Background: Children's nursing has developed into its current forms in large part as a result of broader sociopolitical and organisational influences. Family-centred, patient-centred and collaborative approaches are now well established within the lexicon of child healthcare. Children are central to this yet their role within the family-centred care approach is not clear.
Aim: To ask children to share the narratives of their experience of hospitals and hospitalisation in New Zealand, in order to consider multiple factors influencing their experience in hospital.
Methods: A qualitative narrative study involving face-to-face interviews with families (adults and children) who have had the experience of a child in hospital in New Zealand. The family narratives have been explored elsewhere. In this study, the stories told by children were examined in context of the family interview and the broader sociocultural narratives influencing them.
Findings: The research findings offer insights into how children make meaning of hospital experience and how their roles are influenced by adults. Themes evident are that parent and child experience may be different; children's stories may not be consistent with family narratives; and, children's agency in hospital is variable.
Conclusion: Children's stories provide insights to the interconnectedness of personal, familial and societal narratives and their influence on experience of hospitalisation. Nurses and families are able to both constrain and enable children's participation in hospital care.
Keywords: child; child-centred care; family-centred care; hospital; narrative; nursing; qualitative.