This information is for you if you have children or young people in your family. You may be a patient, a relative, or a parent of a sick child who has siblings.
We at the hospital want to contribute to ensuring that children and young people in your family are well cared for. Children are affected when someone in the family is ill. They need adults to be open and honest about what is happening.
We always ask our patients if they have children or siblings under 18 years of age. We ask the patient themselves, or the person who accompanies the patient to the hospital, for example, a companion or parent.
We would like to know a little about how the children are doing. We do this, among other things, by asking:
What are the children's names and how old are they?
Where do the children live and who cares for them when the patient is receiving treatment?
What do the children know about the illness and treatment?
If the children may have a need for information or follow-up, it is common to talk more about:
How the children are doing.
What the children need to know more about.
How the illness affects everyday life in the family.
Who can be resource persons for the children: in the family, in the neighborhood, or at school.
Conversations with you about the children: What the children have experienced, what are common reactions, and how you talk together about what is happening. Other topics may be how it is for you to be a parent when the family is experiencing illness.
Conversations with the family or the children alone: What the children know, how everyday life has changed, whether everyone has the information they need, how the family is handling the situation, and what will happen going forward.
Facilitate visits for children and young people at the hospital.
Information about good places to find knowledge, help, and support.
Contact and cooperation with other services (e.g., health nurse, school, or others).
Tips and advice for the family
Children need openness when someone in the family is ill. Openness means that you talk about what is happening and how it is experienced. Children also need to be involved in making decisions and contributing with tasks they can master.
Below you will find advice and tips on what may be useful to do before, during, and after treatment. Since different treatments have different durations, the advice can be read both in its entirety and at different points during the treatment.
Tell the children about the illness and treatment as early as possible
Think through what the children may have taken in, what they know, and what they may wonder about
Talk openly with the children about what is happening. Be honest, use words they understand, and encourage them to ask if they wonder about anything
Feel free to show text, pictures, or videos that explain the treatment, the illness, or show the hospital. Use information from the hospital or good websites
Plan how you will have contact during an admission (phone/messages/chat or visit at the hospital). Make a list with contact information to the hospital and have it available at home so everyone knows where it is
Plan what will happen at home and make overviews of common things such as meals, homework, chores, and leisure activities
Are there any special events in the children's lives that need to be taken into consideration, for example, birthdays?
Talk with the children about who will receive information about what is happening, for example, family, kindergarten, and school
Ask the children who they want to know about the illness and whether they want to tell themselves
Talk with children and young people about what they can say if someone asks about the illness or treatment
Inform the children about the treatment and prognosis. Be honest and specific.
We can give advice on how to talk to children. We can also join in conversations, alone or together with you.
Talk with us about visits to the hospital and who the contact persons are for the children
Agree on how you will keep in touch with each other during treatment
Encourage the children to continue with their daily activities
Keep in touch with family, kindergarten, and school.
If you receive a serious message: Inform the children after you have had time to react yourself. Involve other adult caregivers and ask healthcare professionals to be present if you wish. Do not wait too long to inform the children.
Spend time together. Continue with activities you enjoy or come up with new ones.
Talk with the children about how the illness and treatment have affected them and the family.
Tell the children that they can feel and think what they want, and that it is okay to be alone and with friends.
Encourage regular leisure activities
Talk together about what will happen going forward with the illness, work, and everyday life in the family.
Talk together about what tasks the children have at home. Are they appropriate or should they be changed?
Say yes to help and support from others for small and large things, from family, friends, neighbors, kindergarten, or school.
Keep in touch with school, kindergarten, and leisure activities about the family’s situation and the development of the illness.
Talk to someone if you are worried about the children.