How to talk to your child about a serious illness

When a parent, grandparent, caregiver or any significant adult in a child's life is going through a stressful time, children can sense it. Children often try to rationalise the stress they feel from others and draw their own conclusions about what is happening to those around them.   As surgeons, we often overlook the importance of suggesting to the patient that they should discuss the impact of a diagnosis or treatment plan with family, particularly the children in their lives, which will have a positive impact on those around them. In this episode, Professor Arunthathi Mahendran, Institute Director for the Institute of Heath Science Education, leads the conversation with Louise Dalton, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Dr. Elizabeth Rapa, Senior Post Doctoral Researcher on how to communicate with children when a family member is expected to undergo medical treatment.   Our guests share insights and advice on how to have these conversations with children following a diagnosis and provide prompts that healthcare professionals can use to ensure families have the awareness and tools to approach the topic themselves. Below we have also provided links to resources that offer a step-by-step guide for talking about illness, tailored to both healthcare professionals and families.   For healthcare professionals: https://www.psych.ox.ac.uk/files/research/guide-for-hcps.pdf  For families: https://www.psych.ox.ac.uk/files/research/guide-for-families.pdf   Don't miss out on this crucial conversation; tune in now to hear from experts in this field.