Researching children's perspectives in pediatric palliative care: A systematic review and meta-summary of qualitative research

Title

Researching children's perspectives in pediatric palliative care: A systematic review and meta-summary of qualitative research

Creator

Ghirotto L; Busani E; Salvati M; Di Marco V; Caldarelli V; Artioli G

Publisher

Palliative & Supportive Care

Date

2019

Subject

adolescent; child; human; pain; female; male; palliative therapy; article; adult; qualitative research; caregiver; life; systematic review; pediatric palliative care; Cinahl; Medline; PsycINFO; pediatric patient; neoplasm; children's voice; language; Meta-summary; publication; voice

Description

OBJECTIVE: Qualitative research is pivotal in gaining understanding of individuals' experiences in pediatric palliative care. In the past few decades, the number of qualitative studies on pediatric palliative care has increased slightly, as has interest in qualitative research in this area. Nonetheless, a limited number of such studies have included the first-person perspective of children. The aim of this article is to understand the contribution of previous qualitative research on pediatric palliative care that included the voices of children. METHOD(S): A systematic review of qualitative studies and a meta-summary were conducted. MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and ERIC were searched without limitations on publication date or language. Eligible articles were qualitative research articles in which the participants were children ranging in age from 3 to 18 years.ResultWe retrieved 16 qualitative research articles reporting on 12 unique studies, and we selected two mixed-method articles. The meta-summary shows eight themes: the relationship with professional caregivers, pain and its management, "living beyond pain," the relationship between pediatric patients and their families, children's view on their treatment and service provision, meanings children give to their end-of-life situation, consequences of clinical decisions, and the relationships among children in pediatric palliative care and their peers.Significance of resultsThis meta-summary presents the "state of the art" of pediatric palliative care qualitative research on children and highlights additional research areas that warrant qualitative study.

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Citation List Month

May 2019 List

Collection

Citation

Ghirotto L; Busani E; Salvati M; Di Marco V; Caldarelli V; Artioli G, “Researching children's perspectives in pediatric palliative care: A systematic review and meta-summary of qualitative research,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 28, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/16142.