Building a legacy for children and adolescents with chronic disease.
Children and adolescents who undergo extensive health-related treatment benefit from sharing their experience. Here, we describe how one institution established a legacy program for patients during their chronic disease treatment and how their journeys were symbolized with the distribution of beads. The legacy bead program was designed to be individualized according to the patient's journey and treatment experiences. A bead program offers a concrete, tangible method for patients to share their treatment journeys while building legacies on which they can reflect.
School of Human Ecology, Child Life Program, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN, USA.
Cara
C
Sisk
Elizabeth
E
Walker
Clare
C
Gardner
Belinda
B
Mandrell
Shawna
S
Grissom
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001155:Art Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D016730:Program Development; D012944:Social Support