Background
Although the importance of patient empowerment is increasingly recognized, little is known about empowerment in children and young people (CYP) with long‐term conditions. Empowerment may be particularly important in CYP with cystic fibrosis (CF) due to high treatment burden and limited opportunities for peer support.
Methods
A Grounded Theory method was employed to develop a preliminary theory of empowerment in CYP with CF. Seven CYP with CF, five parents and four professionals were interviewed.
Results and conclusions
The emerging model suggests that ‘thriving alongside CF’ may be supported by interactions between ‘having a team’ and ‘taking charge and having a voice’, leading to ‘being able to just be a child’, that ‘concealing self’ may get in the way of ‘thriving alongside CF’ and that these processes occur within wider medical and developmental contexts. Study limitations, clinical and research implications are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.