Making a Difference in the Life of a Child: The Role of a Child Life Specialist

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsea D. Roubique ◽  
Michael T. Dreznick
Keyword(s):  
Child Life ◽  
Child Life Specialist ◽  
Making A Difference

Child life interventions in paediatric pain

2013 ◽  
pp. 543-549
Author(s):  
Chantal K. LeBlanc ◽  
Christine T. Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Health Care Team ◽  
Child Life ◽  
Hospitalized Children ◽  
Child Life Specialist ◽  
Psychosocial Needs ◽  
Child Life Specialists ◽  
And Coping

Child life specialists, as members of the health care team, are frequently involved in the assessment and management of pain in hospitalized children and children in emergency settings. Child life refers to a non-medical therapeutic service designed to address the developmental, educational, and psychosocial needs of paediatric patients. Child life specialists are professionals who ‘promote effective coping through play, preparation, education, and self-expression activities. They provide emotional support for families, and encourage optimum development of children facing a broad range of challenging experiences, particularly those related to healthcare and hospitalization’ (Child Life Council, 2012a), including painful procedures and coping with other types of pain (e.g. postoperative pain). This chapter provides an overview of the role of a child life specialist, including a historical perspective on the evolution of the field and current child life practices. The chapter then provides a summary of the specific contributions of child life specialists to pain assessment and management, including innovative uses of technology often facilitated by child life specialists.

Parent Perceptions and Satisfaction with Inpatient Child Life Specialist Interventions and the Role of Child Temperament

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal K. LeBlanc ◽  
Krista Naugler ◽  
Kate Morrison ◽  
Jennifer A. Parker ◽  
Christine T. Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Parent Perceptions ◽  
Child Temperament ◽  
Child Life ◽  
Child Life Specialist

If Counterfactuals Were Excluded from Historical Reasoning . . .

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yemima Ben-Menahem
Keyword(s):  
Relative Weight ◽  
Historical Reasoning ◽  
Difference Making ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Historical Necessity

The argument of this paper is that counterfactuals are indispensable in reasoning in general and historical reasoning in particular. It illustrates the role of counterfactuals in the study of history and explores the connection between counterfactuals and the notions of historical necessity and contingency. Entertaining alternatives to the actual course of events is conducive to the assessment of the relative weight and impact of the various factors that combine to bring about a certain result. Counterfactuals are essentially involved in understanding what it means for an event, an action, or an individual to make a difference. Making a difference, in turn, is shown to be a central category of historical reasoning. Counterfactuals, though sensitive to the description they use, make objective claims that can be confirmed or disconfirmed by evidence.

„Child Life Specialist“-Interventionen in der klinischen pädiatrischen Versorgung: Ein systematischer Review zu Effekten auf psychische Gesundheitsparameter von Kindern und Jugendlichen

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Hummel ◽  
Michaela Coenen ◽  
Varinka Voigt-Blaurock ◽  
Christoph Klein ◽  
Caroline Jung-Sievers
Keyword(s):  
Child Life ◽  
Child Life Specialist ◽  
Systematischer Review ◽  
Randomisierte Kontrollierte Studien ◽  
Child Life Specialists ◽  
Systematische Literatursuche ◽  
Kontrollierte Studien

Zusammenfassung Ziel der Studie Krankenhausaufenthalte können bei Kindern zu psychischen Belastungen führen, die in der Regelversorgung häufig nicht ausreichend adressiert werden. Ein neuer Ansatz ist es, spezialisierte psychosoziale Fachkräfte, sog. Child Life Specialists (CLS), in die klinische Versorgung einzubinden. CLS begleiten Kinder durch den Klinikalltag und können Belastungen durch gezielte Interventionen auffangen und das Wohlbefinden der PatientInnen fördern. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die Effekte von CLS-Interventionen auf Angst, Schmerz und Stress von Kindern im klinischen Kontext zu analysieren. Methodik Es wurde eine systematische Literatursuche in den Datenbanken Medline, Embase und PsycINFO durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse wurden in tabellarischer und graphischer Form dargestellt. Ergebnisse Es wurden vier randomisierte kontrollierte Studien (RCTs) eingeschlossen, die die Effekte von CLS-Interventionen bei 459 Kindern im Alter von 0–15 Jahren untersuchten. Eine signifikante Verbesserung der Zielkriterien wurde jeweils in mindestens einer Studie berichtet. Bei allen Studien ist von einem mittleren bis hohen Verzerrungsrisiko auszugehen. Schlussfolgerung In den eingeschlossenen RCTs werden positive Effekte von CLS-Interventionen auf Ergebnisvariablen psychischer Gesundheit von Kindern im klinischen Setting berichtet. Aufgrund der geringen Anzahl von Studien sowie deren Heterogenität und Qualität ist weitere Forschung notwendig.

