Elucidating children's understanding of brachial plexus birth injury.

Facilitating children's understanding of their medical condition can improve health outcomes and psychosocial well-being. To inform how medical information is delivered, an interpretive qualitative approach was used to explore children's understanding of their brachial plexus birth injury. In-depth interviews of children with brachial plexus birth injuries (n = 8) and their caregivers (n = 10) were conducted individually and as a child-caregiver dyad. Thematic analysis of interview data found that children primarily understood their injury through lived experiences of functional and psychosocial concerns related to movement and appearance of the affected limb, rather than medical information. Children's ability to learn about diagnostic and prognostic information was influenced by age, emotional readiness, and background knowledge. In receiving information about their medical condition, children needed greater support in understanding their prognosis and its implications on their future. These narratives indicate the importance of addressing the primary functional and psychosocial concerns to contextualize medical information and ascertain the emotional readiness of children with brachial plexus birth injuries in information delivery approaches.