Life Threatening Conditions Childhood

Question 1

Non-disease/social factors that can delay diagnosis

Answer 1

• recognition by child and parents that symptoms are not right
• HCPs recognising worrying symptoms
• use of temporalising strategies ie. come back in 2 weeks if not resolved
• HCPs discrediting parents (perceived as over protective)
• vague symptoms may delay investigation
• symptoms with possible innocent explanations
• persistence of parents/advocating for child

Question 2

Children’s accounts of cancer

Answer 2

Distressing symptoms: pain =most distressing. Others: N&V, insomnia

Biographical disruption: change in appearance, being different from peers, infantilisation, exclusion, changes to roles and relationships

Question 3

Children’s coping strategies:

Answer 3

Normalisation:

• keep pre-illness lifestyle
• redesignqtion of illness as new normal e.g. not mentioning symptoms because they aren’t normal

Trying to gain control:

• older children may take control
• risk taking behaviours to show condition not restricting them
• children less able to resist what they don’t want