Nursing Perspective

2018 ◽  
pp. 357-366
Author(s):  
Michelle M. Rhoads ◽  
Eileen Briening ◽  
Nancy Crego ◽  
Kimberly Paula-Santos ◽  
Lauren Huster
Keyword(s):  
Quality Care ◽  
Clinical Skill ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Child Life ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Procedural Sedation ◽  
Healthcare Team ◽  
Multiprofessional Team ◽  
Effective Delivery

The nursing process can be used in the safe and effective delivery of pediatric sedation care. Nurses contribute to the direct care of sedated patients by developing competency and expanding knowledge and expertise within their specialty. While the provision of care to patients and families is of paramount importance, ensuring an environment conducive to delivery of safe, quality care by the healthcare team is another fundamental aspect of nursing. Management of sedation, analgesia, and anxiety in pediatric procedural sedation is an intrinsically multidisciplinary process that involves nursing, physicians, child life specialists, and other healthcare providers. In general, pediatric procedural sedation is a relatively new specialty with limited data on the role of the pediatric nurse in this multiprofessional team. It is an opportunity for nursing to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to establish guidelines and protocols to facilitate optimal patient care and efficiency as well as to share and expand their knowledge base and clinical skill set. Specialty certification and credentialing, team concept values, and the evolving role of the sedation nurse are all elements to consider within pediatric procedural sedation from the nursing perspective.

The role of child life in pediatric radiology

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 1509-1513
Author(s):  
Susan L. Kinnebrew ◽  
Carrie G. Dove ◽  
Carrie M. Midwin ◽  
Teresa M. Olson ◽  
Carolina V. A. Guimaraes
Keyword(s):  
Pediatric Radiology ◽  
Child Life

scholarly journals Consent to probation in England and Wales: How it was abolished, and why it matters

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Raynor
Keyword(s):  
Probation Officers ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
Joint Decision ◽  
Negotiated Agreements ◽  
Formal Requirement ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Treatment Paradigm ◽  
Joint Ownership ◽  
Probation Order

Much of probation theory and probation training in Britain during the 1980s emphasised the importance of ‘contracts’ or negotiated agreements between probation officers, probationers and the sentencing Court – for example, joint decision-making was central to the influential ‘non-treatment paradigm’ and its variants. However, the legal requirement of consent to a probation order was abolished in 1997, partly because it was seen as diminishing the authority of the Court. This article discusses the arguments and attitudes that lay behind abolition, and considers how far the absence of formal consent should be seen as making a difference in practice. Recent studies of supervision skills, therapeutic alliance, compliance with probation, sentencer involvement in supervision, and the role of individual choice in desistance from offending all point to the continuing importance of co-operation and joint ownership of the supervision agenda. Although these can exist in the absence of a formal requirement for consent, they have greater support and legitimacy when such a requirement is present. Finally, the article explores how official thinking and political gestures lead to decisions that are detached from the realities of practice, and discusses some of the current dangers that arise from this.

Using social robot PLEO to enhance the well-being of hospitalised children

2020 ◽  
pp. 136749352094750
Author(s):  
Clara J Moerman ◽  
Rianne ML Jansens
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Child Life ◽  
Physical Stimulation ◽  
Child Life Specialists ◽  
Children And Parents ◽  
Play Material ◽  
Multiple Case

Hospitalisation is stressful for children. Play material is often offered for distraction and comfort. We explored how contact with social robot PLEO could positively affect a child’s well-being. To this end, we performed a multiple case study on the paediatric ward of two hospitals. Child life specialists offered PLEO as a therapeutic activity to children in a personalised way for a well-being related purpose in three to five play like activity sessions during hospital visits/stay. Robot–child interaction was observed; care professionals, children and parents were interviewed. Applying direct content analysis revealed six categories of interest: interaction with PLEO, role of the adults, preferences for PLEO, PLEO as buddy, attainment of predetermined goal(s) and deployment of PLEO. Four girls and five boys, aged 4–13, had PLEO offered as a relief from stress or boredom or for physical stimulation. All but one started interacting with PLEO and showed behaviours like hugging, caring or technical exploration, promoting relaxation, activation and/or making contact. Interaction with PLEO contributed to achieving the well-being related purpose for six of them. PLEO was perceived as attractive to elicit play. Although data are limited, promising results emerge that the well-being of hospitalised children might be fostered by a personalised PLEO offer.

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