Children's Conceptions of Illness and Cognitive Development

Whitt, J. Kenneth; Dykstra, W; Taylor, Colleen

doi:10.1177/000992287901800602

Cited by 44 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…A broad difference was discerned between the beliefs and concepts of children aged between 7 and 11 years and those aged 12-17 years. A large majority of children in the 7-11 age group perceived the arthritis essentially in terms of its immediate concrete manifestations.…”

Section: Beliefs About Physical Nature Of the Diseasementioning

confidence: 98%

Children with juvenile chronic arthritis: their beliefs about their illness and therapy.

Beales¹,

Holt²,

Keen³

et al. 1983

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

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SuMMARY Seventy-five patients aged 7 to 17 with juvenile chronic arthritis were interviewed to identify their beliefs about the physical nature of their illness and the relevance and modes of action of their clinical treatment. Children in the 7-11 age group were found to perceive their arthritis largely in terms of its immediate manifestations, to have little conception of internal pathology, and to be less aware of the value of their medical therapy. Children in the 12-17 age group showed a greater tendency to recognise arthritis as a condition of internal pathology, to experience distressing fantasies about the internal appearance of their affected joints, and to appreciate the purpose of their therapy.

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Section: Beliefs About Physical Nature Of the Diseasementioning

confidence: 98%

Children with juvenile chronic arthritis: their beliefs about their illness and therapy.

Beales¹,

Holt²,

Keen³

et al. 1983

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

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“…This was followed by numerous research studies, largely North American in origin, spanning the period from the 1950s to the early 1980s. These focused not only on children's understanding of their internal anatomy (Crider, 1981 ;Eiser, Eiser, & Hunt, 1986 ;Gellert, 1962 ;Porter, 1974), but also on their concepts of health (Kalnis & Love, 1982 ;Lewis & Lewis, 1982 ;Natapoff, 1978Natapoff, , 1982, and most prolifically on their concepts of illness (Bibace & Walsh, 1980, 1981Brewster, 1982 ;Caradang, Folkins, Hines, & Steward, 1979 ;Eiser, 1985 ;Nagy, 1951 ;Neuhauser, Amsterdam, Hines, & Steward, 1978 ;Perrin & Gerrity, 1981 ;Redpath & Rogers, 1983 ;Simmeonson, Buckley, & Monson, 1979 ;Whitt, Dykstra, & Taylor, 1979). What such studies had in common, however, were clear links with the field of developmental psychology, and in particular implicit, or more usually explicit, links with the cognitive developmental theories of Piaget (summarised by Piaget & Inhelder, 1969).…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Practitioner Review: Communicating with Hospitalised Children: Review and Application of Research Pertaining to Children's Understanding of Health and Illness

Rushforth

1999

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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There is growing recognition amongst child health care practitioners of children's rights to be informed about their condition and treatment, and to be actively involved in decisions pertaining to their care. In order to facilitate such understanding, there is a need to explore the ways in which such concepts can best be communicated, in particular to younger children whose conceptual ability may be regarded as limited. Consideration of the literature on how children's conceptualisation of health and illness develops reveals diverse perspectives, with seminal work heavily influenced by the work of Piaget (1929), and a belief that the understanding of younger children may be minimal. However, more contemporary theorists refute such beliefs, suggesting that children may have far more potential to understand complex illness concepts than they have previously been given credit for. The work of Carey (1985) and Vygotsky (1962) offers alternative developmental theories congruent with this perspective, which might more appropriately underpin current practice. A variety of clinical situations are then explored in the light of this debate, including preparation of children for hospitalisation, their competence to consent, their views of pain and death, and approaches to child health promotion. Guidelines are offered to practitioners throughout, with the aim of enhancing children's understanding of their conditions, and their active participation in care, which in turn has the potential to optimise care delivery.

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“…Also, negative VOL. 5 correlations were obtained between use of "somatic feelings" category in illness and "conventional behavior" category in health (r = -.46, ρ < .01) and between use of the "sick role" category of illness and the "prevention-health promotion" category of health (r = -.30, ρ < .01). Finally, meanings of health and illness were analyzed against background data.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Adolescents' Concepts of Health and Illness

Shiloh¹,

Waiser²

1991

International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health

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Healthy adolescents' conceptualizations of illness and health, and their relation to health locus of control, intelligence level, and experience with health care were studied. Sixty-one 14-15 year-old subjects completed questionnaires about the meaning of illness and health. Results show that: (1) respondents were more expressive about the illness concept than the health concept; (2) the most frequently used theme for both illness and health concepts was role-behavioral, followed by somatic feelings, psychological aspects and prevention or health promotion; (3) health and illness were defined in equivalent but not opposite terms; and (4) significant relationships exist between use of specific thematic categories in defining health and illness, experience with health care was related negatively to fluency of responses on illness and health, and internal health locus of control was related to use of the prevention-health promotion themes. Implications of these findings for health education efforts are discussed.

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Children's Conceptions of Illness and Cognitive Development

Abstract: Editor's Note: "Information in this article will give the clinician an understanding of the stages of cognitive de velopment and the ways of utilizing this knowledge. It affords an explanation of what most good practitioners do as the result of intuition founded on experience."

Cited by 44 publications

References 0 publications

Children with juvenile chronic arthritis: their beliefs about their illness and therapy.

Children with juvenile chronic arthritis: their beliefs about their illness and therapy.

Practitioner Review: Communicating with Hospitalised Children: Review and Application of Research Pertaining to Children's Understanding of Health and Illness

Adolescents' Concepts of Health and Illness

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