TY - JOUR

T1 - Communication and Social Relations

T2 - A Qualitative Study of Families’ Experience with Their Outpatient Pediatric Diabetes Visits

AU - Jespersen, Louise Norman

AU - Svensson, Jannet

AU - Pilgaard, Kasper Ascanius

AU - Grabowski, Dan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Clinical outpatient visits comprise a relatively small part of the lives of children with diabetes and their families, but there is evidence that these visits have a strong impact on the long-term management of diabetes. Because children with diabetes are looking at frequent hospital visits for the rest of their lives, it is important to explore their experiences to ensure visits meet their needs. This study aimed to investigate families’ experiences with outpatient visits at a pediatric diabetes clinic. Thirteen semi-structured family interviews were conducted. Systematic text condensation was used to analyze the data. With an analytical focus on communication and social relations, nine themes were identified: 1. Discrepancies in perception of diabetes tasks, 2. Talking about adult things, but the children listen, 3. The importance of spoken and written words, 4. Confusion about division of responsibilities, 5. Relief when someone eases the burden, 6. Courtesy when visiting the clinic, 7. Understanding of the family context, 8. Importance of continuous personal relations, and 9. Need for a facilitated peer network. The findings encourage reflection on how to improve communication and underline the importance of establishing a continuous and personal relation between families and health care professionals to improve families’ experience with pediatric outpatient visits.

AB - Clinical outpatient visits comprise a relatively small part of the lives of children with diabetes and their families, but there is evidence that these visits have a strong impact on the long-term management of diabetes. Because children with diabetes are looking at frequent hospital visits for the rest of their lives, it is important to explore their experiences to ensure visits meet their needs. This study aimed to investigate families’ experiences with outpatient visits at a pediatric diabetes clinic. Thirteen semi-structured family interviews were conducted. Systematic text condensation was used to analyze the data. With an analytical focus on communication and social relations, nine themes were identified: 1. Discrepancies in perception of diabetes tasks, 2. Talking about adult things, but the children listen, 3. The importance of spoken and written words, 4. Confusion about division of responsibilities, 5. Relief when someone eases the burden, 6. Courtesy when visiting the clinic, 7. Understanding of the family context, 8. Importance of continuous personal relations, and 9. Need for a facilitated peer network. The findings encourage reflection on how to improve communication and underline the importance of establishing a continuous and personal relation between families and health care professionals to improve families’ experience with pediatric outpatient visits.

KW - Adolescents

KW - Children

KW - Communication

KW - Diabetes

KW - Family interviews

KW - Outpatient visits

KW - Social relations

U2 - 10.3390/children9020245

DO - 10.3390/children9020245

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35204965

AN - SCOPUS:85125151446

VL - 9

JO - Children

JF - Children

SN - 2227-9067

IS - 2

M1 - 245

ER -