification of health care.

'That's what makes me better': Investigating children and adolescents' experiences of pain communication with healthcare professionals in paediatric rheumatology

BACKGROUND

Pain communication should be an integral part of clinical consultations, particularly in paediatric rheumatology where children and adolescents frequently present with chronic musculoskeletal pain. To date, literature exploring the nature of and extent to which pain communication occurs has focused on healthcare professionals as respondents, yielding inconsistent and incomplete findings. The aim of this study was to explore children and adolescents' experiences of pain communication in the context of paediatric rheumatology consultations.

METHODS

Data were collected using semi-structured telephone interviews with children and adolescents recruited from three tertiary paediatric rheumatology centres in the United Kingdom. A framework analysis approach was used to explore the similarities and divergences in participant accounts.

RESULTS

Twenty-six children and adolescents (aged 6-18 years, median = 14, 58% female) participated. Diagnoses included: juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Chronic Idiopathic Pain Syndromes, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome/Hypermobility. Four themes were identified: (1) Co-ordination of pain communication; (2) Barriers to pain communication; (3) Facilitators of pain communication; (4) Dissatisfaction with pain communication. These themes particularly encompassed the process of communication, disclosure of effective and ineffective approaches and the impact of communication. Participants expected questions about pain, felt cared about and found talking about pain natural. Challenges included augmenting the feeling of being different to peers and concerns about management plans changing as a result of pain conversations.

CONCLUSIONS

Children and adolescents recalled a range of effective and ineffective pain communication approaches. Our study informs recommendations which highlight how healthcare professionals can improve their communication about pain with children and adolescents in the future.

SIGNIFICANCE

Our findings demonstrate that children and adolescents attending paediatric rheumatology expect to be and value being asked about their pain during consultations with healthcare professionals. Children and adolescents remember many of the processes involved, experiences of and the outcomes of pain communication. The current study reveals insights which can improve healthcare professional pain communication with children and adolescents. Our study introduces key recommendations for healthcare professionals to have more effective pain conversations in future.

Implementing Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in health care: a scoping review

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a scoping review on the implementation of Article12 in health care. The scoping review will provide a summary and overview of the key concepts and published literature on this topic internationally. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states that children have a right to express their views, to have them heard and for their views to be given due weight in all matters that affect them. Despite increased calls for Article 12 to be given attention in health care, there is little evidence to suggest this has been well implemented and embedded in Australian health-care delivery. The scoping review was undertaken to provide a summary and overview of the key concepts and published literature on this topic internationally.

Design/methodology/approach

A five-step methodological framework described by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) was used to undertake the scoping review. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis was used as a guideline for undertaking the study selection.

Findings

Children are still not routinely involved in health-care decision-making, are frequently left out of service planning and evaluation and the perception that they lack the capability to make rational decisions persists.

Originality/value

While there has been a focus on research that investigates children’s participation in health-care decision-making in recent years, there is little that directs attention specifically to the implementation of Article 12, particularly in Australian health care. Recommendations are made for further research in these areas.