Some of us had the privilege of having a sickness free childhood, but now everyone is so lucky. Some children have to go through medical procedures and have witness their parents making decisions on their behalf. This medical decisions and hospital experience can induce anxiety and hopelessness among children. 

Recent studies (Feenstra et al., 2014) have shown that coaching parents to involve children in the decision making process reduces anxiety in children and enhances the perceived value and control of the kids. The programs teach parent and children about decision support techniques, computer assisted decisions, decision trees, and the main process of decision making. 

In one third of the child-parent pairs the values congruence between the parts increased and children were more satisfied with the decision making process. 

Bibliografie: Feenstra, B., Boland, L., Lawson, M. L., Harrison, D., Kryworuchko, J., Leblanc, M., & Stacey, D. (2014). Interventions to support children’s engagement in health-related decisions: a systematic review. BMC pediatrics, 14(1), 109.

autor: Doris Pop