Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community
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J Child Health Care · Jun 2008
Case ReportsSigns of life and signs of death: brain death and other mixed messages at the end of life.
Brain death is a medical, legal and cultural category constructed to fill an important need created by evolving medical technologies and practices. However, managing life and death via organ transplants and brain death criteria is not without controversy; there remains much confusion and ambivalence in both lay and medical populations regarding both organ donation and the diagnostic category of brain death. By way of a case study of cranial trauma taken from a larger study of bereaved parents, this article discusses how, from a parent's perspective, brain death and organ donation are neither morally nor medically straightforward concepts. The case study presented in this article demonstrates the necessity for more research and clinical training in communication issues regarding brain death and end-of-life care with families in critical care situations.
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J Child Health Care · Sep 2007
Randomized Controlled TrialParental assessment and management of children's postoperative pain: a randomized clinical trial.
As day case surgery increases, one needs to improve the management of pain in children at home. This study wished to determine whether the use of a self-report pain scale would result in children receiving more analgesia. Eighty-eight children aged four to 12 years undergoing tonsillectomy, whose parents agreed they could participate, were randomly assigned into two groups. ⋯ Seventy-two children completed the study. There was no difference in the total number of analgesics administered to children in the two groups (p = 0.26, Mann- Whitney U-test). It appears that a self-report pain scale does not improve the postoperative management of pain in children at home.
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J Child Health Care · Mar 2007
'If I was in my daughter's body I'd be feeling devastated': women's experiences of mothering an overweight or obese child.
Overweight and obesity in children is a major and ongoing public health concern and the negative physical, social, and psychological sequelae of childhood obesity are well documented. Parents, particularly mothers, are implicated in discourses around childhood obesity; however, little is known about women's experiences of mothering an overweight or obese child. ⋯ The findings provide insights into the experiences of mothering an overweight or obese child, and reveals how the climate of blame associated with mothering an overweight or obese child complicated the mothering experience for the women in this study. These insights can assist health, welfare and child care workers to understand the importance of establishing supportive and no-blame relationships with mothers of obese and overweight children, in order to develop supportive therapeutic alliances better.
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J Child Health Care · Dec 2006
'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. ⋯ 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.