'It's okay, it helps me to breathe': the experience of home ventilation from a child's perspective.
There are few studies that focus on children's subjective responses to home ventilation and how this in turn affects their daily lives. This multiple case study explored the experience of home ventilation from the children's perspective. Data were collected from five children through observation and audiotaped interviews. Children expressed their physical and emotional relationship with the ventilator, stating: 'It's okay. It helps me to breathe' - a theme that had a number of distinct dimensions. Other themes included the medicalization of childhood, being a child and hopes for the future. Unlike other study findings to date, the children in this study concluded that the technology was only one small part of their lives. Nurses must ensure that these children have an opportunity to communicate their perspectives, in order to provide care that is clinically effective and child-centered.
Earle
Rebecca J
RJ
Pediatric Medicine, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. rebecca.earle@iwk.nshealth.ca
Rennick
Janet E
JE
Carnevale
Franco A
FA
Davis
G Michael
GM
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009013:Morale; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires