Children's Concepts Of Illness Research Articles

Children's concepts of physical illness: A review and critique of the cognitive-developmental literature.

Cognitive-developmental studies relevant to children's concepts of physical illness are reviewed and critiqued. Although numerous methodological weaknesses make firm conclusions difficult, most data appear to suggest that children's concepts of illness do evolve in a systematic and predictable sequence consistent with Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Methodological weaknesses identified include poor description of samples, assessment instruments, and procedures; lack of control over potential observer bias, expectancy effects, and other confounding variables; and minimal attention to reliability and validity issues. Increased methodological rigor and a further explication of the specific and unique ways in which children's concepts of illness develop over the course of cognitive development could substantially increase the value of these studies for professionals in pediatric health care settings.

Illness Is a Point of View: The Development of Children's Concepts of Illness

CAMPBELL, JOHN D. Illness Is a Point of View: The Development of Children's Concepts of Illness. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1975, 46, 92-100. To study development of concepts of illness, 264 children (6 to 12-11) and their mothers were interviewed. Comparison of group profiles showed that the typical definition given by children was similar to that of mothers: themes used by many mothers were often used by children; those rare in mothers' definitions infrequently occurred in children's. Yet comparison of mother-child pairs revealed that the illness concept of any specific child was not likely to resemble that 'of his parent. With increasing maturity, children defined illness more precisely and placed greater emphasis on role performance and psychosocial dispositional states. Age-linked intellectual development and health experiences as moderated by age contributed to more adult-like, qualitatively more sophisticated definitions of illness.