School of Education lecturer publishes book offering ways healthcare professionals can provide families of chronically ill children more effective resources and support
Parental Support in the Development of Health-Related Skills in Adolescents with Chronic Illness illuminates the implications and importance of healthcare professionals understanding parental beliefs
By Carol Jean Tomoguchi-Perez
December 14, 2023
December 14, 2023
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Growing up with a mother who was a nurse, Jessica Oviatt Ph.D. ‘20 was exposed to healthcare from an early age. Always gravitating towards a career in education, but knowing she did not want to become a classroom teacher, Oviatt followed a path that would lead to her becoming a child life specialist.
“In college, I wanted to write a children's book explaining cancer to kids, and that is when I discovered the profession of child life,” she said. Oviatt, an adjunct lecturer at UC Irvine School of Education, published Parental Support in the Development of Health-Related Skills in Adolescents with Chronic Illness this fall. The book explores how parents prepare their children living with a chronic condition for adulthood, and how they navigate teaching them how to manage their illness. Parental beliefs and worries have major implications on healthcare teams, and the book provides healthcare professionals ways to think about parent-child interactions to provide more effective resources and family support. The book covers the implications and importance of healthcare professionals understanding parental beliefs, and how this understanding can lead to more effective resources and support for families with chronically ill children. Oviatt said the implication that stood out the most to her during her research is that parents and medical professionals think about skills and behaviors differently. |
Jessica Oviatt
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“During the development of the skills we studied, there were a lot of medical professionals involved sharing their input,” Oviatt said. “That collaboration resulted in five skills grouped in a particular way. The data, however, suggests that parents grouped the skills in a different way: instead of medicine-related and doctor-related skills, parents think about it as treatment-related and administrative-related skills.”
Oviatt pointed out the importance for medical professionals to recognize that the everyday lived experiences of families may differ from the way they think of health management.
“Having insight into how [families] view the process can improve the resources provided and the healthcare transition process itself. For instance, parents struggle the most with handing over medication refilling and dealing with insurance [to their children], so transition programs need to include conversations about these skills, as well as resources focused specifically on these skills.”
Prior to attending graduate school in 2015 at UC Irvine, Oviatt was a certified child life specialist at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) working with youth and their families. Having a lifelong interest in health and helping chronically ill youth, Oviatt said: “I spent a number of years educating kids about the hospital environment and medical diagnoses, many of which were new diagnoses of a chronic illness.”
Oviatt pointed out the importance for medical professionals to recognize that the everyday lived experiences of families may differ from the way they think of health management.
“Having insight into how [families] view the process can improve the resources provided and the healthcare transition process itself. For instance, parents struggle the most with handing over medication refilling and dealing with insurance [to their children], so transition programs need to include conversations about these skills, as well as resources focused specifically on these skills.”
Prior to attending graduate school in 2015 at UC Irvine, Oviatt was a certified child life specialist at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) working with youth and their families. Having a lifelong interest in health and helping chronically ill youth, Oviatt said: “I spent a number of years educating kids about the hospital environment and medical diagnoses, many of which were new diagnoses of a chronic illness.”
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The idea for the book came to life after listening to a lecture on parental socialization given by Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles.
“It got me thinking: how do parents socialize their youth with a chronic illness? Is it similar to or different from other areas of development?” Oviatt said. “Jacque and I started talking and once the idea formed, I reached out to some old colleagues, and they were interested in improving their healthcare transition program for teens. We partnered together to talk to families and explore this idea in more depth.” Parenting a child with a chronic condition also proved motivational to Oviatt. “My son has asthma and so I live the experience of wondering about how to teach him how to responsibly take care of himself in the future,” she explained. “That is part of the motivation for my book, but I also worked with so many amazing families as a child life specialist, and I wanted to share their voice. They are trying so hard to navigate it all and everyone should have a chance to share their experience.” Through her research, Oviatt learned about parents’ unique beliefs regarding their child’s ability to manage their own health and what they felt was important for their child to master, behaviors they engaged in while teaching their child self-management, and their worries. In the process, she also uncovered commonalities between the parents. |
“Interestingly, parents reported doing similar behaviors to address the skills they find important and the worries they have,” she said. “They do a lot of talking, teaching, and providing resources to help address what they think is important and what they are worried about. One example is that parents think compliance is important, and they worry about it a lot.”
Oviatt explained that compliance is very developmental, with younger teens being more compliant than older teens. A four-case study comparison she shared in her book “really showed that parents of younger teens think about, talk about, and behave in some very different ways compared to parents of older teens – for example, parents of older youth spoke about having accepted that they have less control, while parents of younger teens still struggle with giving up control.”
She noted that parents understandably have expectations and worries for their children, and their concerns influence how they interact not only with their children but with their healthcare professionals as well.
As studying parent and child interactions can prove to be invaluable to the learning experience for healthcare teams, Oviatt also hopes that her book will be a resource to the field of education and education research. “I see this book contributing to health education and the field of nursing, social work, and medical school education primarily,” she said. “It can serve as a resource for students studying to be nurses and doctors. It can also help inform those already working in the healthcare environment.”
Oviatt explained that compliance is very developmental, with younger teens being more compliant than older teens. A four-case study comparison she shared in her book “really showed that parents of younger teens think about, talk about, and behave in some very different ways compared to parents of older teens – for example, parents of older youth spoke about having accepted that they have less control, while parents of younger teens still struggle with giving up control.”
She noted that parents understandably have expectations and worries for their children, and their concerns influence how they interact not only with their children but with their healthcare professionals as well.
As studying parent and child interactions can prove to be invaluable to the learning experience for healthcare teams, Oviatt also hopes that her book will be a resource to the field of education and education research. “I see this book contributing to health education and the field of nursing, social work, and medical school education primarily,” she said. “It can serve as a resource for students studying to be nurses and doctors. It can also help inform those already working in the healthcare environment.”
