Supporting children and families with a serious illness

Supporting children and families with a serious illness

Goals of this guide

This guide is dedicated to improving the healthcare experience and quality of life for children, youth, and families. The intention is to provide information and activities that will:

• Promote partnership with children through child-focused ways to engage in a serious illness conversation.
• Provide a tool to support children when a serious childhood illness is part of their care.
• Offer approaches to guide conversations between children, their families, and the healthcare team.
• Help families understand the importance of child participation in healthcare decisions by sharing evidence and recommendations from medical literature.
• Provide direction to families to know when they may need help with serious illness conversations and where they can access support.
• Help families talk with children about goals, questions, wishes, and worries when healthcare decisions arise.

The development of this guide was in collaboration with patient and family partners and pediatric healthcare professionals who support families with serious illness conversations.