Children’s voice: children’s right to shared decision-making in physiotherapy

Abstract

Introduction: This article discusses how physiotherapists and other health professionals can ensure children’s participation right in choice of goals and treatment. Main part: To promote children’s voices, children should be provided with opportunity to participate. This entails building on and giving room for children’s playful and spontaneous behaviour in assessment and treatment. Communication should be tailored to the child and everyday conversations can be used to discover what is important for the child. Furthermore, adults must recognize that children may have different views than parents and healthcare providers, and these opinions must be taken seriously when deciding what is best for the child. Conclusion: To promote children’s participation, children must be seen as subjects who express opinions both verbally and physically and have knowledge essential for their treatment.

Keywords

• children’s participation
• child-centred practice
• children’s perspective.