title: Exploring three-year-old children in a primary child health care situation.
abstract: In the Swedish Primary Child Health Care (PCHC) children participate in regular health visits. In these visits children as actors demonstrate their subjective maturity through bodily and verbal expressions. The aim of this study was to explore three-year-old children's expressions when they take part as actors in a PCHC situation. An explorative design with a hermeneutic approach and video observations was used. Twenty-nine children participated. The findings exhibit a variation of expressions in the situation conceptualized as actions in a progression of states: from a state of getting ready to a state of being ready and further to a state where the child strengthens their own self. This progression is dynamic and coloured with the states of not being ready or of being adverse. The conceptualization of children's expressions can contribute towards encouraging nurses' sensitivity when inviting and guiding children in PCHC situations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Women and Child Health, Karolinska Institutet and School of Health Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Sweden. maria.harder@mdh.se
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harder
authors.forename: Kyllike
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Christensson
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Söderbäck
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D019370:Observation; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013548:Sweden; D014741:Video Recording