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Child life specialists as facilitators of child participation : a thematic literature review
Caron Mills ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This paper looks at a child's right to take part in decisions about their own health care in Canadian pediatric hospitals. It draws on existing literature and the author's personal experience. It asks whether and how children are encouraged to participate, and which members of the health care team help them do so. It also describes factors that limit or support participation and recommends a larger role for child life specialists.
Key points
- The right to participate is set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Canada ratified in 1991.
- The paper examines if and how children are encouraged to participate in their health care in Canadian pediatric settings.
- It identifies which health care team members facilitate child participation.
- It outlines factors that limit or enhance child participation.
- It recommends increasing the role of the child life profession to enable child participation.
Limitations
The abstract describes a literature review combined with the author's personal experience, so it gives no original data or tested results. It does not report specific findings, and its focus is on Canadian hospital settings only.
Abstract
The child's right to participate is a fundamental right outlined in the UN convention on the rights of the child. Canada signed and ratified this convention in 1991. Through secondary literature and the author's personal experience this paper explores the child's right to participate in the context of canadian pediatric medicine. In particular, this paper examines if and how a child is encouraged to participate in their health care, and which members of the health care team facilitate this participation. The paper also outlines a number of factors that limit or enhance child participation. Recommendations and next steps are included in the paper with the purpose of enhancing the quality and amount of participation that is offered to pediatric patients within hospital settings. One recommendation that is developed and discussed is the increased role of the child life profession as a tool for enabling child participation.