Digital Psychosocial Follow-up for Childhood Critical Illness Survivors: A Qualitative Interview Study on Health Professionals’ Perspectives

Figures & Tables

Interviewee	Sex	Role	Department	Duration
I1	Female	PICU nurse	Intensive Care	25:34
I2	Female	PICU nurse	Intensive Care	25:34
I3	Female	Child psychiatrist	Psychiatry	40:16
I4	Male	Child psychologist	Psychiatry	35:24
I5	Male	Pediatrician	Surgery	24:31
I6	Female	Special pediatric nurse	Surgery	45:10

Codes	Summary of Content
Digitization of the Hospital	– The whole hospital is undergoing a digitization process. – Forced video communication with Skype during the COVID-19 pandemic tends to be beneficial for children with bowel problems, children aged 15–16 years, and children living far from the hospital.
Existing Digital Solutions	– The digital platform “HC And” is successfully used in other hospitals. – There exist many promising digital solutions the hospital could use (e.g., telehealth, apps, VR, technology in procedures, and technology to socialize).
Children’s Digital Skills	– Children generally tend to have high digital skills.
Creating an Artifact	– The hospital is in the process of creating its own mascot to help children feel better in hospital settings.

Codes	Summary of Content
Medical Condition	– The frequency of psychosocial follow-up for childhood critical illness survivors tends to differ for diverse medical conditions. – There is a tendency for survivors not to be referred to the psychosocial follow-up despite the fact they have experienced trauma during their hospitalization.
Age	– The psychosocial needs tend to vary with the child’s age. – The psychosocial follow-up tends to vary in content with the child’s age.
Gender	– Compared to girls, boys tend more likely to withdraw from the psychosocial follow-up even though they also could need it.
Residence	– The psychosocial follow-up tends to be better the closer the child lives to the hospital.

Codes

Summary of Content

Family

– The guardians of the childhood critical illness survivor consent to or request the offer of psychosocial follow-up on behalf of the child until the child is 16 years old.
– Not all families are aware of the psychosocial follow-up offer.
– Immigrant families are more likely to withdraw the psychosocial follow-up compared to non-immigrant families due to concerns about a connection between child and adolescent psychiatry and the Norwegian child protection service.
– The family tends to be an essential part of the evaluation of the child’s offer.

Health Professionals

– Pediatricians evaluate if the child receives the offer.
– The timing of when the pediatrician provides the offer could influence the decision.

Codes	Summary of Content
Lack of Digital Solutions	– The hospital currently tends to lack the use of digital solutions. – The hospital lacks uniformity and guidelines for the use of digital solutions.
Relationship Building	– Video communication could hinder relationship-building for the child compared to face-to-face communication.
Children’s Screen Time	– Many children tend to have high screen time and are so obsessed that they forget their necessary needs.