Exploring Child-Patient Autonomy: Findings from an Ethnographic Study of Clinic Visits by Children

Kristi Paron ()
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Kristi Paron: University of Tartu

Child Indicators Research, 2024, vol. 17, issue 1, No 5, 99-121

Abstract: Abstract In research into the involvement of children in decision-making about their health and treatment there is an over-reliance on interviews (with children, parents and doctors) as a research method. What actually happens during clinic visits in terms of child-adult communication and how children participate in decision-making has been largely overlooked. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring how child-patient autonomy functions in a child-parent-doctor triadic relationship. The study is based on ethnographic non-participatory observations of appointments with doctors involving 31 children and young adults ranging in age from 2 to 19 years. The study demonstrates that patient autonomy is not clearly attributed to either the child or the parent by the doctor, but is shared between them, and therefore child-patient autonomy is a relational process that is conceptualised as autonomy-making in this article.

Keywords: Children; Participation; Autonomy; Decision-making in healthcare; Ethnography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s12187-023-10077-3

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