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Introduction: Physical injury is a leading cause of death and disability among children worldwide and the largest cause of paediatric hospital admission. Parents of critically injured children are at increased risk of developing mental and emotional distress in the aftermath of child injury. In the Australian context, there is limited evidence on parent experiences of child injury and hospitalisation, and minimal understanding of their support needs. The aim of this investigation was to explore parents' experiences of having a critically injured child during the acute hospitalisation phase of injury, and to determine their support needs during this time.Methods: This multi-centre study forms part of a larger longitudinal mixed methods study investigating the experiences, unmet needs and well-being of parents of critically injured children over the two-year period following injury. This paper describes parents' experiences of having a child 0-13 years hospitalised with critical injury in one of four Australian paediatric hospitals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with forty parents and transcribed verbatim. The data were managed using NVIVO 10 software and thematically analysed.Findings: Forty parents (26 mothers and 14 fathers) of 30 children (14 girls and 16 boys aged 1-13 years) from three Australian States participated. The majority of children were Australian born. Three main themes with sub-themes were identified: navigating the crisis of child injury; coming to terms with the complexity of child injury; and finding ways to meet the family's needs.Conclusions: There is a need for targeted psychological care provision for parents of critically injured children in the acute hospital phase, including psychological first aid and addressing parental blame attribution. Parents and children would benefit from the implementation of anticipatory guidance frameworks informed by a family-centred social ecological approach to prepare them for the trauma journey and for discharge. This approach could inform care delivery throughout the child injury recovery trajectory. The development and implementation of a major trauma family support coordinator in paediatric trauma centres would make a tangible difference to the care of critically injured children and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescents and young people are the population at greatest risk of injury and therefore injury-related mortality and morbidity. Inquiry into the injury trajectory of young people is needed to identify this group's specific needs for healthcare. This paper reports the integration of quantitative and qualitative findings from a sequential explanatory mixed methods study examining young people aged 16-24 years' experience and trajectory of traumatic physical injury in the initial six months. The aim of integration was to address the question: In what ways are injured young peoples' experiences and self-management during the initial six months of the injury trajectory impacted by their injury, family support, and provision of healthcare?Methods: Key findings from epidemiological datasets on young person injuries from hospital and coronial databases (Phase 1) were combined with key findings from qualitative interviews with 12 injured young people and 10 family members (Phase 2).Results: The integration of findings from Phase 1 and Phase 2 resulted in three new findings; [1] (Alfred Health, 2014). A young person's perception of the severity of their injury, as well as the amount of time spent in hospital, impacts substantially on the way in which they experience injury, and this is managed differently between genders; [2] (Newnam et al., 2014). Admission to an Intensive care unit, including the intensity and duration of care, is the primary influence on how a family will provide support to the young person in the inpatient period; and [3] (Lyons et al., 2010). Young people's perception and understanding of their recovery from injury is in contrast with how healthcare systems are structured to provide rehabilitation and recovery care.Conclusion: The injury trajectory and recovery process of young people in the six months following injury have been have conceptualised. These trajectories of recovery can inform the development of anticipatory guidance frameworks for clinicians and guide the provision of and planning for clinical services for injured young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]