University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Psychiatry, PO Box 30001, Groningen, 9700, RB, the Netherlands.
University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Internal Medicine, Groningen, the Netherlands.
BMC Pediatr. 2024 Nov 6;24(1):707. doi: 10.1186/s12887-024-05157-4.
Preschoolers experience physical symptoms, like abdominal pain or minor injuries, almost every day. These experiences may shape how they deal with health issues later in life. To gain insight into these early life experiences, information from multiple perspectives is useful. This qualitative study aimed to explore important themes in preschoolers' experience of physical symptoms, using adult professionals from various backgrounds as informants.
20 semi-structured interviews were performed with professionals from different fields in healthcare and education, to learn about their ideas and observations on preschoolers' experiences with physical symptoms. The interviews were verbatim transcribed and coded in Atlas.ti by two independent coders, after which thematic content analysis was applied to define themes.
Three themes emerged from the interviews: unawareness, seeking attention, and parental influence. Unawareness refers to the professionals' idea that preschoolers have limited cognitions about causes and consequences of physical symptoms. Seeking attention was described as important for preschoolers with symptoms, both as comfort and in a social context. Professionals described diminished attention-seeking behavior in preschoolers with more severe symptoms. Parental influence was seen as highly relevant in preschoolers' experiences with physical symptoms, with both supportive and disruptive aspects. Healthcare professionals differed from educational professionals in their observations and ideas, especially about underlying mechanisms influencing symptoms.
Professionals report attention-seeking and parental influence as important factors in preschoolers with physical symptoms, and they report limited cognitions about causality. Professionals in healthcare and education show different perceptions, suggesting the importance of incorporating both views into research.
学龄前儿童几乎每天都会经历身体症状，如腹痛或轻微受伤。这些经历可能会影响他们以后处理健康问题的方式。为了深入了解这些早期生活经历，从多个角度获取信息是很有用的。本定性研究旨在探讨学龄前儿童身体症状体验中的重要主题，研究对象为来自不同背景的成年专业人士。
对来自医疗保健和教育领域不同领域的专业人士进行了 20 次半结构化访谈，以了解他们对学龄前儿童身体症状体验的想法和观察。访谈内容逐字转录并由两名独立的编码员使用 Atlas.ti 进行编码，然后应用主题内容分析来定义主题。
访谈中出现了三个主题：无意识、寻求关注和父母影响。无意识是指专业人士认为学龄前儿童对身体症状的原因和后果的认知有限。寻求关注被描述为对有症状的学龄前儿童很重要，既是为了安慰，也是为了在社交环境中。专业人士描述说，症状较严重的学龄前儿童寻求关注的行为减少了。父母的影响被视为学龄前儿童身体症状体验中非常重要的因素，既有支持性的也有破坏性的。医疗保健专业人员与教育专业人员在观察和想法上存在差异，尤其是在影响症状的潜在机制方面。
专业人士报告说，寻求关注和父母的影响是有身体症状的学龄前儿童的重要因素，他们对因果关系的认知有限。医疗保健和教育领域的专业人员表现出不同的看法，这表明将这两种观点纳入研究的重要性。
