Early difficulties and coping of parents for care givers self injections to school-age children with oligoarticular and polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Abstract

 We interviewed seven parents administering home injections to school children with articular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (hereinafter referred to as “articular JIA” ) with the aim of clarifying difficulties experienced in the early stages of induction and how to cope with such difficulties. As a result of a qualitative descriptive analysis, the following data was extracted: difficulties [Facing the fact that the child has a grave illness whose symptoms cannot be improved by oral medication], [having second thoughts about administering an injection with which you have no experience], [having difficulty in encouraging the child to make a decision], [swinging between anxiety and expectations over the treatment], [experiencing bitterness by inflicting pain on the child], [Finding it difficult to incorporate long-interval injections into daily life] ; how to cope [becoming determined to take on the responsibility for administering injections to the child], [improving conditions to facilitate smooth administration], [waiting until the child can make a decision], [encouraging the child to make a decision in accordance with the child’s traits], [becoming relieved by the child’s efforts for injections and improvement in the child’s condition], [seeking ways to alleviate the pain inflicted on the child and the pain of the injection itself], and [incorporating injections into daily life]. Our findings suggest the need to explore measures to inform parents about their children’s illnesses and the implications of therapeutic effects to encourage the children’s decision to receive injections.