Research Project | The stories of young children, and their families, who have experienced a period of illness / accident or injury in early childhood

Lucy Stone is a Trainee Educational Psychologist at University of East London. She is currently undertaking research looking at the experiences of young children and their families following time in hospital due to critical illness or injury.

Early childhood experiences are central to educational psychology practice and I often ask families to share their child’s developmental history as a way of better understanding their child. Through my work with young children, I became interested in further exploring how certain experiences, particularly those that may have have been difficult for the child, can impact on their development. I am interested in the language we use to describe and construct meaning about life experiences, and how young children develop a sense of identity.

In the UK an estimated 1 in 10 children will be admitted to hospital each year and 1 in 1000 will require intensive support in the Paediatric Intensive care Unit (PICU). Research indicates that following a hospital discharge, alongside the potential physical impact, the experience may have a significant impact on psychological and social wellbeing (Jones et al., 2021; Atkins et al., 2020). Previous research in this area has focused on older children who have had a coherent understanding of their illness or injury and subsequent admission to hospital. Research has established that these experiences can impact on a child’s sense of self and identity (Manning et al., 2017). Children who have spent time in PICU have described a sense of a ‘missing picture’ following discharge which impacted on their social and psychological functioning. Children have described relying on those around them to fill in the gaps to help them understand and process what happened to them.

However, for younger children, who have not developed complex language or understanding skills, little is known about how they come to understand their experiences and how it impacts the child and their family. Younger children will likely be even more reliant on adults to create meaning and understand what happened to them.

The current research will explore how early experiences of critical illness or injury are constructed and understood by the child, their parents and school professionals. The aim is to consider how these experiences can impact on a child and their family, from their point of view, but inviting them to share their stories.

The research will explore young children’s narratives and sense of identity, which is scant in the literature, using a range of child-led activities including drawing, playing and talking. There is a need to bridge the gap between medical and educational support services, particularly for children who do not have ongoing medical complications. Research suggests that for children with complex and profound medical needs, the support at school is more robust than if they present as physically recovered (Jones et al., 2020). However we also know that even if a child is physically well, there are often sustaining psychological and emotional implications (Atkins et al., 2012; Manning et al., 2017). The research is therefore interested in how time in hospital may impact on a child at school or nursery and whether additional support could be put in place.

I hope that by exploring these experiences the findings may inform educational professionals of what considerations should be made when supporting young children and their families following discharge from hospital, particularly in education provision.

If you are a parent, or know of any parents of children who fit the criteria, please get in touch: [email protected]