Children's Involvement (children + involvement)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Decision-making in community-based paediatric physiotherapy: a qualitative study of children, parents and practitioners

HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 2 2006
Bridget Young BA PhD
Abstract Approaches to practice based on partnership and shared decision-making with patients are now widely recommended in health and social care settings, but less attention has been given to these recommendations in children's services, and to the decision-making experiences of non-medical practitioners and their patients or clients. This study explored children's, parents' and practitioners' accounts of shared decision-making in the context of community-based physiotherapy services for children with cerebral palsy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 children with cerebral palsy living in an inner city area of northern England, and with 12 of their parents. Two focus groups were conducted with 10 physiotherapy practitioners. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. When asked explicitly about decision-making, parents, children and practitioners reported little or no involvement, and each party saw the other as having responsibility for decisions. However, when talking in more concrete terms about their experiences, each party did report some involvement in decision-making. Practitioners' accounts focused on their responsibility for making decisions about resource allocation, and thereby, about the usefulness and intensity of interventions. Parents indicated that these practitioner-led decisions were sometimes in conflict with their aspirations for their child. Parents and children appeared to have most involvement in decisions about the acceptability and implementation of interventions. Children's involvement was more limited than parents'. While parents could legitimately curtail unacceptable interventions, children were mostly restricted to negotiating about how interventions were implemented. In these accounts the involvement of each party varied with the type of issue being decided and decision-making appeared more unilateral than shared. In advocating shared decision-making, greater understanding of its weaknesses as well as its strengths, and greater clarity about the domains that are suitable for a shared decision-making approach and the roles of different parties, would seem a helpful step. [source]


Children's involvement in their parents' divorce: implications for practice

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2002
Ian Butler
The paper reports findings from a research study that explored children's experience of divorce. It shows that children experience parental divorce as a crisis in their lives but that they are able to mobilise internal and external resources to regain a new point of balance. In doing so, children demonstrate the degree to which they are active and competent participants in the process of family dissolution. The implications of the data are then considered in relation to engaging with children involved in divorce and in relation to some of the cultural presumptions that might militate against hearing what they have to say about their experiences. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Decision-making during hospitalization: parents' and children's involvement

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 3 2004
Inger Hallström RN
Background., Ethical duties of health professionals include the obligation to enhance their patients' competence and ability to participate. Aims and objectives., To explore what kind of decisions and how these decisions were made during a child's hospitalization. Design., During a 9-week period 24 children and their parents were followed during the course of events at the hospital. In total 135 hours of observations were made and analysed in two steps. Results., In most of the situations one or both parents were present with the child. Most decisions were of a medical nature, and commonly decisions were made in consultation with those affected by the decision. Although one or more persons protested in 83 of the 218 described situations, decisions were seldom reconsidered. Conclusions., The children and their parents were usually involved in the decision-making process. Children and parents made few decisions themselves and even if they disagreed with the decision made, few decisions were reconsidered. Relevance to clinical practice., Having a voice in decision-making helps the child to develop a sense of himself as a person and gives the parents a feeling that they are part of a team giving their child optimal care during hospitalization. Promoting children's rights is one of the most important roles for the children's nurse. [source]


Children's citizenship and participation models: participation in planning urban spaces and children's councils

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2001
Francesca Romana Alparone
Abstract Participation represents a very important strategy for the sustainable development of cities and many governments have implemented a number of initiatives with this objective in mind. Of all the forms of children's involvement in changing the city, the present work takes into account two models of children's participation: Children's Councils and Participation in Planning. Special emphasis has been put on the description of the methods followed by a number of Italian cities in carrying out these initiatives. A description is given of the positive effects on the child's personal and social development and factors are seen to be relevant to success are discussed. It is argued that it is necessary to extend the cultural debate on the political and social significance of these experiences and to put in place additional procedures guaranteeing a functional collaborative relationship among all the parties concerned. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Involvement with peers: comparisons between young children with and without Down's syndrome

JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 5 2002
M. J. Guralnick
Abstract Background It has been well established that heterogeneous groups of young children with mild intellectual disability are at considerable risk of becoming socially isolated from their peers in school, home and community settings. Method Matched groups of young children with and without Down's syndrome (DS) were compared in terms of the children's involvement with peers, maternal arranging and monitoring of peer play, and maternal beliefs about inclusion. Results Despite aetiology-specific expectations for children with DS, no differences were found for a variety of measures of peer involvement focusing on the frequency of contacts and the characteristics of children's peer social networks. Maternal arranging of activities with peers was similarly related to peer involvement for both groups of children. Higher ratings of the benefits of inclusion were obtained from mothers of children with DS, but these maternal beliefs were unrelated to maternal arranging or peer involvement. Conclusions Parental adaptations to the aetiology-specific behavioural patterns of children and the general influence of children's experiences within a developmental framework are discussed in the context of interpreting aetiology-specific findings. [source]


Physical Activity Pattern of Prepubescent Filipino School Children During School Days

JOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 7 2009
Consuelo B. Gonzalez-Suarez MD
ABSTRACT Background:, Little is known about pre-pubescent Filipino children's involvement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). There are international guidelines regarding required levels of MVPA for healthy children. Methods:, This study describes participation of 11- to 12-year-olds in randomly selected public and private schools in San Juan, Metromanila, in MVPA and sports during a school day. The Filipino-modified Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (F_PAQ_C) was administered in English and Filipino. Additional data was collected on sex, age, type of school, and amount of time spent using television and computers. Children's self-assessment of physical activities (1 question in the F_PAQ_C) was correlated with their cumulative F_PAQ_C score. Results:, Three hundred eighty subjects (167 boys, 213 girls) participated. Participation in MVPA varied between sex and age groups, from 56.1% to 65.0%. Fewer than 10% of participants were very active. The children were more active during physical education classes than at recess or lunch, after class, or in the evening. Walking for exercise, jumping, jogging and running, free play, and dance were most common. Boys, younger children, and private school students most commonly engaged in MVPA. Self-assessed physical activity had modest correlation (r2= 0.21) with cumulative F_PAQ_C score, after adjusting for sex, age, and school type. Conclusion:, Most children were not physically active during the school day, except in physical education classes. To reduce the gap between recommended and current activity levels, more opportunities should be provided for preteen Filipino children to engage in MVPA during and after school. [source]


Walking to school: incidental physical activity in the daily occupations of Australian children

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2004
Jenny Ziviani
Abstract Children's participation in physical activity is declining, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the incidental activity of walking to school. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the extent to which Australian children walked to and from primary school, and to survey parents to identify factors influencing this behaviour. Parents of 164 students in Grades 1,7 (mean age 9.1±2.02 years) from a primary school comprising 360 students responded to a questionnaire regarding psychosocial and environmental factors thought to influence the means by which their children went to and from school. Results indicated that parent perception of the importance of physical activity, parents' individual history of transport to school as well as distance from school were the most statistically significant factors determining children's involvement in walking to and from school. The results of this study highlight the attitudes and experiences of parents in determining the extent to which children are involved in non-motorized access to school. Also implicated are organizational policies about geographical school regions. While this study is limited to one school community, further study is recommended with others to better confirm findings by examining socioeconomic, geographic and policy variables. Occupational therapists are challenged to examine ways in which incidental physical activity can be increased in the lives of young children. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]


Involving disabled and chronically ill children and young people in health service development

CHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2003
P. Sloper
Abstract Aim To investigate the extent and nature of involvement of physically disabled or chronically ill children and young people in local health service development. Methods A postal survey of all health authorities (n = 99) and NHS Trusts (n = 410) in England. Results Seventy-six per cent of health authorities and 59% of Trusts responded. Twenty-seven initiatives involving chronically ill or disabled children and young people in consultation regarding service development were identified. Over half of these were carried out in partnership between health services and other agencies, usually local authorities and/or voluntary organizations. A variety of methods was used for consultation, including child-friendly methods such as drawing, drama and making a video. Seventeen initiatives reported that children's involvement had resulted in service changes, but only 11 went beyond consultation to involve children and young people in decision making about service development. Only a third of the organizations had someone with designated responsibility for children's involvement. Discussion The involvement of this group of children and young people in service development in the NHS is at an early stage. The failure of policy documents on user involvement to identify children and young people as a group for whom methods of consultation need to be developed, and the lack of people with designated responsibility for developing children's involvement may be a reason for slow progress in this area. The initiatives identified show that such involvement is possible and can have a positive impact on services. [source]