Abstract
Actively involving children in their healthcare is a core value of patient-centered care. This is the first study to directly obtain children’s detailed perspectives on positive and negative aspects of outpatient physician visits in a primary care setting (e.g., checkups) and their preferred level of participation. Individual interviews were conducted with 167 children (female n = 82, male n = 85; ages 7–10, Mage = 8.07 years, SD = 0.82). Open-ended questions were used so that children’s responses were not confined to researchers’ assumptions, followed by close-ended questions to meet specific objectives. Quantitative content analysis, correlations, logistic regression, and Cochran’s Q were used to explore the data. Children were highly fearful of needle procedures (61%), blood draws (73%), pain (45%), and the unknown (21%). Children indicated that they liked receiving rewards (32%) and improving their health (16%). Children who were more fearful during physician visits wanted more preparatory information (ExpB = 1.05, Waldx2(1) = 9.11, p = 0.003, McFadden’s R22 = 0.07) and more participation during the visit (ExpB = 1.04, Waldx2(1) = 5.88, p = 0.015, McFadden’s R22 = 0.03). Our results can inform efforts to promote positive physician visit experiences for children, reduce procedural distress, and foster children’s ability to take an active role in managing their health.
Highlights
Children rely on outpatient visits to family physicians, pediatricians, or general practitioners ( “physician”) for regular preventative health assessments and treatment of acute illness or injury [1,2,3]
In Canada, these visits occur in non-hospital settings and are more frequent than hospital visits for most Canadian children [1,2,3]; despite this, most research regarding patient perspectives of pediatric medical services is specific to hospitalization, rather than visits to a physician, e.g., [4,5,6]
Promoting aspects of visits that children enjoy is integral to improving their physician visit experiences [5,6,13]
Summary
Children rely on outpatient visits to family physicians, pediatricians, or general practitioners ( “physician”) for regular preventative health assessments (e.g., wellchild visits, vaccinations) and treatment of acute illness or injury [1,2,3]. Understanding children’s perspectives on physician visits could lead to significant improvements in their healthcare; the identification of both positive and negative aspects could elucidate intervention targets. Research regarding children’s medical care typically relies on the opinions of clinicians and parents, rather than children themselves [4,5,12]. This is problematic because parents and clinicians may not accurately predict children’s evaluations, and children should be included as stakeholders in research regarding their healthcare [16,17,18,19,20,21,22]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
