Peer-reviewed article
Registered Nurses’ Promotion of Children’s Participation During Medication Follow-Up in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatient Care
Sonia Rönning, Rose‐Marie Johansson‐Pajala, Susanne Olofsdotter, Kent W. Nilsson, Maria Härder ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how registered nurses in Swedish child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient care promote children's participation during medication follow-ups. Researchers conducted focus group interviews with 32 nurses and identified three key ways nurses support participation: balancing the needs of children and parents, recognizing each child's unique circumstances, and adapting communication to help children understand information and express themselves. The findings highlight both how nurses promote child-centered care and the challenges they face in managing the competing perspectives of children, parents, and the healthcare system.
Key points
- Nurses balance the needs and desires of both children and parents in medication follow-up appointments
- Nurses recognize and adapt to each child's unique circumstances and interests
- Nurses adjust their communication to provide comprehensible information and enable children to express themselves
- Child-centered care requires managing a three-way relationship between nurses, children, and parents
- Nurses encounter challenges in promoting children's participation within this complex dynamic
Limitations
This is a qualitative study based on nurses' reported practices rather than direct observation of appointments or children's own experiences. The findings reflect only Swedish CAPOC settings and may not generalise to other healthcare contexts or countries.
Abstract
Children treated with psychotropic medication have regular medication follow-ups with registered nurses (RNs) at the child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient care (CAPOC) unit, where RNs are responsible for ensuring that children can actively participate in their care on their own terms. This study explored how RNs in Swedish CAPOC units promote children's participation in medication follow-ups. Five focus group interviews were conducted with in total 32 RNs, and the data obtained were analyzed by qualitative thematic analysis. Three themes demonstrate how RNs adapt the medication follow-ups to promote children's participation: the first concerns balancing the needs and desires of both the child and the parents; the second involves recognizing each child based on their unique circumstances and interests; and the third theme is about how RNs adjust their communication to ensure that the child is given comprehensible information and has the opportunity to express themself. Our findings highlight how RNs promote children's participation in medication follow-ups and the challenges they encounter in accordance with child-centered care. In this three-way relationship with RNs, the child, and parents, RNs need to balance between the child's perspective and the parents' needs and desires.