Children’s Perspectives on Outpatient Physician Visits: Capturing a Missing Voice in Patient-Centered Care

Actively involving children in their healthcare is a core value of patient-centered care. This is the first study to directly obtain children’s detailed perspectives on positive and negative aspects of outpatient physician visits in a primary care setting (e.g., checkups) and their preferred level of participation. Individual interviews were conducted with 167 children (female n = 82, male n = 85; ages 7–10, Mage = 8.07 years, SD = 0.82). Open-ended questions were used so that children’s responses were not confined to researchers’ assumptions, followed by close-ended questions to meet specific objectives. Quantitative content analysis, correlations, logistic regression, and Cochran’s Q were used to explore the data. Children were highly fearful of needle procedures (61%), blood draws (73%), pain (45%), and the unknown (21%). Children indicated that they liked receiving rewards (32%) and improving their health (16%). Children who were more fearful during physician visits wanted more preparatory information (ExpB = 1.05, Waldx2(1) = 9.11, p = 0.003, McFadden’s R22 = 0.07) and more participation during the visit (ExpB = 1.04, Waldx2(1) = 5.88, p = 0.015, McFadden’s R22 = 0.03). Our results can inform efforts to promote positive physician visit experiences for children, reduce procedural distress, and foster children’s ability to take an active role in managing their health. View Full-Text