Patricia Enebær Irene DeCosta defends her PhD thesis

Title

'Towards a child’s perspective - Understanding young children’s experiences and need for support when diagnosed with type 1 diabetes'.

Time and place

8th April 2022 at 11 am (CET).

The defence will take place at CSS, room 2.0.30, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 København K.

The defence will also be available on Zoom. Click here to participate. Passcode: 599296.

Assessment committee

  • Associate Professor Pernille Bidstrup, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (chair)

  • Professor Imelda Coyne, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

  • Clinical Professor Niels Ejskjær, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark

Supervisors

  • Professor Timothy Charles Skinner, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark & Department of Rural Health, La Trobe University, Australia (principal supervisor)

  • Senior Researcher and Team Leader Dan Grabowski, Health Promotion Research, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Denmark

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to gain insights into young children’s (age 3-6 years) experiences and needs for support when diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The thesis consists of four articles comprising a systematic literature review, qualitative interviews with healthcare practitioners and narrative and play-based interviews with young children with type 1 diabetes or cystic fibrosis. The thesis argues for the relevance of including the child’s perspective in research and practice and puts forward a theoretically founded approach to eliciting young children’s perspective through a child-centred, narrative, and play-based approach to the qualitative interview.