Challenges when going on excursions with children with medical complexity in Japan

• Published in: Pediatrics international Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. e15403 - n/a
• Main Authors: Kosaka, Makoto, Murata, Nanami, Kaneda, Yudai, Kotera, Yasuhiro, Sagara, Soma, Masunaga, Hidehisa, Miyatake, Hirotomo, Nishikawa, Yoshitaka, Komori, Naomi, Ozaki, Akihiko, Beniya, Hiroyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-01-2023
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Amusement parks; Caregivers; Child; Children; Complex patients; comprehensive health care; disabled children; Humans; Japan; Pediatrics; Qualitative Research; Social Participation; travel; Japan; caregivers; travel; disabled children; pediatrics; comprehensive health care
• ISSN: 1328-8067; 1442-200X
• DOI: 10.1111/ped.15403

Background
With advances in medical technology, the number of children with medical complexity (CMC) has increased. Excursions with such children encourage their social participation and have been shown to have a positive impact on their caregivers. However, the first‐hand experience of the excursions has not yet been evaluated regarding the difficulties faced by CMC and their caregivers during preparation, transportation, and in the local area.
Methods
Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with eight informal and eight formal caregivers of CMC who attended an excursion to Tokyo Disney Land (TDL) via video conference. We investigated challenges that they had experienced through the excursion, performing inductive thematic analysis.
Results
Three themes were identified: the preparation stage (Theme 1), problems encountered while traveling to the theme park (Theme 2), and problems at the theme park (Theme 3). In the preparation stage, three subthemes, i.e. preparation for the trip, cooperation with related parties, and researching about the theme park and asking for help, are reported. Theme 2 includes four subthemes: activities of daily living, respiratory care, luggage, and weather changes. Theme 3 has three subthemes: activities of daily living, physical condition management, and issues for the theme parks.
Conclusions
We found that securing the power supply, location, and time for daily procedures are challenges in realizing excursions for CMC, but with sufficient preparation, it is possible in Japan without major difficulty.