Five-Year-Old Children’s Tuning-In and Negotiation Strategies in an Immunization Situation

Abstract

In this article, we have explored 5-year-old children's expressions when they as actors took part in an immunization situation in the Primary Child Health Care (PCHC) service in Sweden. Although children's health and development are the main concern in the PCHC service, their perspectives in such a setting have not been explored fully. To capture children's perspectives we used a hermeneutic design and video observations. The findings revealed children as competent and active participants, contributing to the construction of the PCHC situation in mutuality with the nurse and the parent. The conceptualization of children's expressions and actions revealed how they influenced and dealt with a PCHC situation by using strategies of tuning-in, affirmative negotiation, and delaying negotiation. Understanding children's actions will assist nurses to act with sensitivity when they encounter and support children.