Goldsand Michelle, Lai Kathleen, Davidge Kristen, Ho Emily S
Department of Occupational Sciences and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
J Child Health Care. 2025 Mar;29(1):126-139. doi: 10.1177/13674935231183743. Epub 2023 Jun 28.
Facilitating children's understanding of their medical condition can improve health outcomes and psychosocial well-being. To inform how medical information is delivered, an interpretive qualitative approach was used to explore children's understanding of their brachial plexus birth injury. In-depth interviews of children with brachial plexus birth injuries ( = 8) and their caregivers ( = 10) were conducted individually and as a child-caregiver dyad. Thematic analysis of interview data found that children primarily understood their injury through lived experiences of functional and psychosocial concerns related to movement and appearance of the affected limb, rather than medical information. Children's ability to learn about diagnostic and prognostic information was influenced by age, emotional readiness, and background knowledge. In receiving information about their medical condition, children needed greater support in understanding their prognosis and its implications on their future. These narratives indicate the importance of addressing the primary functional and psychosocial concerns to contextualize medical information and ascertain the emotional readiness of children with brachial plexus birth injuries in information delivery approaches.
帮助儿童理解自身病情可改善健康状况和心理社会福祉。为了了解医学信息的传递方式，我们采用了解释性定性研究方法，以探究儿童对臂丛神经产伤的理解。我们分别对8名患有臂丛神经产伤的儿童及其10名照料者进行了深入访谈，并以儿童 - 照料者二元组的形式进行访谈。对访谈数据的主题分析发现，儿童主要通过与受影响肢体的运动和外观相关的功能及心理社会问题的实际经历来理解自己的损伤，而非通过医学信息。儿童了解诊断和预后信息的能力受到年龄、情绪准备状态和背景知识的影响。在获取有关自身病情的信息时，儿童在理解预后及其对未来的影响方面需要更多支持。这些叙述表明，在信息传递方法中，解决主要的功能和心理社会问题以将医学信息情境化并确定患有臂丛神经产伤儿童的情绪准备状态非常重要。
