Highlights
- •Narrative health diaries are commonly used in pediatric settings.
- •Narrative health diaries in children are used to describe experiences of illness.
- •Adolescents with chronic diseases and their families are the most common diarists.
- •Diaries are usually used at home, at the hospital or in the school setting.
- •The narrative health diary is an ‘adaptable’ tool to different settings and aims.
Abstract
Problem
Health diaries with both clinical and narrative elements have been widely used in
pediatrics to study children's and families' experiences of illness and coping strategies.
The objective of this study is to obtain a synthesis of the literature about narrative
health diaries using the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews.
Eligibility criteria
Sources were limited to: English language; narrative diaries; children/adolescents
and/or parents/caregivers.
Sample
The following databases were searched: PubMed, Embase and CINAHL with no time limits.
Results
Among 36 articles included the most common context where a diary was implemented was
the home (61%), the hospital (17%) and the school (14%). The most common diarist is
the child or adolescent (50%). Paper diary was the most common type (53%), followed
by the video diary (19%), the e-diary (8%) or the audio diary (8%). None of the studies
explored the impact of the use of diaries on patient outcomes.
Conclusions
The narrative health diary is used to report patient experiences of illness or common
life from the point of view of the child, adolescent or other family members. The
diversity of the diaries found shows how the narrative diary may be ‘adapted’ to different
settings and pediatric populations.
Implications
The narrative diary is a relevant tool for the exploration of children's and adolescents'
experiences of illness and common life. Studies are still needed to describe the impact
of narrative diaries keeping on children's health outcomes.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 20, 2021
Accepted:
February 4,
2021
Received in revised form:
February 3,
2021
Received:
October 15,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
