Class Presentation/Paper

Well, I'm no expert and this wasn't one my pre-reqs so here goes. From my experience (I'm 3rd semester in a 4 semester program and work as a nurse extern) Nursing correlates to Child Psychology mainly on the basis of communication. In nursing, we do a lot of therapeutic communication techniques and with children a huge issue is getting them to trust you. Also nursing provides assessment skills and critical thinking skills that would be a definite asset in Child Psychology. I don't know if I'm on the right track here, so I hope this was a little helpful! :-)

I agree, trust is a biggee with an ill child. You're not only dealing with their illness, but you're dealing with fright, home sickness, etc. Communication at their level is important, not being overbearing and intimidating, helping them to feel comfortable and safe. Sounds like a really interesting topic to research, I'll bet you'll find tons of stuff on the web on it. Good luck!

While I agree that trust is a big part of it, you also have to include the whole family in it. When a child is ill and put into the hospital, there is fear and separation anxiety that comes into play. That along with anxious parents (which also affects the child's behavior) are part of the big picture.

You also have to take into consideration the age of the child. Perhaps you could break it down into age groups according to Erickson and the tasks that may be affected by those age groups and how to handle it in a specific situation (appropriate play, how to get them to rest etc.)

Hope this helps.

Thankyou, I really appreciate the advice you gave towards this presentation. I was thinking along those lines as well as far as trust (nurse Vs.patient) I was thinking about my topic being on adolescents with Infectious diseases and how a nurse can come across to them to want to learn about their illness and wanting the adolescent to care for their health. As adolescents they tend to live by nothing will ever happen to me and i am immortal attitude. Can anyone direct me to any articles ,sites, etc.. on this.

Thanks again for all your help and i know my success comes from many!

Are you wanting to go the STD route or any infectious disease?

HIV/AIDS