This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Training of Lecturers
Training for Paediatricians and Paediatric Students
Multilanguage dictionary of medical terms
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Contractual Partners
From this section it is possible to access to a description of each contractual partner of the Softis-Ped project.
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Lecturers
From this section it is possible to access to the information about the paediatric lecturers involved in the Softis-Ped Project in the 5 European countries involved.
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Residents Working with Children Information
From this section it is possible to access to the information about the paediatricians involved in the Softis-Ped Project in the 5 European countries involved.
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Paediatric students
From this section it is possible to access to the information about the paediatric students involved in the Softis-Ped Project in the 5 European countries involved.
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Associated Partners
As a result of the exploitation activity a number of associated partners officially joined the project in order to contribute to the improvement of the project impact on their target groups and to ensure the project sustainability by continuing using the project deliverables in the next years.
Events
The Softis-Ped project has been promoted trough conferences and articles.
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Conferences
The Softis-Ped project was presented in a number of events in order to report about the activities carried out and the results achieved
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Training Activity
The training activity 'Soft Skills in Pediatrics' was held at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tirgu Mures (RO)
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Press Review
The Softis-Ped project partnership made contacts with web sites focusing on the fields of paediatrics and education
This section of the Softis-Ped portal provides administrative information for the project contractual partners and for the European Commission and it is password protected.
Training of Lecturers
Homepage > Training > Training of Lecturers
This training package is addressed to lecturers and trainers in the field of paediatrics on how to assist paediatric undergraduate and resident students in developing and consolidating their soft skills for improving the quality of paediatric services.
Communication with Children
1.2. Communication with children
1.2.3. Stories
The principles of child-friendly education apply equally to child-friendly communication No one, especially a child, learns best from a didactic or preachy presentation of information, on the contrary, everyone learns best when content is presented in interesting ways and through good stories. These include, among other things, active learning where children’s needs and opinions are included. If communication is fun and inspiring, children will be more likely to adhere to its intended meaning.
Stories may be an effective tool to communicate with and influence patients because of their ability to engage the reader. Stories are used in therapeutic interventions as they establish rapport with the child, assess the level of their fear and anxiety, explain procedures and prepare for future procedures or treatment. E.g. The poster “Let’s Wash Hands” was developed for school-aged children during a capacity-building workshop on holistic child development in Indonesia. The group chose a girl to be the model for a photo-based poster; they broke down steps for a correct hand-washing sequence (wet, soap, scrub well, rinse); they used a catchy rhyme with each photo; and finished with the girl proudly holding out her clean hands. Supplementary activities included adapting the rhyme to a song to be sung at school or at home when washing hands. The poster integrated hygiene, early learning through rhyme and building self-confidence, especially of girls. It can be used as a model to teach a variety of skills to children as well as adults.
Children’s roles can be either of a listener or a teller of a story. When children listen, health care professionals devise a story similar to what the patient is going to experience during a procedure or investigation, in order to explain indirectly what they will experience, through the character’s eyes.
Children can also be supported to produce stories about other kids who have been in difficult situations (diagnosed with cancer or HIV, have a disability, been through a disaster, lost a loved one) but have survived and are thriving, in order to help them surpass the fear of disease and suffering.
In the case of mutual story-telling, the patient may be asked to continue what the pediatrician has started, then the pediatrician reiterates and continues a little and then again elicits the child’s response, and so on.
Starting from a real or fantastic case, the therapeutic story has the role of mediating pain and suffering, bringing the child closer to the reality where at any moment a resource or a support can appear to help him defeat his fear, uncertainty, powerlessness.
Entering in the story, the child looks for himself. The story cannot be explained, it does not give solutions or verdicts, but it can be understood by the one who understands it. The story can be a starting point in initiating a communication with the child when he does not feel comfortable to talk about his feelings. The child must create an interpersonal connective bridge between himself and the events from the story. The therapeutic metaphors can be created through different strategies: original stories, cartoons, themes, starting from popular or scientific-fantastic stories, visualization after his own imagination and the therapist’s one or from real life.
Example: The story - “How to handle better the pain?”
Stories may be an effective tool to communicate with and influence patients because of their ability to engage the reader. Stories are used in therapeutic interventions as they establish rapport with the child, assess the level of their fear and anxiety, explain procedures and prepare for future procedures or treatment. E.g. The poster “Let’s Wash Hands” was developed for school-aged children during a capacity-building workshop on holistic child development in Indonesia. The group chose a girl to be the model for a photo-based poster; they broke down steps for a correct hand-washing sequence (wet, soap, scrub well, rinse); they used a catchy rhyme with each photo; and finished with the girl proudly holding out her clean hands. Supplementary activities included adapting the rhyme to a song to be sung at school or at home when washing hands. The poster integrated hygiene, early learning through rhyme and building self-confidence, especially of girls. It can be used as a model to teach a variety of skills to children as well as adults.
Children’s roles can be either of a listener or a teller of a story. When children listen, health care professionals devise a story similar to what the patient is going to experience during a procedure or investigation, in order to explain indirectly what they will experience, through the character’s eyes.
Children can also be supported to produce stories about other kids who have been in difficult situations (diagnosed with cancer or HIV, have a disability, been through a disaster, lost a loved one) but have survived and are thriving, in order to help them surpass the fear of disease and suffering.
In the case of mutual story-telling, the patient may be asked to continue what the pediatrician has started, then the pediatrician reiterates and continues a little and then again elicits the child’s response, and so on.
Starting from a real or fantastic case, the therapeutic story has the role of mediating pain and suffering, bringing the child closer to the reality where at any moment a resource or a support can appear to help him defeat his fear, uncertainty, powerlessness.
Entering in the story, the child looks for himself. The story cannot be explained, it does not give solutions or verdicts, but it can be understood by the one who understands it. The story can be a starting point in initiating a communication with the child when he does not feel comfortable to talk about his feelings. The child must create an interpersonal connective bridge between himself and the events from the story. The therapeutic metaphors can be created through different strategies: original stories, cartoons, themes, starting from popular or scientific-fantastic stories, visualization after his own imagination and the therapist’s one or from real life.
Example: The story - “How to handle better the pain?”
Online Tutorials specifically designed for the project
- How to handle better the pain?Tutorial on how to handle better the pain.
- The tree of my troublesThis tutorial illustrates the use of stories in enhancing communication with a child patient.
Online Resources
- Pediatric Nursing – Caring for Children and Their Families (2012) The execerpt from the book available online offers practical suggestions about why to communicate with children through stories, games and music.
- Pediatric Therapy corner – Achieving effective joint communication through social storiesThe article offers a brief presentation of effective communication strategies to be employed with children and defines the social story, its role and the type of context in which to be used.
