Braybrook, Debbie;
Coombes, Lucy;
Scott, Hannah M;
Haroardottir, Daney;
Roach, Anna;
Bariuan, Jemimah;
Ellis-Smith, Clare;
... Bristowe, Katherine; + view all
(2025)
What Constitutes High-Quality Paediatric Palliative Care? A Qualitative Exploration of the Perspectives of Children, Young People, and Parents.
The Patient - Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
, 18
pp. 539-561.
10.1007/s40271-025-00744-8.
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Abstract
Background: Globally, over 21 million children need palliative care each year. Although guidelines exist to support paediatric palliative care delivery, they are not informed by the experiences of children themselves. Objective: We aimed to determine what constitutes good quality palliative care from the perspectives of children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions and their parents. Methods: We analysed semi-structured qualitative interviews using reflexive thematic analysis informed by the European Association for Palliative Care charter of palliative care for children and young people, and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model. Participants included 26 children aged 5–17 years, and 40 parents of children aged 0–17 years, with a range of cancer and non-cancer diagnoses in nine UK paediatric palliative care services (hospitals and hospices). Results: Quality paediatric palliative care can be both enacted or interrupted across the five domains of the bioecological model. Honest timely communication with the child and family (microsystem), and collaborative relationships between care teams and others in the child’s life (mesosystem), are vital. Care experiences are negatively affected by inequities in care provision (exosystems), and society’s reluctance to discuss mortality in childhood (macrosystem). Children need to enjoy what matters to them, and maintain social connections, and plan for the future, even if facing a shortened life (chronosystem). Conclusions: Children and parents are experts in their condition and should be actively involved in care discussions, through communication tailored to the child’s pace and preferences, and support advocating for and coordinating care services. Fostering strong and collaborative relationships builds trust and helps children and families to feel safe, included and supported.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | What Constitutes High-Quality Paediatric Palliative Care? A Qualitative Exploration of the Perspectives of Children, Young People, and Parents |
| Location: | New Zealand |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s40271-025-00744-8 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s40271-025-00744-8 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10220018 |
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